Thanksgiving

Last weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada. The last three years I missed out on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, being in New Zealand, so it was quite nice when I randomly stumbled into the Canadians in Wellington social group and secured a spot for dinner. I had decided to wear my Canucks jersey for their first game of the season, which happened to be on a Friday over here. After work I went to Katipo Cafe for a beer and some fries and a random guy came over to talk about the Canadians in Wellington meeting. A few more of the group showed up and we talked to them for a while, but not before getting on the list for dinner. The best part was that I would have remained blissfully unaware if I hadn’t worn my hockey jersey that day.

The dinner itself was held at the Shepherds Arms Hotel on Tinakori Road. About 40 people attended, and I met a few of them. Many were a bit older than myself; I was probably close in age to the youngest adult, but there were several kids there with their parents. I met one of Canada’s diplomats to New Zealand, a few people who worked at the High Commission, and several others just working like myself. Dinner was (at least as far as I could tell) chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and corn, and stuffing topped with cranberry sauce. For dessert was the classic pumpkin pie. All around it was pretty good and it was good to meet other Canadians and hear their stories about how they ended up in New Zealand.