Thanksgiving in Japan

So I'm finally back. The entrance exam is over and I will be going home for about 3 weeks in less than 3 weeks from now. About my Thanksgiving party... It went pretty well I think (especially for the first one that I have ever thrown myself) and it felt pretty good not skipping the holiday even though I was in Japan (actually in Japan it is a holiday which also translates into Thanksgiving Day, but it's not celebrated the same). A total of 18-19 people came (but since one had to leave before the party began I say 18-19 instead of 19). We had people from Brazil, the middle east, Equador, Japan, Germany, Mongolia and of course the U.S.A. (but I was the only one from the U.S. that was there, and therefore the only one who actually celebrate Thanksgiving in the way that we did with the exception of 3 of the Japanese people and 1 Mongolian who have lived in the State for a period of time). We had Turkey (the smallest one I have ever see-It's looked like a chicken), Cornbread, mashed potatoes, Spaghetti with chicken in it(I couldn't find velveta cheese this time although I have seen it in Japan before so unfortunately I could not make chicken spaghetti), cake, brownies, green-bean/bacon/catalina dressing rolls, other things and of course one huge pumpkin pie (larger than normal size-and it was good). The oven was difficult to work with because it did not cook evenly, but we did what we could with it (the turkey and the pumpkin pie turned out to be very good). It was a nice break, but it was really tiring. We didn't get to cook everything that we had origionally intended to cook because of time constraints and ingredients (American cooking in Japan is full of compromises. There is almost never the right facilities or ingredients). Some of the food at the party was only made possible because some of the ingredients were sent to me from America. We found a small Turkey at a Brazillian store (I also found floride toothpaste there, which I thought was illegal to sell in Japan since floride is not approved by their health administration unfortunately). It was not exactly the traditional Thanksgiving that I am use to, but it was a nice alternative. There were no outside games (horse shoes, etc...). We did self introductions and pretty much just talked and told jokes the rest of the time. At the beginning I kind of gave everyone an explanation of what Thanksgiving is for and then I started to carve the turkey. I say started instead of actually 'carved' because it was not something I good at. So my friend for Monglolia carved the Turkey (for some reason she was very good with a knife). At one point I went to open a bottle of wine (which my friend from Mongolia also brought for everyone) and was having difficulty taking off the cork with the opener (since I have never opened a wine bottle with a cork in it before), so my friend from Mongolia came over and did that to (actually it was rather funny, it's hard to explain. It's one of those things you would have had to been there to understand). By the way, it was also 2 peoples birthdays so we sort of celebrated their b-days at the same time. I have posted some pictures of the party. Other than that, still not much goin on for me right now. Infact, there will not be anything going on for me until I return home for Christmas and New Years. Of course I will post pictures and articles of things that I do there. I decided I will bring a Texas size chocolate bar back for my lab members when I return from Texas. "Ben, one candy bar for all 27 members of your lab of your lab!!! What are you thinking, that won't due" one may be thinking. But I said Texas size candy bar. It's a 20 pound monster. If one person were to eat it, they would surly have 'death by chocolate.' Well, I don't know when my next article will be. I'll try to do another when I arrive at Texas.
Here is the quote of the day by Sir Arthur Eddington:

"I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars."

Well, that's all I can do for now. See you around.