Thanksgiving Abroad

In the last 10 years I've spent 5 of them abroad, 3 in London, last year we were in Chile, and this year, Paris. I don't remember what I ate that first year in London, but I remember my roommate Annie, who was studying abroad with me had tacos. In a way it was a pretty American homage because mexican food doesn't really happen in London. I know she invited me to share her American meal and I remember declining having already eaten. The last year I was in London friends made a big meal for me and another American friend and I had delicious parsnips for the first time.

It's really hard to give a shit when you are without all the cultural connections. I'm from Green Bay Wisconsin and football is sort of a big deal where I grew up. But it's next to impossible to watch these games abroad unless you're willing to stay up past your bedtime, which isn't an especially good idea when you have to work the next day because it's not a holiday wherever you're living. Plus who cares, if no one else cares- I'm not going to shout at the boob tube at 3 am by myself in my jammies half awake wondering how Joe Buck still has a job- where's the fun in that? I've lived in New York for a while but I have never been to the parade, nonetheless the hype surrounding it is enough; plus when you're in NYC during Thanksgiving you are hyper aware of avoiding the tourist scene so as not to lose your time and patience so in a way, by going out of your way to avoid it at all costs you were still a part of it.

It's not impossible, but it is pretty hard to find or at least afford traditional Thanksgiving food stuffs while abroad- you can get oreo's and peanut butter, even cream cheese is available on the shelves in both Chile, London and Paris, but cranberries and turkey's aren't exactly standard fare. Today I spent more than 20 bucks on a chicken that is thankfully without hormones, and thus about half the size of an American chicken. With a bottle of wine and a couple of sides, we could have had a decent meal out, but American's who dine out on Thanksgiving seemed to be missing the point, and I remember feeling so much pity for a school friend of mine whose family did this...

A couple days ago Sylvain and I started talking about what traditions we want to start or share when we start our own family. We were making crepes on Saturday night and decided this would be a genius meal to make routine, which apparently is something his family did every Sunday night anyway... Crepes are fun for the whole family, like dessert and a meal, salty this round, sweet the next... Our kids are going to love it. Wherever we end up, I hope we will find a way to create a hybrid Thanksgiving with expats or whomever likes to eat and drink well. Definitely going to have to take that day and maybe the next off of work though...