Blog

Sharing Holidays: American Thanksgiving

November 30, 2015 Leave a Comment

This post was meant to go live on Thanksgiving Thursday, but unfortunately, life did not go as planned. Electricity and internet went out. My first priority was turkey cooking and finding a working oven. The feast was delicious and the community so fun. Keep reading and see pictures!

_____

If you’re like me and you enjoy traveling or living in another country (or even just another state), I imagine you’ve spent one or more holidays away from your family, hometown, or even country.

Chances are you’ve already indulged in your turkey and green bean casserole followed up by pumpkin pie or like me you’re still gearing up for the feast. I am about to serve up my first turkey (that I’ve ever been in fully charge of). I’m six hours ahead of you all who sit squarely in the Eastern Standard Time zone (so it’s noon there and 6 pm in Austria).

Two weeks ago, I thought I’d be fine not having turkey, stuffing, or pumpkin pie. Yeah, I was wrong. A week ago, I suddenly realized that even though Austria doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving that I wanted to celebrate this American holiday anyway.

In a country that has become so familiar, I still feel like a stranger most days, knowing that if I so much as open my mouth, all will know I’m not from here. Growing up homeschooled but attending public school for various activities (mostly music and band things), I accustomed myself to the cry, “She doesn’t even go here!” I’m used to being the odd one, the weird one…the one who doesn’t fit in. I’m sure you all have similar memories because one thing I’ve learned is that we’re not alone in even our strangest feelings.

Sometimes you just have to selfie with the turkey in your flatmate's awesome apron. — Sometimes you just have to selfie with the turkey in your flatmate’s awesome apron.

There is freedom in being the odd one. People accept that you’re just going to do things differently, weirdly, and strangely.

I mean, I guess I could be having pancakes for my Thanksgiving, or Chinese food, or Austrian food. Does it really matter? Anyway, we all know that Thanksgiving is about being thankful and being with family.

But if you can’t be with family….and if you still have to work…and you can’t find celery at the nearest grocery…

It feels off.

Cooking is a million times more challenging when all the ingredients are in another language, but I guess it’s helpful that my ingredients are still using an alphabet that I’m familiar with. And gosh, I’m thankful for my eyes so I can recognize ingredients even if I can’t read the label!

Perhaps Austria doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving like I think it should be celebrated because it doesn’t exist here, but it’s fun to share this holiday with colleagues and friends. It’s the perfect clash of cultures as we learn more about each other by sharing our holidays, foods, and traditions. I’ll have a Brit, Scot/Dane, Slovak, Estonian, and Swiss at my Thanksgiving table among all the Americans this year (I know! I should have some Austrians, but I won’t sadly). Everyone appreciates good food and fun fellowship.

Tips for a good Thanksgiving (maybe next year?) in another Country

Make friends with people at the UN.
Ask a visitor from home to bring you that one special ingredient (canned pumpkin)

Coming Back to Thankfulness

November 19, 2015 Leave a Comment

There’s an ice pack on my shoulder that I’ll soon switch out for a hot water bottle. That jump-twist-roll ended with a hard crunch on my right shoulder. I guess I’m not as invincible, nimble, or strong as I imagined.

Meanwhile, social media buzzes around the attacks on Paris and Beirut…on top of the crisis of the Syrian refugees. I guess they weren’t as invincible, nimble, or strong as they thought either.

Of course, there is no true comparison between my simple injury and the tragic loss of life. And if you think I’m belittling these terrible events, I apologize. Because these historic moments just remind us all once again how things are not quite right in this world. It’s easy to get caught up in this week’s dinners, Spring 2016 fashions, and Instagram’s hottest hashtag.

But then, something like this happens. Startling us for a moment out of our continuous scrolling through life.

I always get overwhelmed in the face of such attacks, such loss, such opinion, such Facebook profile picture overlay, such everything. Everyone saying everything. Everyone responding. Everyone adding to the noise. Rising up to support those who face this trauma.

What do I do in the face of this? Changing my profile picture on Facebook shows unity, but I want more than that. When life is disrupted by loss, I don’t want life to go back to the continuous scroll but it will. It always does. Always will.

I’m coming back to thankfulness.

As an American, November is almost synonymous with thankfulness and gratitude. In the next week, the web will be swamped with lists upon lists of gratitude. I can hardly wait. I can hardly wait to see the pause to celebrate the present.

Is it callous to celebrate life when so many grieve the loss of life recently or even in the past year or even another year without that beloved? I don’t think so.

Looking at my own year, I mostly see ashes where I had hoped to see a sunflower garden. I tended to those blooms so carefully but the flames came anyway. It’s hard to find thankfulness.

Right now, my injured shoulder aches dully, but when I move in a moment to take the cupcakes out of the oven, the ache turns sharp. That’s how loss is. And thankfulness feels bitter sometimes when loss is your walking companion.

A curious thing happens when we dwell on gratitude, though.

For me, it has to come in baby steps. Start small.

I can breathe.
My flatmate just boiled the kettle for tea.
Cupcakes cool on the rack.
Christmas Markets in Austria start this month.
My parents visited me last month.
The gift of skyping my grandmother while she was on her death bed.
Friendships and new growth sprung from an ended relationship.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit 7 new countries, experiencing growth in every journey.
A clearer view of my giftings because of my failings.
Terrorist attacks waking a sleeping world, desiring change and peace.
Refugees pouring from the Middle East and testing the hospitality of the rest of the world.
Facing challenge and finding what I’m made of.

So it may seem stupid or overrated or cliche, but sit down for a moment. Open up the notebook on your phone or grab a sticky note and a pen. Look at the most painful parts of your year, and magnify in on those events to see what came out of it. Where can you find thankfulness?

It’s there. If you look long enough, you’ll find hope along the serrated edges of pain.