What Do You Do for Thanksgiving? Send Us Your Stories

Jessica Rapp | Nov 13, 2013 5:00 pm | 4 comments | 1964 reads

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Beijing can be tough if you've just arrived in the city. You may find yourself away from friends and family, without an oven to whip up that corn bread casserole and turkey, miles away from all those inflatable balloons at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

We don't want to see your Thanksgiving happiness do this.

Stay with us in the next few weeks and we'll show you how to do Thanksgiving Beijing-style. Yes, there are turkeys you can order to be sent to your house, and some are even pre-stuffed and cooked. There are ways to whip up that pumpkin pie without an oven, and if all else fails, Beijing has no shortage of potlucks and buffets to attempt to satisfy (but never, ever completely) a yearning for mom's home cooking.

NPR recently announced on their Facebook that they're looking for stories from American expats for their Protojournalist blog regarding how they celebrate Thanksgiving abroad. If you want to participate, you can email protojournalist@npr.org with a 50-100 word essay about how you'll be spending Thanksgiving. We at the Beijinger also want to hear your turkey tales, so please leave us a comment below about your past Thanksgivings or what you plan to do this year. We want to know things like, if you're not American, do you still celebrate Thanksgiving? What was your first Thanksgiving like? Do you prefer to go out and eat or stay at home? Do you do anything special for your Beijing Thanksgiving that you wouldn't do at home? What do you plan to eat, and what ingredients you'll have to subsitute to make your favorite dish?

Field any of your questions to our Forum, and we hope to get you answers either on our blog or through a direct reply. We can't wait to hear what you have to say.

Photo: |rocket surgery| on Flickr

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Re: What Do You Do for Thanksgiving? Send Us Your Stories
Posted Nov 18, 2013 9:04am by britomart

Yeah... I get that it's meaningful for Americans/Canadians to be surrounded by lots of other nationalities--but I've often wondered what OTHER nationalities think of being invited to such an American/Canadian holiday... Isn't it kind of like inviting them to celebrate being American/Canadian--when they're not? I mean... at least for American Thanksgiving, it's kind of all about celebrating American history, culture, the benefits of living in that country, the good things Americans have, etc.

And when I say I wonder about what other nationalities think, I mean nationalities other than Chinese... Most of my (younger) Chinese friends, colleagues, acquaintances seem to consider all holidays a chance to have a big meal and "celebrate", without any idea exactly of what they're celebrating--and so Western holidays adopted by the younger Chinese generation kind of lose all significance here. I've gone to I don't know how many "holiday celebrations" with Chinese friends, that were all pretty much the same. Eat a lot, drink a lot, talk a lot... I forget--what is it we're celebrating again?

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Re: What Do You Do for Thanksgiving? Send Us Your Stories
Posted Nov 16, 2013 7:24am by admin
(Reply to a previous comment)

britomart wrote:

My immediate thought was... Why would anyone other than Americans (and Canadians) celebrate Thanksgiving? It's kind of linked to American/Canadian history. Why would any other nationalities celebrate it?

 

yeah, kinda weird ... but restaurants across town are packed on this holiday (and there just ain't that many americans/canadians here) ...

 

Many of my Chinese classmates from when I was studying in the US get together at Thanksgiving, the same reason they celebrate Christmas.

 

I guess its the same as what Mexicans think when people around the world celebrate Cinco De Mayo

or when we expats get all excited about Chinese New Year or eat mooncakes at the Moon festival

it's kina fun t o adopt holidays that you have no particular stake in

we need more reasons to celebrate in this world!

 

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Re: What Do You Do for Thanksgiving? Send Us Your Stories
Posted Nov 15, 2013 7:11pm by jmrapp
(Reply to a previous comment)

Probably the best thing about celebrating Thanksgiving in Beijing for the first time for me was that I was celebrating it with people from all over the world (including my Chinese friends)! It was great to be share that holiday culture with others, as well as get in on some family holiday recipes from friends from Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, etc. Wink

Thanksgiving is basically just about sharing a big meal with good friends and family, which coincidentally makes for a perfect celebration of bonds formed in Beijing, which are some of the closest friendships I've had. There are traditions and history that come with it of course, but that's what makes it more interesting.

Re: What Do You Do for Thanksgiving? Send Us Your Stories
Posted Nov 15, 2013 2:33pm by britomart

My immediate thought was... Why would anyone other than Americans (and Canadians) celebrate Thanksgiving? It's kind of linked to American/Canadian history. Why would any other nationalities celebrate it?

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)