Rohit's American Adventure:Chapter 10. First Thanksgiving and Black Friday

The University was closed for a week for thanksgiving. It was supposed to be the right time to buy gifts because they would be available for cheap prices. I was all alone in my apartment for almost the entire week. Kunal and Ajay had gone to New York while Anoop had gone to Philadelphia. Ariana had invited me to join her family for thanksgiving dinner and I was looking forward to it. I had met Ariana about a month ago. She was kind of lost in the campus and she happened to ask me for directions. Since I was done with my job for that day, I volunteered to walk her to the place where she wanted to go. We talked along the way and she was happy when she reached where she wanted to go. I had her telephone number before I could leave. So I stayed in touch with her and we seemed to get along well. When I told Ariana about my thanksgiving plan of being all alone in my apartment, she was kind enough to invite me.

I was waiting at Silver Spring Metro station at the spot where Ariana had instructed me to stand. She was there in no time and she hugged me. I felt good from within. When I reached her home, Ariana introduced me to her parents and her relatives. I had a nice time talking with them. I enjoyed the prayer which all of us prayed holding hands forming a circle around the dinning table before commencing to eat. I was holding Ariana’s hand. I had got an apple pie for Ariana’s family which all of them enjoyed for dinner. The parting gift was a photograph with all of them. I shook my hand with everyone on the table and hugged Ariana’s mother. I told her, ”I feel like I am with my family today” and she hugged me back. Ariana gave me some coco (chocolate milk shake) and some take over food. Ariana’s elder sister and her boyfriend drove me back to my place. That was a kind gesture on their part. I slept that night with memories of a great thanksgiving dinner courtesy of a person I had met a month ago.

The next day was Black Friday. It was supposed to be the day when people shop for gifts because they are available for rock bottom prices. I had decided I was going to buy myself a digital camera, an ipod and a musical instrument if possible. I was apprehensive to buy stuff online from my apartment as the internet connection was not secure. So I had to go to my university and buy stuff from my workstation. Dave Kennedy, turned up and he was surprised to see me in the office on the holiday. He had come with his wife and they also wanted to buy a gift for their daughter. It seemed that their desktop computer at home had crashed and they wanted to buy the gift before it got sold off online. Dave had forgotten the key to his office, so he could not get access to his computer. I told him to use my computer as I was in no hurry. Dave and his wife were happy. I left them alone and was wandering in the corridor. I was more happy when I found out they had purchased the gift for their daughter. Somehow it all made sense. Had I not come to my office, Dave and his wife could not have been able to use my workstation to buy the gift for their daughter.

I was totally stressed upon deciding which camera to buy. This was the first major purchase I was making on my own. The camera which I had shortlisted had already been sold off. Finally after hours of deliberation, I went for a sony cybershot. The sony cybershot cost me 250$ which meant I had to drop the ipod idea. In the midst of all this shopping, I had gone to the bathroom and when I came back to the front door of our department, I discovered that I had forgotten my access card on my work desk next to my workstation. So it was kind of embarrassing, I had locked myself out of my own office. I had to call the campus police, explain to them and finally I got into my office, thanks to the campus police who happen to have a duplicate key of every department on campus. By the end of the day, I had purchased a sony cybershot camera worth 250$ and a Yamaha keyboard for 100$.