A Skype Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving runs a close second behind the 4th of July as favorite holidays go. I love it for all the usual reasons: all the family is together, there is more delicious food than you can shake a stick at, and - if you're my family - at some point butter knives will pass mysteriously under the table, gravy will flow everywhere but on the potatoes, and stomachs will hurt equally from too much food and laughter. This year was my first being away from my family at Thanksgiving, and it was hard.

The holiday arrived with little to no fanfare. Luckily, Momma, in her infinite-mom-wisdom, sent along this in her care package:

If I couldn't go to Thanksgiving, We were going to do our darnedest to make it come to me.

Instead of waking up to the sweet and spicy aromas of turkey dinner, I woke up to the usual smoggy haze that hangs over Jakarta. Like clockwork, my sopir (driver) picked me up at 6:30, and we headed to Sebasa. That particular morning, I was set to have a meeting with the English staff about a textbook we're writing, followed up by a teacher training for the nonEnglish teaching staff. Not quite the same as settling in for a slow morning of parade watching. Selah.

I took my pumpkin and everything is represents and placed it in the center of our conference table to begin meeting number one. To my delight, all of my coworkers were well aware of the holiday and just as eager as I was to celebrate. (One actually chided me for not telling them earlier so they could prepare some food). Then - their idea - we all went around and said what we were the most thankful for before starting our meeting. Nice. Chokemeupwithtears nice.

Meeting number two followed similarly. This time, however, we added mango and papaya juices to the mix. Again, not quite apple cider, but the spirit was still there. It's hard to feel sorry for yourself when you're surrounded by so many blessings.

From work, I went directly to visit the kids at the Access program. I believe I talked about this program before. It's another State Department sponsored program that provides after-school English lessons for the underprivileged youth of Jakarta. Last time I visited them, I explained Columbus Day. This day, I was meeting up with Julianne, another EL Fellow, to tell them all about the great American holiday that is Thanksgiving. Armed with youtube videos, food pictures, and personal photos from Thanksgivings past, Jules and I entered a room full of 15 year-olds.


Jules and I tag teamed a two-hour long explanation of the history and traditions of the holiday. I brought my old friend the pumpkin, and Jules brought some dried cranberries that she'd bought from the western market near my apartment.

Highlights included leading the group in singing "Over the river, and through the woods..." because apparently this is a traditional Thanksgiving song. Mom, Dad? Thank goodness Jules family did follow this tradition, so she was able to lead the charge on that one. We also found a good video of the Macy's Day Parade and some folks napping in front of football on the tube. I wanted to make buckled hats and reenact the Mayflower voyage, but preparation time was limited and teaching methodologies were questioned. I did squeeze in hand-turkeys and made the entire class gobble. So there.

As class ended, the sun went down, and it was time for Jules and I to meet up with one more EL Fellow, Michael, and search out a turkey dinner. Jules (thank you thank you thank you) had done some research earlier in the week and found a Thanksgiving buffet at one of the five-star hotels in the city. True to their word, for a mere $30, there was turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. They were missing the gravy and stuffing, but it was close enough.

The three of us shared what we had to be thankful for in this new land. Then Micheal said grace, and we dug in with a pact to stuff ourselves silly in proper Thanksgiving style. It wasn't mom's homecooking, but washed down with a glass of wine and shared with friends, it was just what each of us needed. We closed the place down, eating plate after plate and talking about our fondest Thanksgiving traditions.





Finally, we piled into separate taxis and headed back to our homes to catch true Thanksgiving with our families.

I don't know what I would do without Skype, but I do know that I'd love to plant a big kiss on whomever created it. At one in the morning, I packed up my computer and headed down to my favorite 24-hour coffee shop: Zoe's. I spent the next hour propped up in my Aunt's kitchen in Pennsylvania and my Grandparents' living room in Florida, as family member after family member sat down in front of the camera to say hello and Happy Thanksgiving. The sounds and spirits were there, laughter and catching up. It was as close to perfect as I could as for. Like my Aunt Mary Lou said, "If only you had smellaskype."

Well, I didn't have the smells, the Rockettes, or someone sliding a butter knife onto my lap, but I did have family both old and new and a list of things to be grateful for long enough to span the distance between them.