So, my original intent was to seek out Starbucks at the airport and chow down at McDonald’s to get my required does of American and, indeed, consumerism. Thankfully, my friend SC, who’s spent time in the US, was having a Thanksgiving dinner for some of his family and friends. “An excuse to party,” he said. So, I was able to have a Thanksgiving Day dinner and it was wonderful. Of course, as with any Thanksgiving, a few bumps along the way.
First was, what to eat. Like I said above, turkeys aren’t easy to find. So, it was decided that we’d have a full chicken since a bird was necessary and you can carve a chicken. Then, SC said his sister knew someone at one of the US military bases near Brussels (it’s the headquarters of NATO)….but, as with most things American, all the birds there were literally too big to fit into SC’s oven. So, it was back to chicken. In the end, though, SC was able to get a turkey that would fit from a poultry store earlier in the week. It was a “real” bird that the butcher killed, de-plucked, and dressed for our Thursday feast.
It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a transportation problem of some sort…since SC and his other guests had to work on Thursday (and, in theory, I should have, too, but I had cornbread to make) Thanksgiving was to begin around 7:00/7:30. Now SC lives south of me, near the university so I had to either take the bus or the tram. I chose the tram because it’s closer to pick up from my apartment and, well, I just like the trams better.
Evidently there was an accident on the other track and this resulted in my tram stopping at the end of Avenue Louise before it makes the turn to head towards where SC lives. No announcement about the problem or what to do. Everyone just got off and dispersed. Now, I knew where I was and I could have walked to SC’s, but it would have been a hike and the weather was being very Belgian – rain, no rain, lots of rain, light rain, no rain, wind. After a helpful call from SC’s brother I made my way to a major intersection – Place Flagey – and got on the bus from there and made it with time to spare before dinner was to begin.
Along with the traditional fixin’s, we had the traditional box o’wine, and SC’s sister and brother even tried to stream some American Football to watch. Evidently a lot of others in Belgium were doing the same, so we could only see one play, but it was enough. (It was the Cowboys and Raiders, so I really didn’t care about the game.)
I did some explaining about what Thanksgiving is. SC, his sister, and brother have spent time in the US, but the others at the table hadn’t. The most fun I had explaining the holiday was actually to my landlords.
Before brining my cornbread contribution to Thanksgiving dinner I made a test batch the weekend before. Now, the recipe makes about 12 muffins, so I decided to share some with my landlords – a nice Dutch-Belgian family. A few days later I ran into them and they said the loved the cornbread, but still didn’t know what Thanksgiving was. I started with the pilgrims and Indians, then with Lincoln and the Civil War, and finally when I said, “well, it’s basically based on a harvest festival” then they got it, said some stuff in Dutch and nodded. So, cultural ideas were exchanged. (They’ve helped share the Saint Nicholas story and the Christmas-time traditions.)
The Christmas season is in full swing here and that will be the focus of my next post….needless to say David Sedaris has prepared me for the tradition here and I’m even playing my part as one of the “Black Petes” by hiding some of the family's gifts ahead of 6 December when gifts are exchanged.
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