Thanksgiving

Today is Jerry's birthday and he got a wonderful, wonderful birthday surprise from the US Consulate. We were invited to the US Consulate Thanksgiving Dinner! He had been hoping hoping hoping to be invited, but when email invitations were sent out last week, none were for us. (We knew they had been sent because some friends received their invite last Tuesday.) I guess enough people declined that they could start inviting from the 2nd tier list. I was just lamenting this afternoon that this would be my first Thanksgiving without turkey, but Hooray! there will be turkey after all.

Of course, Thanksgiving is an American holiday but some of the churches here recognize it by celebrating on a chosen Sunday in November. For one of my friends, it was this past Sunday at her church.

Today another American and I were explaining day-after-Thanksgiving sales and Doorbusters to one of our local friends. As I was talking about it, I realized how crazy Americans are as a consumer society. That conversation led to the topic of credit card debt and the mortgage nightmare that is going on right now. It all reminded me of Priscilla's friend from Romania who was applying to be a U.S. Citizen. She studied her American history and government like crazy only for the judge to ask her something like, "So, what make you an American?" She was of course baffled, but finally answered timidly, "I have credit card debt?" She passed.