Gobble Gobble
So here I am, an American in Prague on Thanksgiving. Trying to find a turkey was nearly an impossible task. But gravy - sheeeit... with all the meat consumed in this country, finding gravy is, well, gravy.
I've taught almost all my lessons this week on Thanksgiving. Gone through some articles outlining the Pilgrims' voyage and Squanto's help. It's been met with surprise and ready interest by my students. Of course I talk about the annual Macy's parade, American Football and stuffing our faces silly with turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and apple pies, and in my house, a phatty-daddy chocolate cake.
Yet during my lessons, a pretty obvious irony became evident. Before the Pilgrims came to the New World, they went to Holland. They were basically saying "Screw you, England, we must be allowed to do things the way we want to do them." Then, after 9 years in Holland, their children had learned Dutch and had becomed attached to the Dutch way of life, so they left and came to the New World. So they were saying, "Well, we wanted freedom so we can do what we want, but we don't want our children to have the freedoms to do what they want, we want them to do what we want them to do." A tad ironic, no? It was pretty immediately evident to me how that irony has played out over the last 400 years in the American psyche.
In any case, back to the here and now, I found a turkey leg today at the local grocery, and put a whole turkey on reserve with a specialty shop. However, the smallest turkey they have to offer is 8 kilograms. For the uninitiated, that's 17 pounds. That's a lotta turkey. With my meat-eating roommate leaving town for the weekend, and my other close friends vegetarians (to be honest, I'm really not sure how they're surviving in this, the meat-lovers paradise), I don't see a 17 pound turkey being a wise purchase.
With regards to homesickness, it has come and gone in the 3 months I've been here. Moments of each, which is clearly to be expected. However, teaching lessons on Thanksgiving and family get-togethers with massive amounts of food, NFL and Home Alone on TV, these past couple days have been pretty tough. I did find a place today which sells Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Kraft Mac&Cheese, though, so that may very well be my breakfast and lunch tomorrow to celebrate my American-hood. I also bought a bottle of California wine, with the intention of washing down the turkey with it. But I found myself diving into it tonight. I guess a return trip to the store will be in order tomorrow. Can't eat turkey and not have something American to wash it down. Czech beer is fantastic - second to none - but it's not American.
So, I wish all my friends and family a happy Thanksgiving. May the things you are thankful for remain with you in the coming year.
Ahoj!
I've taught almost all my lessons this week on Thanksgiving. Gone through some articles outlining the Pilgrims' voyage and Squanto's help. It's been met with surprise and ready interest by my students. Of course I talk about the annual Macy's parade, American Football and stuffing our faces silly with turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and apple pies, and in my house, a phatty-daddy chocolate cake.
Yet during my lessons, a pretty obvious irony became evident. Before the Pilgrims came to the New World, they went to Holland. They were basically saying "Screw you, England, we must be allowed to do things the way we want to do them." Then, after 9 years in Holland, their children had learned Dutch and had becomed attached to the Dutch way of life, so they left and came to the New World. So they were saying, "Well, we wanted freedom so we can do what we want, but we don't want our children to have the freedoms to do what they want, we want them to do what we want them to do." A tad ironic, no? It was pretty immediately evident to me how that irony has played out over the last 400 years in the American psyche.
In any case, back to the here and now, I found a turkey leg today at the local grocery, and put a whole turkey on reserve with a specialty shop. However, the smallest turkey they have to offer is 8 kilograms. For the uninitiated, that's 17 pounds. That's a lotta turkey. With my meat-eating roommate leaving town for the weekend, and my other close friends vegetarians (to be honest, I'm really not sure how they're surviving in this, the meat-lovers paradise), I don't see a 17 pound turkey being a wise purchase.
With regards to homesickness, it has come and gone in the 3 months I've been here. Moments of each, which is clearly to be expected. However, teaching lessons on Thanksgiving and family get-togethers with massive amounts of food, NFL and Home Alone on TV, these past couple days have been pretty tough. I did find a place today which sells Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Kraft Mac&Cheese, though, so that may very well be my breakfast and lunch tomorrow to celebrate my American-hood. I also bought a bottle of California wine, with the intention of washing down the turkey with it. But I found myself diving into it tonight. I guess a return trip to the store will be in order tomorrow. Can't eat turkey and not have something American to wash it down. Czech beer is fantastic - second to none - but it's not American.
So, I wish all my friends and family a happy Thanksgiving. May the things you are thankful for remain with you in the coming year.
Ahoj!
posted by David at 10:57 PM
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