Thanksgiving

For Americans living overseas who can't be back for Thanksgiving, this holiday brings back lots of sentimental and nostalgic memories. It must be one of the few holidays that all Americans participate regardless of race, immigrant status, national origin, religion, etc. It brings friends and family together with the one thing we all love most: food. I remember my mother struggling to make turkey when I was little as not only do turkeys do not exist in Japan but there's no tradition of baking huge things in the oven! We often had a mash of American, Japanese, and Chinese food on the dinner table and it was always the time to sit down really enjoy family time. 

I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with my family since 2005 which is actually a scary thought. For the past few years, I've been traveling and having "Thanksgiving dinner" with my travelmates. Last year was pretty sad considering it's impossible to find turkey or anything close to Thanksgiving food in Cambodia; but I did take a nice getaway trip with R and some friends and had some traditional Cambodian meals with some amazing sights so I suppose that counted as my Thanksgiving.

Fast forward to this year, of course Switzerland is not big on Thanksgiving either and I'm not part of the expat American cliques around here. But nevertheless, it's good to spend time with good friends, good company, and of course good beer :)  

Sidenote: This year I did have Thanksigiving dinner with my usual travel partner in crime, Nancy in Helsinki which was pretty darn amazing. I'll post those once I finish editing the pics! 

 

This is what I'm thankful for! 

Happiness is with people you care!