This is the second Thanksgiving in my life I have spent apart from the family that taught me how to celebrate this very occasion. The first time, I was in Madrid, Spain. I had one really close American friend and she recognized the importance of the holiday. We decided to have a relatively formalized dinner with our European friends and tried not to make it just one more American cultural imposition, but rather a simple opportunity to sit down and enjoy each other's company. Jasmine and I made each of our friends say what they were thankful for all the while sitting in this crappy restaurant in the middle of Madrid. That very space felt like a home: a place to recognize a comfortable social bond and take the time to verbalize some gratitude for a mutual contribution to that impromptu "home".
This Thanksgiving 2011 was no different in feel, sharing a space with friends and taking a moment to appreciate the present. It wasn't like the celebration was less validated by the absence of cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, but rather more exciting to share with new faces and experiment with new dishes, namely vegan schnitzel and ranch made with yogurt, pasta with soup packets for flavor...and the concoctions go on and on...it was excessive in the quantity of food consumed. That was probably the most American part of it all. Despite the distance from my original home, I have found another space to share with another family on this beautiful summer Thanksgiving Day. It's just nice to know that you can find a home anywhere you go when you take the time to make a family of friends. It's even better when you have a minute to appreciate it all.
That's not to say I don't miss my family back in the US of A. I look forward to a more routine and traditional Thanksgiving in a couple of years inclusive of homemade dressing, sweet tea, pecan pie, all enjoyed around a dinner table. Oh and the post lunch nap on the fluffy couch! For now, pasta and soy will suffice and sitting in front of a fan to cool off!
So, my friends, I leave you with a little piece done by beauchamping that was recently posted on my current internet obsession (miss moss blog).
Oh, I so do not miss Black Friday. I am thankful for the opportunity to miss that horrid day in America. For those of you enduring the chaos, know that I am thinking of you!
va, i'll fight you for the couch in a few years. don't worry! we could "share." you know, i'll take 2/3 and since you're the baby, you can have 1/3. sounds perfect, right?!
ReplyDeletethe couch is all mine and y'all know that is the truth.
ReplyDeleteGood morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Botswana? I understand perfectly that you think that your e-mail is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Botswana in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely