Caw Caw

I can say, without fear of hyperbole, that today was one of the best days of my life.

I woke up and bought a cup of Starbucks coffee, a few donuts and cleaned up the apartment. When that was done I read for about an hour, took a shower and then turned on the KU pregame show for the Florida game. I find it somewhat redundant to explain the next few hours of my day as I watched the KU game to those of you that got to see the game, but to those of you that did not I can say only one thing: Fuck Yeah! It was one of the better games I have watched in my lifetime and ended the best way I could have hoped (well, maybe it should have ended in regulation, but beating the number one team in the country is never a bad thing.) My beloved Jayhawks looked like the best team in the land for 45 minutes of action and I could not have been happier for that game to be the first game I get to see of the season. My only regret is not being around more 'Hawks fans, but it was a great taste of home to get to see the boys win a game of such magnitude. Little did I know, that would not be the only taste of home I would have this day.

Within a half hour of the game ending (after an obligatory phone call to the old roomies after a win like that) I headed downstairs to fire up the birdcage to cook a turkey for a belated Thanksgiving feast. There were a lot of question marks involved with the cooking of a turkey in a bird cage, but one thing was for certain: I was going to use a whole bottle of Jack Stack all-purpose rub that Fred sent over to season the 12-pound bird. The bird was placed on a large fruit cocktail can full of Hite Prime ( a local brew), for there isn't a single beer can in Korea that could support a bird that size. The turkey cooked for over three hours and throughout the cooking process hunched a little bit to the side, but the final product was unquestionably one of the best turkeys I have ever eaten - the outside was flavorful and the inside was moist - it tasted a lot like freedom. To the turkey we added Stove Top stuffing that was sent over from Vermont, corn, broccoli, carrots, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and an ice cream pie from Baskin Robbins for dessert. Although it is an American holiday, I sat around a table with friends from all over the world: Canada, Norway, Kentucky and Korea. It was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving (even though the dirty Kentuckian was there) and a good time was had by all. I had an uncontrollable smile for most of the meal and was so thankful to be sitting around a table with such good people. I think my friend John put it best when he said, "A Thanksgiving dinner like this in Korea is like getting a glass of ice water in hell."

The dinner could not have turned out better and the game could not have turned out better. To top it all of I hit a double eagle and a hole in one to win a round of Tiger Woods golf on PS2 and found a grocery store that sells Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Finally Korea has lived up to its moniker: the Land of Miracles. If things keep going like this, I don't think I'll ever make it home...

Love from Seoul

(keep checking back - I'll post photos of the ordeal as soon as they're e-mailed to me)