Thanksgiving used to be my least favorite holiday. I didn’t like turkey or potatoes and we had sauerkraut with our turkey dinner (blech!). So, as a preschooler Thanksgiving meant getting dressed up and eating a lot of stuff I didn’t like and there was absolutely no free candy. But now I’m older and have developed a taste for turkey, potatoes and sauerkraut. For the last few years, I have looked forward to Thanksgiving because it was a chance to see one or two of my siblings, who have this habit of living far away, and taking a taking a break from school.
This year, I’ve really experienced Thanksgiving in a new way. I haven’t heard a single news commentary about Thanksgiving traffic, which grocery stores will be open the latest and, unfortunately, the coverage of Black Friday shopping. The only things we have been talking about regarding Thanksgiving is how much we’re looking forward to it, what we’re cooking and what our families are doing. It’s been so nice! I even got to teach some of my students about the history of Thanksgiving.
Thursday night and Friday morning were reserved for phone calls to the family. I had my staple pasta dinner and Skyped with almost everyone. Saturday, I went to my first Thanksgiving dinner at Camp Henry. One of the teacher’s I work with was introduced to some guys at Camp Henry and they decided to throw a Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of foreign teachers here. As soon as we reached the barracks, we got a whiff of amazing, delicious and decidedly American food. I knew I was going to have a good meal as soon as I smelled it. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. A couple of the guys opened their rooms, so we could talk and hang out while the cooking was finished in the common room. Right before we ate the primary organizer, Michael, explained how he got the idea to do this. First he met one ESL teacher and then a few more and Michael and his friends decided to have some barbeques so that the American teachers could have a little taste of home. And then they decided to do it for Thanksgiving too. In his words, “We have access to all this stuff you all don’t and it’s the least we could do.” After a short prayer, the soldiers insisted we get in line first and Thanksgiving started. The food was AMAZING. Turkey, fried chicken, mac and cheese, stuffing, gravy, cornbread, collard greens, green beans and more. We just can’t get any of that food in the Korean grocery stores. And then there was dessert. Pecan pie, sweet potato pie, red velvet cake and the most delicious pound cake ever.
Afterwards, we hung out, played cards, drank and talked. All of our hosts were so kind and kept checking in and making sure we were comfortable. They also started a donation jar for the Christmas dinner. Everyone I thanked was so humble about everything. In general, Westerner’s here look out for each other, but this was going above and beyond.
On Sunday we had Thanksgiving with all the teachers from school. We ordered a turkey from a company here in Daegu and they delivered it with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. Everyone brought a side and we all got together in one of the teacher’s apartments. I attempted to make candied sweet potatoes but just got a mushy sugary mess. Luckily I was also making some garlic/lemon broccoli, which turned out well. Somehow I got lost going to the other apartment, so I was late and then we had to figure out how to carve the turkey etc. It wasn’t as fancy as the dinner at the base but it was with everyone I spend most of my time with here, so that was pretty nice. Afterwards a bunch of us sat around and played cards and drank wine.
I definitely missed everyone, but I can’t complain about my first Thanksgiving abroad! It was wonderful and I have so much to be thankful for this year:)
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