Transit Day 2 - Thanksgiving Day

This is a work day for the team albeit a light day given the Holiday but still a work day.  The team continues to settle into their offices and digest the daily schedule of events/meetings/operations etc.  Each day starts out with the 0830 Mission Director (MD) meeting to discuss the day’s activities and any other significant business. Not everyone participates in the morning MD meeting it is basically for the management team to report status and receive direction on the planned days activities.  

The remainder of the day is spent preparing for launch rehearsal #2 to be held the following day.  The team prepares their launch documentation and reviews the rehearsal information sheet.  For those segments that get to practice anomalies the sometimes borderline devious strategizing begins to challenge their respective teammates on their ability to effectively and efficiently work through problems.  The Prime target for this devious behavior “newbies.”  Some may liken this to an initiation process into a fraternal order but it is a necessary process to stress them to the maximum and test their skills under the watchful eye of a qualified and certified trainer. But at the same time we can have a little fun with them as well.  The other prime target are those veterans that are not expecting to be challenged, typically not as fun to watch as the newbies as they tend to maneuver flawlessly through the simulated anomaly but every once in a while you can catch them off-guard.  All in good fun but a very necessary part of ensuring we are prepared for any situation.

Now to the good stuff… Thanksgiving day feast! Kudos to our Norwegian colleagues as they made every effort to recreate a traditional Thanksgiving day feast for all onboard.  This is one of those experiences that bridges cultures as most of the people onboard have not experienced a traditional Thanksgiving day feast let alone prepared one. To be honest I was truly skeptical of what our Norwegian chef was going to come up with while simultaneously anticipating the traditional Turkey, stuffing, yes stuffing not dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and of course Pumpkin pie.  As most of us have noticed after many meals in the dining hall onboard the ACS our Norwegian friends enjoy food products in tubes, yes tubes much like a tube of toothpaste except it may have some form of processed fish coming out the end instead of a minty fresh sparkling tooth whitening product.  Given this insight into Norwegian culture one could only imagine the possibilities of any one of those expected traditional thanksgiving fare showing up on the table in the form of a tube.  Think about it for a minute, with the exception of the turkey each of the other traditional sides could practically fit into a tube. 

Decorating the Dining Hall to get that fall feeling

 

Finally at 17:30 we made our way up to the dining hall located on the 3^rd Bridge Deck only to find a line in front of us producing at least a 10-15 minute wait.  Seems even our foreign colleagues were enticed by the sweet aroma of a freshly roasted turkey. My first glimpse of the buffet line showed a golden brown turkey being freshly carved and paired with little mounds of dressing, mashed potatoes, freshly made gravy, cranberry sauce, fresh baked bread & cornbread, and low and behold Pumpkin pie.  Plates were piled full and people were coming back for seconds. Chef Haugen hands down outdid himself!  He was able to recreate a Thanksgiving day meal that triggered memories of many of my family shared meals. In doing so he also shared the experience with our foreign colleagues bridging cultures one meal at a time.

Front of the line waiting for the Turkey to show up!