Monday
I meant to go there on Monday, and after cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry and packing my suitcase, I left for Salem - or so I thought. Because when I got to the bus stop, the bus was not there yet, and when it finally came down the road (already 15 minutes late), the bus driver chose to ignore me and drove right past me. Angry though I was, there was nothing I could do about it, so I went back home in the pouring rain, and wrote an email to Kiera telling her about my bad luck, and another one to Stéphanie, the latter containing a dozen different varieties of the f-word. Then I prepared dinner.
I was eating my pasta, when out of the blue, someone knocked on the door. Imagine: heavy rain outside, me all by myself in a house on a deserted and pitch-dark campus, and when I asked who was there, no one answered. How relieved was I when I opened the door and outside stood Campo. They told me a Lena wanted to talk to me. I had no idea who Lena was, but it turned out to be Kiera's mom, who wanted to let me know that she would send a friend to pick me up, my own private chauffeur, if you want. When he picked me up, he asked me about where I was from, and in the ensuing conversation, he confused Vienna with Venice. Not only am I Australian, but Venetian, too.
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| Ersatz cat |
When he dropped me off at Kiera's place, I met Kiera's mom and her 17-year-old brother and her 8-week-old cat.
Tuesday
Around noon, Kiera and I went to a café on a farm, and I had a latte and forest berry pie there. Kiera bought two deep-frozen pies because her mom had told her to, and then we went to the Capitol, where I snapped pictures of the Senate, the Governor's office, and the House of Representatives.
From there, we went to Kiera's highschool, and everyone there told me I looked familiar, and a couple teachers mistook me for a former student. Who knew I would have a doppelgänger on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean (well, actually, the Pacific)?
Wednesday
Kiera and I had lunch at her aunt's B&B in Stayton, and for dessert, we indulged in her insanely delicious chocolate soufflé cake. We went back home to pick up the kitten, and before taking it to the vet, we picked up Stéphanie at the Greyhound bus station.
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| Kiera's aunt's café |
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| Look at all these delicious cakes and cookies |
Kiera's cousin Mike and his roommate at OSU arrived later that afternoon, and together, we watched football for a while before gathering around the dinner table. After dinner, we all prepared pie crust for Thanksgiving dinner the next day, and then Patrick made caramel popcorn, and though I usually do not like caramel popcorn, his was really good... maybe because it was homemade.
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| Pie crust |
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| Patrick's caramel popcorn |
Thursday
Thanksgiving... Kiera's mom got up at 8am, and began cooking at 9am. Once she had stuffed the turkey and shoved it into the oven, she started preparing the yams. Meanwhile, I talked to my mom on Skype because it was her 50th birthday, and I talked to my cousin's 14-month-old daughter, too. :)
Later that day, Kiera, Stéphanie and I went for a walk, while the guys stayed at home playing video games. It had been raining for four days by then, so of course, the ground was muddy, and Stéphanie tripped, but fortunately, she did not fall because our shoes got dirty enough as it was. When we got home, we helped Kiera's mom prepare dinner. We made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and carrots. At four, we put everything on the table, which bowed under the weight of all that food. And that is when the feast started.
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| The turkey... nom, nom, nom |
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| Right before the feast |
Because not only did we eat turkey and everything else on the table, but we had dessert, too: one slice of pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, and one slice of apple pie à la mode. Kiera's mom had bought Umpqua Beaver Tracks Ice Cream, which was, excuse my French, fucking delicious... like everything else we had eaten that day. Oh, and we drank sparkling apple cider, which, to Stéphanie's and my utter disappointment, does not contain alcohol, but it was pretty good, nonetheless.
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| Pumpkin pie, apple pie? I cannot decide which one is more delicious |
All in all, my first American Thanksgiving was great... thanks to Kiera and her family. And the day had felt very Christmasy, partly due to the holiday spirit and partly due to radio stations starting to play Christmas carols that night.
Friday
We got up early to go Black Friday shopping. Patrick had gone to Best Buy the day before to get the new FIFA game (after waiting in line for four hours). That is why he stayed home, while Kiera's mom, Kiera, Stéphanie and I took off to Fred Meyer and Kohl's and Made in Oregon and Bath & Body Works and Macy's. At the former, we got free coffee and free doughnuts.
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| A Black Friday ad, or how to tell that you are in the US |
When we got back, Kiera's mom took Mike and his roommate at OSU back to Corvallis, and I came along for the ride. On the way home, Kiera's mom let me get into the driver's seat, and, believe it or not, I drove all the way home, although it was raining cats and dogs, and it was pitch-dark, and you could not see a damn thing.
But we survived. And I rewarded myself with Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner and cookies for dessert.
Saturday
Kiera's mom took us grocery shopping, and then back home, where we reunited with Nao, goofed around, and were our usual silly selves. And of course, we tuned in to the radio station that plays Christmas carols 24/7. Because after all, Christmas is only four weeks away. :)
I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.
