Thanksgiving as a Foreigner

I have mentioned our involvement with international students before. This year we have been partnered with Yukie, a super sweet girl from China. We have eaten Chinese food, gone to church, cooked out, done dinner at a restaurant, taken her for ice cream on her birthday:

And all around really enjoyed getting to know her this semester. Charlie especially. He talks about Yukie all the time. He calls her "tiny," which is actually a very appropriate name!

Tonight, we went to the Thanksgiving banquet at our church. As Thanksgiving is an American holiday, this was new for her. As we drove to the church, she asked many questions.

Yukie: What sort of food do you eat?
Me: Well, the traditional meat is turkey. Do you eat turkey?
Yukie: No. Where do turkeys live? On farms?
Me: Turkeys live in the wild. I see them on the way to school a lot. But I'm sure there are turkey farmers too. (right?)
Yukie: Ah.
Me: We also eat mashed potatoes. Have you ever had those?
Yukie: No. What's that?
Me: It's where you peel and boil potatoes and then you mash them. Most people add butter and milk and then pour gravy on top.
Yukie: What's gravy?
Me: Um...(because how do you describe gravy?) it's sort of like a sauce that you pour on top. I don't like it myself, but most people do. Some people will do sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. They are orange.
Yukie: Who cooks in the family?
Me: Well, in my family, it's my mom and Rick's mom. Whoever the woman whose house we are gathering in is the woman to make the bulk of the meal.
Yukie: (getting excited) That is how it is at home! My grandmother always makes all the food.
Me: What kinds of food does she make?
Yukie: Rice and noodles.
Me: Any meat?
Yukie: Mmm...sometimes. Pork or chicken. What did you eat when you were in China?
Me: Donkey and mutton!
*laughter

These are the sorts of conversations I really enjoy. It was fun to find some common ground amidst a tradition that is very American. When we got to the church, that girl LOADED her plate and said she liked everything! We discussed the term "potluck" (though I couldn't really explain where the term came from) and talked about how, when you have big groups of people, this is often what Americans do to feed everyone. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready for dessert, all the pumpkin pie was gone. I told her she HAD to have pumpkin pie before she left to go back home next month. She is leaving later this week to go to Chicago...they will have some pumpkin pie there, right?