Monday, December 04, 2006

Thanksgiving here in Khartoum

A friend asked how our "African version of Thanksgiving" went. Well, our Thanksgiving this year was African because...um, we had it in Africa? Otherwise, there was no trace of Africa. We took advantage of David’s business trip to the US the week before Thanksgiving, and the good humor of relatives (thanks for shopping Nicole and Stephen!) to supply ourselves with everything we needed for an American Thanksgiving. David put a 14 lb. frozen turkey into his suitcase, and it arrived still frozen solid. Good thing, too, because the special order turkeys at our nearby grocery store cost $200!

I’ve wondered what our kids will tell people our family’s Thanksgiving traditions are. “We always tried to invite Americans to Thanksgiving” sounds odd but is true. Early on in our overseas experience we tried inviting people from other countries, but for them an invitation to Thanksgiving is merely a curiosity while to Americans abroad, an invitation to Thanksgiving is a lifesaver in a sea of otherness. This year we had two American friends over.

And, of course, the tradition (inherited from my dad) of pie for breakfast the next morning continues.

1 comment:

Nate said...

It still sounds pretty darn exotic. Also tasty.