Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

 Having now spent my third (non-consecutive) Thanksgiving in Germany, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on how I've been fortunate enough to celebrate this classic American holiday each year:

2010
 I started the day by continuing in my quest to introduce as many Germans as possible to the greatness of Rice Krispie treats.  These were well-received by my co-workers, and I had the amusement of hearing them all try to pronounce Thanksgiving (Considering how my times my German pronunciation has been mocked, I have no misgivings whatsoever in taking amusement in their mistakes).
After work I headed to the home of the American family I knew from church who were hosting a big dinner. I didn't really know anyone, and, shortly after arriving, I realized I was one of the few people there that was neither a member of the military nor a spouse/kid of a military member..."Hi, I work at a peace organization..."
Still, it was pleasant, the food was delicious, and I got to chat about international law with someone who works for the UN.  Because, really, what says 'Happy Thanksgiving' better than international law discussions?


But the revelry didn't end there.  This year I was lucky enough to get to celebrate twice.  Saturday I headed to Kelly's house for 'Smug Married Couples' Thanksgiving.'  Okay, so they really weren't smug, but I couldn't resist the Bridget Jones reference, and it was me, 4 married couples, and 12 kids (10 of which were age 5 and under).  It was intense.
And the food.  Oh, the food!  The highlights included rekindling my relationship with green bean casserole and discovering my love for sweet potatoes.
And, we played Cranium!

The bounty.

This picture in no way reveals how excited I was to be playing this game.

2008
I had taken a few days off from the girls' home and traveled to Hamburg to visit Anna and Sara, my two Swedish friends who were also doing an FSJ.
On Thursday morning, as we were discussing our plans for the day, they told me they were wanting to go to IKEA for Swedish meatballs. The fact that it was Thanksgiving had actually escaped my mind, so I wasn't too bothered by the idea of taking a trip to a furniture store.
But, lo and behold, their actual plan was surprising me with a trip to an American-style restaurant that was hosting a Thanksgiving buffet.  Those tricky Swedes.
After paying an exorbitant price, we were welcomed to a buffet filled with all the typical Thanksgiving foods, or, at least, what the Germans think are typical Thanksgiving foods.  My favorites were the muffins as desserts (muffins are inescapably connected with America here) and the bowl of giant marshmallows (apparently they missed the memo that they are traditionally cooked with the sweet potatoes).  The food was great, but I was much more thankful for the thoughtfulness of my friends in staking out the place and doing their best to make me feel at home.

Please take notice of the abundance of American flags as well as the turkey trying to bite my skull.

 2007
My program in Berlin had classes on this day, but luckily Thursdays were field trip days for my morning German language class.  And this time we took a trip to Deutsche Welle!  Deutsche Welle is basically the German version of the BBC and is therefore awesome.
[Sidenote to illustrate the coolness of Deutsche Welle: their website has these time-traveling programs/games where you can learn German by helping the hero Anna stop those who want to hinder Germany's reunification, learn French by helping the hero Eva against her opponents who want to take France back to the time of Napoleon, and learn Polish by helping Suzanna stop the gangsters wanting to prevent Poland from joining the EU.]
Needless to say,  getting a tour of an international radio/TV news studio was amazing.

I'm pretty pumped about my DW swag.

From there, I headed to my afternoon class, which was about the multi-culturalism of Germany/Berlin, and this class too was having a field trip.  So, I headed to the depths of eastern Berlin, where our class consisted of eating at a Vietnamese restaurant and hearing about the city's Vietnamese community.  Not a bad way to spend class-time.
Then, thought, it was really Thanksgiving time.  My friends (mostly Americans plus a Bulgarian and a Portuguese) and I had planned a potluck, and it was one of the most fun Thanksgivings I've ever had.  And, for being entirely cooked by a bunch of 20 year-olds, the food was quite delicious.  The most amusing menu item was the choice of meat.  Whole turkeys are hard to come by here, so instead, my friend bought a rotisserie chicken that are sold ready-to-eat all around the city.

Friends and a feast.

If there's one thing I've learned from my overseas Thanksgiving experiences, it's this: you can take the glutton out of America, but you can't take the America out of the glutton.