Teacher, Turkey is What?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And no I don't just mean us Americans. Thanksgiving abroad does not solely serve us "Yanks". In fact, it is a time where every expat gets together and enjoys this American holiday together in a new country away from family. Instead of staying home eating cup-o-ramen crying about missing your mom's famous stuffing, foreigners here come together, usually in a pot-luck-style dinner to enjoy our friendship and rather unusual situation of being in a different country during this family-oriented holiday. Thanksgiving changes from being a holiday about the American pilgrims (let's be honest, is it still really about that back home?) to a time for new friends to appreciate each other and enjoy favorite comfort foods. The standard turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pie dinner is altered to fit 1) some back home favorites or 2) whatever is easiest to get here in Korea.

This year, a friend of ours (Danielle) graciously and bravely opened her home to a big Thanksgiving dinner. The night before I used my teeny-tiny toaster oven to cook up a big batch of maple-cinnamon carrots. My apartment smelled delicious and got me in the holiday spirit! Kaitie put together some delicious apple cider using some cloves and nutmeg we had miraculously found here, and Christina grabbed some chicken to bring along (see number 2 in the aforementioned types of food people bring). Walking up to her apartment we hear murmurs of activity creeping out from the window. Once the door opened we were greeted by a waft of a busy kitchen and animated conversations from those who had arrived earlier. For those of you who have lived in Korea, this is a common site in apartment gatherings...

And this isn't even everyone's

Everyone was keeping busy either preparing their food in Danielle's kitchen or swapping stories and picking on finger food before the main meal.

As you can see there was quite a spread including some green tea bars (supposed to be cake, but I told Tom I wouldn't say anything about that...sorry Tom), sushi, chicken, tomatoes, cheese and crackers, and of course some wine near the end there. Never thought I'd have a Thanksgiving where sushi and fried chicken were involved, but then again, never thought I'd be abroad for a Thanksgiving either. Here's a closer look at some of our menu items for the evening.

 Green Tea Bars

Traditional pilgrim sushi

 

 Pecan Pie

delicious green salad

Mashed taters

 

Apple crumble and ice cream

Once everything was set out, the hostess organized an assembly line of paper plates and hungry people. We took our small portions of everything (again, different from home) and enjoyed each other's company while probably reminiscing internally of our Thanksgivings past. Then, the teacher in me came out. I had printed out pictures of leaves on fall colored paper for people to write what they are thankful for. I expected the usual groans and moans as my students might give but for the most part people put a lot of thought into their responses. A general theme of supportive family and friends swept across a lot of the leaves as we read them aloud and tried to guess whose was whose.

Others wanted to show their thanks towards things like their "luscious (there isn't spell check on paper) brown hair", everyone's mothers, cheesecake, and Harry Potter.
 

 

Evenings likes this help me recognize that I've created a whole new family here abroad that I never would have met had I not chose to take this journey. Each of us has our own lives back home, but for now we need that support and love from others. We open up to each other quickly and easily. We provide comfort and advice for friends who we might have only met a few times before. We go to each other in times of homesickness or stress. We grab each other's hands and dance to a new favorite song. We over-share...sometimes a lot...

Who knows where we will be next thanksgiving, or even next month, but for this night we are together, bound by the pure fact of being away from home. For Thanksgiving I'm so grateful to have met each and every one of my friends here, those who made it to this dinner and those who didn't. No matter if you come from Canada, England, Scotland, Australia, Korea, Thailand, or America- when you're abroad, Thanksgiving is your holiday too.

I'll leave you with that happy and hopeful note. xoxo to my friends and family around the world. Know that I love you and am so lucky to have you in my life!

Korean of the post:
"큰 바지가 필요"
(keun bajiga pilyo)
"I need bigger pants"