The Wonderful Tradition of Thanksgiving Celebrated on the Other Side of the World

When you think about it, Thanksgiving is a pretty amazing holiday. Its a pretty safe bet that 99.99% or America sits down to Thanksgiving dinner with their family. My family got together. My Mom and Dad, brother and sister and their families, and my Mom's parents. I was not there of course as I am literally on the other side of the world. I cannot describe how much I want to be there. But at the same time, I cannot describe the satisfaction I feel from being here in Nepal. Everyday is getting better as I adjust to the culture and build relationships.
My Thanksgiving dinner was shared with two other American families who are working in Kathmandu. It was for all of us our first Thanksgiving in Nepal. We ate the traditional foods: mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie with whip cream. We even had spiced cider. Now I don't care much for spiced cider, but today it tasted amazing.
We did not, however, have cranberry sauce. Which is really fine with me, I don't like it. But we also did not have TURKEY. There was no turkey to be had in Kathmandu. We had chicken instead. There wasn't a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. No Cowboys football (and thank God there wasn't a Bengals game). There was no tryptophan-induced nap after lunch and cold turkey sandwiches for dinner (or for the week after for that matter). I can let that all pass though, because I am extremely grateful for what we did have.
Its an interesting thing to share something as sacred and family-oriented as Thanksgiving with people I only met two weeks ago. But it is because of the spirit of Thanksgiving that this can be accomplished, because we are thankful for each other. Thankful that we can support each other as we all adjust to Nepal. So this Thanksgiving I am thankful for new friends and new relationships being formed in the hands of God.
On the side note, I did do something today that I have never done on Thanksgiving, or ever to be honest. I attended a Badminton match. I had to keep my chuckles to myself. To us, badminton is a game children play on summer days in the back yard. And that is if they get bored of croquet. Here, however, its an entirely different game. They take it seriously. In Latin America, everywhere you turn there are people playing soccer. In Nepal, everywhere you turn there are people playing badminton. Everyday I walk past a sports club with grown men playing badminton. We laughed at the sport being in the Olympics. But Nepalis don't laugh. They cheer.