Thursday, November 24, 2011

Who's the Turkey?

Since several readers enjoyed learning something about the Thai language in the last post, I thought I would repost this story about my first Thanksgiving in Thailand.

I had the good fortune to live and work in Bangkok many years ago. I was the only American in my office, and of course Thanksgiving is not a Thai holiday, so when Thanksgiving came, I took the afternoon off to go have dinner with other Americans.

That morning at the office, I was chatting with some colleagues. In an attempt to bridge cultures, I joked, “Even though this is an American holiday, we can all take a moment to think about all the things we have to be grateful for. For example, you can be thankful that the pilgrims didn’t land in Thailand!”

Everyone laughed politely and I was congratulating myself on the success of my cross-cultural humor, when several people asked at once, “What’s a pilgrim?”

I knew then I had a lot to learn!

No matter where you are in the world, count your blessings and Happy Thanksgiving!

15 comments:

  1. How funny really! Different cultures, different notions. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
    May you have a blessed and beautiful day! Stay well.

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving Galen for you truly are a "PEARL"....

    In gratitude to humor,
    Nancy

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  3. This was very cute! I loved the humor and I am smiling. wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving Day too.

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  4. Hahaha! I so enjoy these little episodes that happen because of culture and/or language differences! I miss those sometimes, I find them so enriching.
    We don' celebrate Thanksgiving here, but I think it's a very nice tradition. So happy Thanksgiving to you, too! :)

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  5. This made me chuckle......hope you had a grand holiday....Galen.

    xo

    Jo

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  6. Happy Thanksgiving! We are going to celebrate tomorrow with a traditional dinner with some American friends...today is not a holiday here either.

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  7. You're so right; we should often count our blessings and Thanksgiving can be celebrated all over the world.

    Hope you had a wonderful day.
    CJ xx

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  8. Excellent post. I think you gave me an idea for one of my own posts. Happy Thanksgiving season to you.

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  9. Galen,
    I am counting my blessings by offering a beautiful gift to all who comment on my blog post this weekend. www.patriciaswisdom.com

    I hope you will come by - it is just so beautiful it fills me with joy

    I loved your story....and it made me laugh. My Mother a Canadian, who's birthday often fell on Thanksgiving Day, always put her celebration ahead of the pilgrim story too! Thanksgiving is in October! with all the trimmings!

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  10. hi Galen - happy Thanksgiving to you. While many cultures don't celebrate Thanksgiving per se, many do have Thanksgiving, harvest, gratitude type holiday and rituals. Oh - all without pilgrims of course:)

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  11. That is funny...laughter is good and laughing at yourselves better..

    Happy Thanksgiving...

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  12. Happy Thanksgiving Galen, I hope you have a wonderful weekend. If I make it to Australia in January I hope to remember your words here, thanks for the lesson! :-)

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  13. What a funny story; I guess not every one in the world is familar with the pilgrims. Hope you had a great thanksgiving!

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  14. A nice experience in Thailand at Thanksgiving. I got a chuckle from your post :-) It's been a wonderful holiday and hope yours was too!

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  15. Thanks to all for your lovely comments!

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