Week 15: Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as it seems to be the only holiday not completely completely overrun by Hallmark consumer madness (well, maybe in terms of food, but people have to buy that anyway). Growing up, my parents used to host a HUGE thanksgiving meal that was part-American part-Vietnamese. On top of the turkey and stuffing, my mom would cook spring rolls and Vietnamese shrimp salad. For my immigrant parents, Thanksgiving was a particularly poignant holiday. It allowed them to give thanks for their new life, as well as take part in a distinctly "American" custom and assert their new national identity. Much of the time I have to remind myself that for my parents, the "American Dream" remains a vivid and persuasive image. On my part, I love what Thanksgiving for what it does: gathers family together for a meal. In the throes of modern life (with its fast-paced life, never-ending desires and insecurities, perpetual consumption, and tightly-packed schedules), one has to stop, look around, and be grateful for what one has every once in a while.

I love Thanksgiving, and this year is no different. L and M threw a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, catered by a local restaurant. About 10 people came, all slightly-homesick Americans, except for MR's Italian friend A, who spent her first Thanksgiving with us (MR is N's comrade-in-arms in the Ho Chi Minh Trail documentary project). After weeks of the poultry ban in Vietnam (can't even get eggs here), the imported American turkey tasted fantastic (and was beautifully carved by MR). The only tradition missing was American football--instead, we all collapsed in the living room and watched highlights of the English Premier League Football (that's soccer to you, gringo) and played board games.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year--I am healthy, in a really good place in my life. I am thankful for the continued health of my family and friends. I am making progress on my dissertation, and embarked on a overseas adventure. I spend most of my time thinking about what I don't have, and forget just how good I have it. My parents are still happily together, I have really great friends on both sides of the world, and I have a great relationship with my sister. Not many people could boast all that. Things are looking well.

After dinner, I received a phone call from my mom, wishing me a happy Thanksgiving. Because my sister and I were on the other side of the pond, my parents didn't throw their usual turkey bash. I felt a little homesick, and missed my mom and dad. They've been taking our absence particularly hard, especially my mom. Holidays can be difficult to deal without family. I wonder how I will get by when Christmas rolls around...

My oldest friend in Vietnam, Anh Tang, got married on Tuesday. (Weddings in the US normally take place during the weekends, but in Vietnam, more traditional couples would marry on the "most auspicious" day according to a geomancer or fortune teller.) The wedding itself was small, so I felt like part of the family. I travelled with the groom's family with gifts to the bride's house to officially ask for her hand. The Vietnamese secular ritual lasted 5 minutes (even shorter than an American justice-of-the-peace ceremony)--the bride and groom bow to the ancestors, bow to their parents, and then bow to each other. They both looked so happy--no one deserves it more than they. All their family and friends came to wish them well, and after the ceremony, we all celebrated at the reception held a the Army Hotel. Call me a closeted romantic, but it makes me happy to see people find each other.

To all my friends and family everywhere--Happy Thanksgiving, and I miss you all!