Turkey night

The fourth Thrusday in November is American Thanksgiving. Coming from Canada I am familiar with the idea of gathering with friends and family around a large table loaded with lots of food to celebrate the harvest. Traditionally, there is turkey and potatoes, stuffing and veggies, but most importantly it seems is the plentitude of food gathered from that year. At McMurdo, this was taken to the extreme.

Due to our small size, the entire Kiwi base was invited over to McMurdo to join them for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night. About 30 of us decided to join them for the 7pm sitting (yes, there were multiple sittings - there are over 1,000 people in McMurdo) and we all made our way over or around the hill to find ourselves a spot in line. And my goodness, what a line it was. With several hundred people all waiting to fill their plates, the line snaked its way down the fall around the corner and back up on itself.

Everyone was dressed in their Sunday finest, which varies a lot here in Antarctica. There were some in high heels and others in boots, long dresses and scrubby jeans. It was great just standing in line. But eventually it started moving and we slowly wound our way up and down the hall, around the corner, up the stairs and through the narrow corridor to the food service room. Wow, what a place. It was huge and it was filled with people and food. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, beans, crab, salad, stuffed peppers, and more. And as you walked past the silverware station there too were the desserts. Piled up in all their glory, fresh fruit spilling down tiers of cakes, pies and other delicacies. It was phenomenal and amazingly difficult not to take one of everything.

[Everyone enjoying their meals with good company]

[A plate stacked full of tasty food - cherries and strawberries were especially welcome]

[A meal well enjoyed]

I found my way to a table of kiwis and we tucked into our delicious meal. We chatted with the token American at our table and enjoyed each others company. I showed my Kiwi friends how to extract crab meant from crab legs and we slowly ate through our dinners. By 8:30pm we were stuffed and ready for home.