*Photo Courtesy of Julie Moody -- thanks!
Let me preface this entry by saying that Thanksgiving in Prague was not the same as Thanksgiving at home. Not even close. In fact, classes were held on Thanksgiving day, and many of our professors were oblivious to the fact that it was an American holiday; of course, Czech life went on here in Prague as if nothing was out of the ordinary..... and for good reason! I was not with my family, was not able to watch the parade (as I lamented in my previous post), and missed many aspects of what is usually one of my favorite holidays.
That being said, the crew here at NYU in Prague did a pretty solid job in bringing some of the comforts of home here to the Czech Republic. I actually celebrated Thanksgiving twice - on Thanksgiving Thursday, pretty much the whole of NYU in Prague trekked to Richtruv Dum - one of our buildings in Old Town - to enjoy a feast catered by the owner of an American-style restaurant in town. The event was organized by one of the students here at NYU, who I'm pretty sure had no idea how big of an undertaking he was getting himself into, but nonetheless managed to pull off a pretty darn good event, if you ask me. Imagine 200 NYU students (and some family, friends, and staff), plus an open bar, plus all the home-style, traditional American Thanksgiving food you can eat..... and good food, at that! I think a lot of people were not sure what to expect going into their first "Czech Thanksgiving," but we were all quite pleasantly surprised!
Our second Thanksgiving was held last night, with almost all the members of Osadni, our 60-person dormitory, pitching in to put on a full-blown pot-luck Thanksgiving. Again - wonderful (and home-cooked!!) food, lots of drinks (it is the Czech Republic, after all), and wonderful company, as well. I managed to contribute some delicious mixed vegetables, roasted with rosemary - something I think many people were grateful for, given the lack of vegetables on many Czech menus. All food aside, if I couldn't be with my real family on Thanksgiving, I was so happy to be in the company of my surrogate one here in Prague. It's been quite a memorable weekend, which I think I'll definitely remember not for what I missed, but rather for what I had..... isn't that the point of Thanksgiving, after all?
A picture of the gang at Osadni Thanksgiving
2 comments:
Dude, there was nothing to give thanks for without my brosef at the table....except the wine Elise's dad had, u kinda missed the boat on that one, it was pretty good.
Missed you too on T_Day. At least there was your beer. We had a nice Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
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