Giving Thanks

Yesterday evening we celebrated an Italianized Halal Thanksgiving at the University, making this the 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Celebration planned and organized by yours truly!  We were able to secure a halal turkey from the local butcher which was cooked by the family that runs the café under the castle.  The funny thing about ordering a turkey in Italy is that since it's such a rare request they are ridiculously expensive, (we're talking 50-70 euros) and they seem to interpret "stuffed" as "meat-stuffed" so our turkey had A LOT of halal sausage inside.  So that was fun.  And delicious.

italian sausage-stuffed halal turkey

green bean casserole

One of our administrative staff was in the States last week so I asked her to bring me back 2 boxes of Stove Top, for authenticity's sake, you know?  Ok, last year I made stuffing from scratch and that was a huge commitment so believe me with my schedule that wasn't happening again.  (In fact the President thanked me for the Stove Top because he said his mom used to make it when he was a kid.)  Seriously though, 5 minutes and you've got stuffing.  A Thanksgiving miracle!  What I spent most time on was my green bean casserole.  Green beans, cream of mushroom soup, but French's french-fried onions are non-existent here.  Hence I spent about an hour slicing, breading and frying those little buggers, but I must say it was a big hit at dinner.  One of my friends at school, an Iranian MBA student, was assigned mashed potatoes but he'd never made them before, so I made sure to send him an informative youtube video and they turned out great!  Oh, and the university's founder made a speech thanking me for my initiative in putting the party together.  *Blushes*

(back) Lindsay, me, Taraneh

(front) Javad, Fatemeh, Jennifer

our pilgrims and indians

roommate pic!

I'd definitely say it was a success -- another year of students, staff, professors and administration from all cultural backgrounds coming together to give thanks and share a meal.  It's a beautiful thing.   Really though, there's something inexplicable about the ability of food to bring people together, to make someone feel at home, to bring back memories, to create a family atmosphere, to inspire camaraderie.  I find it fun to share our staple cultural celebrations and traditions with people who have never experienced them before.  For instance my roommate Lindsay and I were invited to our neighbor's place for coffee this week.  There is a Moroccan family living on the first floor of our apartment building and they're some of the nicest people we've ever met.  Their daughter was mesmerized when I told them we'd be celebrating Thanksgiving, a holiday they'd only ever seen on TV and in movies.  

feeling like we're in Morocco.

They invited us to come over today and have cous cous with them, as the mother prepares it every Friday afternoon.  (How great is that?? It's like Spaghetti Thursday or Pizza Fridays in American families!)  Let me just say this was hands-down the best cous cous I've ever had in my life.  Not to mention that being in their apartment is like stepping into an exotic oasis with floor-to-ceiling tiles, colorful textiles and pillows on a wall-length couch, a running fountain and several stuffed pheasants mounted to the wall.  

north africa, just south of our apartment

cross-cultural gluttony.

The mom brought out a HUGE bowl of cous cous with veggies and lamb and everyone ate from their own corner of the cous cous mountain with big spoons.  In a way I felt like this was another sort of Thanksgiving meal, coming together with our neighbors that hardly knew us but wanted to share their culture with us without asking anything in return.  I'm feeling very thankful these days, for family and friends that support me (and take time to read my blog), for the opportunity to be living and studying in Italy, for getting the internship in New York.  Oh, and getting an email from my professor today stating his mother will be happy to host me for 4 months in NYC rent-free in her Central Park West apartment.  I am further convinced that there are an abundance of gracious individuals in this world, many of which I've seemed to find in the most unexpected places.  Yes, I'd say thankful would be the minimum expression of the way I'm feeling right now.