Bethesda,MD.

John got me to the airport on time and checking in was painless. I was flying with Delta and was surprised that they didn't charge me to check my luggage. When I saw the plane I understood, it was tiny and only seated fifty people. The overhead bins didn't fit normal hand luggage sized bags. Some passengers had to drop their bags at the plane entrance and have them checked. So they didn't seem to be charging anyone for checked luggage. The first flight was to Cincinnati and was only about forty minutes long. We went up and then pretty much started to descend immediately. I had an hour lay over in Cincinnati, but as I got off the first flight there were Delta staff members waiting to direct people. I had to change terminal, but again no problem. I expected that my next plane would a little bigger, nope not a chance. Not only was it the same plane but this time I had to walk out onto the apron to board it and the stairs were built into the airplane door. This flight was a little longer but better for me. I two seats to myself at the back of the plane which was great as I had originally been sat next to a women with a toddler. The toddler did scream on take off and landing, but then how do you explain to a child why its ears hurt due to the pressure changes? I know a lot of people will say that because I don't have a child I shouldn't comment but I don't like to fly with screaming children and think it is a bit mean to subject them to something that will cause them discomfort. Actually I don't want to fly with anybody who is screaming, child or not. Flying is tough enough for everybody, why make it tougher. We landed earlier than scheduled and I had my luggage and was waiting in the arrivals hall for Meghan and Christophe to show. They were walking away from me when I saw them and so I walked up behind them and shouted "Sumimasen". It was so great to see them both, we were all in the same country again and Thanksgiving was almost upon us! The drive back to the house wasn't too bad but considering that it was 11am on a Tuesday morning there was an awful lot of traffic.
I had hardly taken a breath when I was press ganged into raking leaves. I have to be honest I enjoyed the exercise and I enjoyed it even more when we headed to Christophes house and jumped into the hot tub with beers. We had to pick up the turkey at 6pm and then had dinner at home for the evening. It was a relaxed day and a nice ease in to Thanksgiving. I was glad that I had arrived on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving rather than the day or evening before.I think it made everything easier. Wednesday was even more of a prep day. It started with more grocery shopping, some ironing and bowling at the country club with Jim,Meghans father. It wasn't ten pin bowling, but more like English skittles. I still sucked at it, I cannot bowl to save me life. This was followed by dinner at Christophes house. I got to meet Christophes family again and his sister Chloe and grandparents for the first time. I hoped that it would make the holiday dinner so much easier to deal with as I would have less people to meet for the first time. The big day was ahead of us, my first American Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was great. I was overwhelmed by the number of people, actually that's not true. The number of people was fine, I just struggled with how everyone was related to Meghans family. The morning was prep as you would expect, Jim and I were sent out to the store.On the way we drove through the neighbourhood and I got to see some of the houses, some were very impressive. Some of the houses sit on five acre plots and a couple even have their own stables. At the supermarket we had a bit of a crisis as they had run out of ice and we had to go to the next store. At home people started arriving at 2pm. That's when I started drinking, I started with champagne.The kitchen became really crowded and I continued to stay out of it. I am not good in the kitchen at the best of times. We sat down to dinner at 4pm on the dot and I sat between John,Meghans uncle and Mamie, Christophes grandmother. As you would expect there was a lot of wine and I continued to drink as I was eating. We were all divided into four tables across the dining and sitting room. After dinner the tables broke up and I somehow ended up paying Scrabble on a team with Meghan. I am sorry to say that we did badly, in fact we even missed a go because we mispelt a word. Jimmy, Meghans brother, is a hard core player!
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and is the traditional day that people start their Christmas shopping. In light of this a lot of stores start their sales and as you would expect everywhere is busy. We started the day in a relaxed manner with French toast at home before heading to the stores in the afternoon. It was crazy and there were some good deals but the electronics store we went to didn't have the netbook that I wanted. If I do buy a netbook I want a Samsung one as they have a really good battery life. A sales guy suggested another make but at three hours the battery life is rubbish. Especially for a product that is supposed to be used on the move. While we were out Christel, Christophes sister, invited us out to dinner at their fathers bistro restaurant Central. I had heard a lot about the restaurant but didn't realise that I would be eating at one of them so soon. We picked Christel up and drove into D.C., I got my first glimpse of the Washington Monument and the White House, they looked really pretty lit up. I was excited that I would be able to visit these places for real, previously I had only seen them on t.v.. The food was amazing as you would expect. As an added bonus Michel, Christophes father, sat with us throughout dinner. It was an amazing end to the week and the weekend was still ahead of me.