Thanksgiving with an American Host Family
Jacqueline Choo, Malaysia (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
It was a great Thanksgiving at Jim and Kay’s, all thanks to Minnesota International Center (MIC) and International Students and Scholars’ Services (ISSS) for organizing this dinner.
It was a wonderful dinner with delicious turkey, green beans, squash soup, mashed potatoes, cranberry jam and also pumpkin pie (my favorite)! And Kay’s pumpkin pie is the best I’ve tasted so far!! The host family is really friendly and accommodating! They were kind enough to take us on a brief tour around downtown St. Paul before going back home to where they lived. We also toured their house, looking at the different art pieces that were displayed. Jim and Kay are very interested in the arts and very supportive of the artists. You can find different pieces from paintings to models and masks in their home. It was interesting to see the different art and how these art pieces spice up their lives!
I learned a lot about the different food that were served during Thanksgiving in different cities and different families. We also shared our stories about tradition, food, culture and weather too! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to spend Thanksgiving with an American family in a traditional way, and definitely worth it.
Edwin Roberto Mendoza Hipp, Guatemala (University of the Incarnate Word)
I had a very nice thanksgiving day with some relatives of my mom’s side, especially because I had the chance to get to know and spend more time with my cousin, his wife, his newborn baby and some other relatives that traveled from Houston to San Antonio. Since my cousin is also from Guatemala and his wife is from here (San Antonio), that mixture of cultures was quite interesting for me. On the day of the celebration, before starting to eat, we made a prayer; the most interesting thing was when I realized that they were serving traditional food from Guatemala and at the same time, a delicious turkey and some other American dishes. On Friday we had lunch (turkey and more Guatemalan food again…) and right after that, we went to do some shopping at Riverwalk Mall and drank some coffee. Here is a picture of my niece and I before the Thanksgiving dinner.
Katarina Bisercic, Serbia (Murray State University)
I am so happy that I spent my first Thanksgiving with my friends Sam and Hannah and their family! They accepted me like I was also part of their family, and for the first time since I got to the States I didn’t feel homesick! Needless to say, the food was amazing!
Check out a Thanksgiving photo essay about Damir Novalic (Montenegro) and Filip Jovic (Serbia) featured in the Utica Observer-Dispatch. Damir and Filip spent the holiday with a member of the Utica College staff and her family.