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December 24, 2008
Turkey = "Mwan Tohm" = "Big Chicken"
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WATCH THIS SPACE, dear readers, for Mr. Flynn's curious account of a thanksgiving celebration both international and Cambodianin its character, and his reactions thereto.
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As I explained to my classes, Thanksgiving is a time for families to join together, eat a big meal, and feel thankful for what they have, rather than resentful for what they don't have. I also tried to explain that turkeys were different from both ducks and chickens, with mixed results. Perhaps it was because we were reading about lonliness in our "Issues for Today" textbook, but my students could definitely tell that I was missing my family. I was pretty sad this week, but little moments here and there lifted me up.
Quick highlights, to be expanded at leisure, after the jump
*My birthday is November 25th, so it almost always falls on the week of thanksgiving. Upon finding this out at the beginning of class, my essay writing students were able to pull together a birthday party within 20 minutes. They may be up and down in terms of doing homework or structuring an essay, but organizational skill is staggering when it comes to throwing parties.
*My 301 students wished me "Good Luck, Good Health, and more handsome in your life and work...especially your work."
*We had a sort of pot-luck thanksgiving at the apartment of my friend Sofia (whom I actually first met on the plane to Phnom Penh). The girls tended to make amazing things like pumpkin soup or hand-mashed potatoes. I brought about 6 ears of corn on the cob that I bought from a street vendor. In all, it was a pretty huge spread. I was asked to carve the turkey, and though it was my first time I did a remarkably adequate job of it. This was probably because I was able to draw on my experiences from brunch spreads of yesteryear. I sort of took on the ceremonial role of 'symbolic american' during the evening, explaining things or behaving in the traditional thanksgiving style. This mostly included getting into a pointless argument with another guest (one of the most important of thanksgiving traditions) about how America doesn't have to adopt the metric system if it doesn't want to.
Posted by flynn at December 24, 2008 8:39 PM
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Comments
yeah, damn straight we don't have to adopt the Metric system.
We're America, for God's sakes!
Posted by: Brendan at January 6, 2009 9:45 AM
Hmmm ... pointless arguments certainly a Flynn family tradition, don't know if that is necessarily universal custom.
But I still have burning questions: Do they raise turkeys in Cambodia or did the Big Chicken have to be shipped in specially from Outside?
And did you attempt to explain custom of executives pardoning turkeys, especially in light of Sarah Palin video with active slaughter proceeding in background during interview? (It doesn't even make sense here in Amurrica!)
Posted by: Ann at January 7, 2009 7:09 AM