Thanksgiving 2008 Gina and I prepared for our second Thanksgiving away from our families. This time it would be different. This time we had family. Not quite the same as our parents and siblings but we had close friends.
Gina, Charl, and I had been bonding with some of our students for over 8 months when Thanksgiving came. We had been building up to the major United States holiday for weeks. The last 3 Friday Clubs had been dedicated to the teaching our students about one American holiday that we are very proud of.
If my memory serves me correctly, the first week we showed some videos about the Mayflower and gave a brief history lesson surrounding the holiday. The second week we showed "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." It was crammed packed with USA traditions and expectations surrounding the holiday, including the all American Apple Pie.
We had been served apple pie several times since our arrival in Almaty. There was something different about the local version from the pie from home. I would call the Almaty version "Apple cake". I can't tell for sure but it might have even had yeast in the cake and just a few pieces of apple.
For our third Friday Club before the big Thanksgiving feast we showed a video about how to make American Apple Pie and handed out recipes for many dishes including Pie and vegetarian stuffing. They were all invited to the big feast and encouraged to bring others. This was part of the reason they were also encouraged to bring home cooked food for the festival, especially an American Apple pie for the pie contest.
The students were trained, prepared, and warned that their stomachs would burst by the end of the evening. Now it was time for the big event.
Our director was a little shocked when she arrived and found out I had stolen almost all the tables in the whole school and transformed our main meeting room into a dining hall. We had seating for 40+ and needed every last one of the seats.
We were overjoyed to see some of our closes friends had come. A few even brought friends.
The youth group from the church joined us for this special event. Most of our youth can hold down a simple conversation in English and a few are fairly good at English. They performed a skit emphasizing cooperation among the group and what can be accomplished when we all work together. I didn't understand all if it since it was performed in Russian.Following the play, we ushered people through line. All of the food the students brought was traditional in nature. They brought the types of food guests are supposed to bring. Cakes, juice, fruit, and other desserts, all of which were good and many were customized for the event. So, it was a good thing that Gina, Charl, and I had been cooking the main course all day. Charl and I are proud to say we accomplished some stellar mashed potatoes. Gina on the other hand touted the worlds largest single casserole dish of vegetarian stuffing, gravy for the potatoes, one apple pie, and three pumpkin pies.
All of the food was delicious. The students especially like Gina's gravy.
After our students were well under way with the meal, we announced the pie contest. We called for volunteer that would be the official judges for the event. Two of our most outgoing students rose to the challenge. I added my comments as we went along but never to contradict the official judges or to sway their opinion before they gave their verdict. Mostly I couldn't wait any longer before having a chance to try all of the different apple pies. They were scrumptious! 
The rest of the evening we talked and took group pictures. We all had such a great time.
And of course a picture of Charl and a group of students that wanted a picture "Just with him."
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