{"id":4871,"date":"2019-11-22T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bracketyackrc.wpengine.com\/?p=4871"},"modified":"2019-11-22T08:00:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T08:00:07","slug":"chapter-5-in-which-i-get-an-outsiders-perspective-on-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=4871","title":{"rendered":"Derry Girl for a Semester: Chapter 5: In Which I Get an Outsider\u2019s Perspective on Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Charissa Roberson<\/em><\/p>\n

As November draws to a close, I\u2019m missing the normal festivities that would be picking up around this time of year in preparation for Thanksgiving.\u00a0 Here in Northern Ireland, I won\u2019t get a break or even a day off\u2014let alone a feast! Given the fact that Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday, I was curious to see what other people thought of our end-of-November turkey feast and the various traditions surrounding it.\u00a0 I asked a few of my friends from around the world to share their views, in an attempt to piece together an outsider\u2019s perspective on Thanksgiving.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs it like a fake Christmas?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the first things I discovered is that our Thanksgiving meal is quite similar to a NI Christmas dinner.\u00a0 Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce\u2026this is a traditional meal for the December holidays, putting into context the above comment that Thanksgiving seems like \u201ca fake Christmas.\u201d\u00a0 Given the similarity of these two meals, my friend from NI didn\u2019t understand why we would have Thanksgiving just a month before Christmas, when we would effectively do the whole thing over again.\u00a0 Another friend said she\u2019d heard Thanksgiving was a much bigger deal than Christmas in the US, \u201cwhich may or may not be true, I have no idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What about the food itself?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do we have any traditional dishes that seem delicious to us, but are just plain bizarre to non-Americans?\u00a0 My two friends from NI and Korea, while scrolling through pictures of a Thanksgiving feast, stumbled across one of the most beloved dishes in the holiday spread.\u00a0 \u201cMold?\u201d They took a closer look. \u201cSweet potato with marshmallows\u2014that literally looks like mold.\u201d Another friend from Germany wondered why you would need an entire turkey for just one family, leading me to explain the wonderful notion of turkey sandwiches, which can keep you fed for days after Thanksgiving is over.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, the idea of Thanksgiving being a time for friends, family, and thankfulness has been transmitted across the globe.\u00a0 The more I chat with my friends about Thanksgiving, the more I realize how much I will miss it this year. It is truly a special time when we come together, share good food, and spend time rejoicing for all the good things we have.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As you all return to your friends and family this break, please eat some turkey for me and enjoy the festivities to the fullest!\u00a0 Besides, while I may not be home in America to celebrate, that doesn\u2019t mean my friends and I can\u2019t get a turkey, gather around the table, and bring a bit of Thanksgiving to Derry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Charissa Roberson As November draws to a close, I\u2019m missing the normal festivities that would be picking up around this time of year in preparation for Thanksgiving.\u00a0 Here in Northern Ireland, I won\u2019t get a break or even a day off\u2014let alone a feast! Given the fact that Thanksgiving is a strictly American…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folks-at-noke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}