Thankful Turkeys

Thursday is Thanksgiving, only it doesn't feel like it because I don't have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off of work. In fact, I actually have a professional development symposium in Biel on Friday and Saturday, so that means kind-of work on Saturday too. In a holiday week, this almost feels unfair, except that there is no Thanksgiving in Switzerland. Some farmers celebrate a sort of Thanksgiving at harvest time, but it is nothing like American Thanksgiving. No giant family feasts or oversized turkeys or parades with larger-than-life floats and balloons, and most certainly not Black Friday. (It's a miracle if a store is open later than 8pm here, so opening doors anywhere between 12 and 5am would be unheard of.)

Normally, Thanksgiving isn't really my thing. Don't get me wrong, I have LOTS to be grateful for in my life. But I don't usually get excited for Thanksgiving. Partly because I'm a vegetarian, so I'm not exactly pumped for a giant bird in the middle of the table. It's not that I'm not an animal-rights vegetarian, but I don't like the smell or the look of it. Blech. I'm also not a huge fan of stuffing or cranberry sauce. (Sidenote: One Thanksgiving, my sister and I spent it alone together and ate Macaroni and Cheese as our Thanksgiving dinner. Probably one of my favorite Thanksgivings to date ;-D)

I do, however, find myself missing home and Thanksgiving when there's no chance for me to participate in it. And since I teach English Conversation, I get the chance to teach whatever I want, which includes teaching about American Holidays. And being able to talk about my culture's traditions and holidays makes me feel a little bit better :-)

So, in my English Conversation class today, we made Thankful Turkeys. I had a lot more planned, but due to some other circumstances, I only had two students today and shifted my plans a little bit (ahh, I love the flexibility of teaching!). I explained a little bit about about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and what the word means, and we talked about some typical foods that we eat--with Turkey being the biggest part. Then we made our Thankful Turkeys. Here was my example Thankful Turkey:

Here is what I said I am thankful for: 1. My year in Switzerland  2. Skype and Email  3. New friends (and old friends!) and 4. My family (I put Mom, Dad, Sara, and Edward to make it more detailed, but really, I'm thankful for all my extended family too!!)

My students thought it was funny that I put "My year in Switzerland" because they always live in Switzerland, so that's not so interesting. They also thought it was funny that I put "Skype and Email" (and weird that I didn't put Facebook--how uncool of me) until I explained that modern technology helps make the physical distance feel less far and a little more bearable.

Then my two students made their own thankful turkeys. One had trouble thinking of things, even when I offered to help translate into English (oops, too much pressure) and the other basically copied mine with a few minor changes ;-) They still got the point though, and they turned out adorably.

Today, I am thankful for a small class with just enough laughs to make my day brighter and opportunities for the quieter students to talk freely.
Today, I am thankful for doctors with steady hands and best friends who are healing well.
Today, I am thankful for everyone reading my blog, because that means you care, and that makes me feel loved.
Today, I am thankful for Switzerland and the amazing opportunities and experiences I am lucky enough to have.
Today I am thankful.

I guess I don't have to be in the US or surrounded by family to celebrate Thanksgiving :-)