We decided that the day wouldn't be complete without a classic turkey bowl football game, so and bunch of the guys and I (plus Courtney) sought out a vacant playing field. Our first attempt began when we started playing pass on a muddy patch of grass in the local park. A small, peculiar man popped out of nowhere and told us that we couldn't play there. He was the park security guard and he had been carefully watching us from his camouflaged hut.
We weren't that sad because of the poor quality of the field, so we asked him where else we could play. We were directed to none other than the Cork City Cricket Club's field. It was nice and we were impressed. We even had dug out-like structures for the opposing teams. We divided up into two teams and were lucky enough to receive on the kickoff. The match was played two hand touch style in order to prevent injuries. The teams were fairly balanced, and the game was very close. The first highlight of the game was when Courtney (on my team) snagged an interception and ran it back for about 10 yards. Another exciting play was when I bobbled a reception in the end zone and then dove for it, catching it for a touchdown. One kid on the other team had cleats, so he was constantly flying all over the field. If only my team had cleats! In the end, our squad lost by two touchdowns but it was still "good craic" ("lots of fun" in Irish).
the Turkey Bowl crew
Some of my friends came up with the genius idea of renting out the second floor of a traditional music pub for Thanksgiving day. This would provide a place for all of us turkey-loving Americans to congregate. One hundred people were invited, and the meal was to be conducted pot-luck style. Each person would bring their own dish(es), and everyone would get to try the food on display.
The celebration was scheduled to start at 4 pm. Being a guy, I decided to start cooking at 3:30, and miraculously pulled off a stuffing dish accompanied by a tea kettle full of gravy. We arrived at the pub, An Spailpin Fanach. I think this translates to "The tenuous migrant worker" in Irish.
We walked upstairs and entered a room full of food. Stuffing, gravy, turkey, mashed potatoes,
shrimp "prawn" cocktail as they call it here, deserts galore, you name it. I was impressed because I had predicted that not many people would actually bring dishes. Everyone had brought something. The spread was beautiful. The pub set us up with our own bartender. She chilled behind the bar in the main room with all of the beautiful food. There were actually three large rooms on the floor. The second room was elevated, and Courtney and I sat up there at a large, worn, oak table.Having played football all afternoon, we were starving, so we piled our plates high and dug in. The food was excellent. We enjoyed some of our own Budweiser pints that were leftover from the Turkey Bowl earlier in the day. We had decided that Budweiser was the only way to go on Thanksgiving. It was an enjoyable compliment to the food, and for once I was glad I hadn't chosen stout.
As the meal progressed, various speeches and toasts were made by enthused students consumed by the warm, festive karma of Thanksgiving. The desert tables were by far the most impressive, and I sampled as many things as possible. The best desert was indisputably my friend Julia's chewy chocolate toffee cookies.
We eventually all parted ways and went back to our apartments. Courtney, Sky, Leisel, Kelly, Parker, Shannon and I watched Home Alone, a childhood classic, which was on tv. We were all feeling seriously wiped out after eating so much, and I'm pretty sure Courtney slept through the entire movie.
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