So Much Thanks to International Friends
Tomorrow, I have a German exam… it’s not quite the way I envision a perfect Thanksgiving. Yet there are so many things to be thankful for.
- I am thankful for witnessing the strength of the Vietnamese girl who sits next to me in German class. We are the same age. She recently became a single mother to her three-year-old. She speaks German as well as me (ie barely) and has no family here.
- I am admiring the tolerance of the Turkish girl who sits beside us. She worked in a sock factory for seven years before she married a Turkish man who runs a kabob stand here. She moved to Germany two years ago. She is 23.
- I am valuing the friendship of these girls even though we can barely communicate. We can laugh and smile. They can show me pictures on their cell phones and gasp when I tell them I don’t have a cell phone.
- I am thankful for passing around the food we bring with one another. They are often shocked by the things I snack on like raw almonds. And when I was eating a regular old mushroom from the grocery store, the Vietnamese girl panicked. She thought I was poisoning myself. Over and over, she kept telling me that I had to cook the mushrooms first. I said it was okay to eat raw. I patted her hand. She shouted for the teacher.
- And tomorrow, instead of sitting down to turkey and mashed potatoes, I’ll be sitting with these girls. They don’t even know what they’ve taught me. But if they could understand the American Thanksgiving tradition of tomorrow, I would tell them thank you because I am so thankful to know them.
Have you found yourself being thankful in a non-traditional way or for non-traditional things this season?
(Image of a German courtyard from about a week ago)
Keep it green and simple with 2 more ideas:
November 25th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Wow. Those are some interesting stories. It’s always great to hear from others. :) Happy Thanksgiving.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I have really mixed feelings about tomorrow. I am used to cooking a big meal and spending time with friends and family, but so far we have nothing planned. My husband and I both have to work tomorrow and we have German class at night. We cancelled last week because I wasn’t feeling well, so we can’t cancel again.
I am sad to be missing the festivities with my entire family back home, but at the same time, I know that the meal is not what it’s about. We have many wonderful new friends here to spend time with this weekend, and even though the holiday won’t be the same, I am trying to keep in mind what the true sprit behind the holiday is all about.
Good luck on your exam!
Katie
November 25th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Katie,
Have you looked or searched to see if there are any places in Berlin where other americans may gather to celebrate thanksgiving? We have some close friends driving to Dallas from Wichita to spend thanksgiving with us. I told her, she should really appreciate and take it in this year as this will be her last thanksgiving in America since next year she will be living in Germany. I think it took her back abit, because she has been so busy preparing for this year I don’t think she really has had time to think about it.
She said yea but next year she can celebrate it with her family. I said yes but over there you wont get the day off and everyone will be at work. She said we will just have to wait and celebrate it on the weekend, somehow I just dont think it will be the same.
I am thankful that her family are both willing and excited to learn about some of the American holidays such as thanksgiving and the 4th of July.
I am thankful for my wife getting me the rosetta stone software to learn German, as I have tried different methoods and this has been the best and easiest software if have encountered so far on learning german.
I am thankful that this will be the last year I have to put up with the crazyness of Black friday LOL.
November 26th, 2009 at 12:52 am
What a great post! And I think *I* just gasped about the cell phone. ;-) I’m sorry you’ll be spending Thanksgiving taking a German exam but it sounds like you’ll be surrounded by people and things that make you remember all you are thankful for. I do hope you manage an authentic America meal…you’ll have earned it after the exam. :-) Have a wonderful day, and good luck on the test!
November 26th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I am thankful to have the freedom to use Thanksgiving Day any way we like it. We are not huge meal gorgers or power shoppers on the day after (we avoid malls like the plague). I also tend to be the odd one out who does not believe in celebrating the historical inaccuracies we are all taught to recite about the Pilgrims.
I am happy, though, to be a citizen of a country that has fought to improve itself in growths and spurts over the past few centuries. And, like you Katie, I really like to think of all the communities of the world that have contributed culture, commerce and their own citizens to this great American experiment. I am truly grateful for their hard work and sacrifices. And on this day, I am thankful that I can reach out in the world to talk to far away friends of many nationalities much easier than many previous generations of Americans. Thanks for giving, world.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Thanks for reminding us of the real reasons we have to be thankful. Your observations about your new friends touched my heart.