It is interesting living in a country where Thanksgiving is not celebrated having grown up and lived in the United States most of my life. Thanksgiving was never really a big holiday with my family. We celebrated but usually it was just immediate family and sometimes some friends. When I went to college which was fairly far my where my parents lived, I usually went to college’s friends homes for the holiday.

As an adult, I figured out it was fairly inexpensive to travel over the holiday if you went internationally so I have spend a number of Thanksgiving outside the United States. The least interesting was on a Northwest flight to Hong Kong. Being a United States based carrier, I thought they would offer a turkey option for dinner on the flight – no such luck. It was standard airline food. Another interesting Thanksgiving was in Aleppo, Syria. I had forgotten it was Thanksgiving until my friend who I was traveling with and I were eating dinner. So that Thanksgiving, lamb kefta was my Thanksgiving dinner.

Another Thanksgiving was spent in Bower Chalke, England. Two friends and I were visiting England and we ended up on Thanksgiving staying with friends of my family in Bower Chalke. Peter and Diana had lived at West Point, NY for two years and had become friends of my parents and family. They knew what Thanksgiving was and they planned and prepared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for us. They even invited in some of the neighbors so it felt like a traditional American Thanksgiving. It was one of my more memorable Thanksgivings.

One of the most unusual was a Thanksgiving in Madrid. My friend Brian and I had vacationed in Spain and Brian met Veronica. In September, he had moved to Spain to be with Veronica. He called and asked if I would like to come visit them. I said yes and he suggested coming at Thanksgiving which I thought was a good idea. As we were planning my visit, he told me he wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner for Veronica’s family. Long story short, I flew to Madrid with a frozen Butterball turkey, Pepperridge Farm stuffing, pumpkin pie mix and crust and the other necessities for Thanksgiving dinner. Amazingly, the turkey did not even thaw out on the flight over. I ended up cooking a whole Thanksgiving dinner in a small apartment kitchen in Madrid, not an easy task. The funny part was that when I arrived a Veronica’s parent house with the turkey, Veronica’s mother said that you could buy turkeys in Spain. When I went back to Spain for Veronica and Brian’s wedding, one of here cousins remembered me and called me the turkey person.

All that was to say that a non-traditional American Thanksgiving is not uncommon for me.

This year, Thanksgiving lunch was spent at Terra Tolosa. I had their usual luncheon menu and it was very good. I am not a fish stick type of person but the chef had made homemade crisp fish sticks with spices as an appetizer and it was much better than any fish stick I had had before.

The main course was Dordae with fennel, bok choy, parsnips, carrots in a cream sauce on a purée of sweet potatoes. I did get the sweet potato for Thanksgiving. There was a large pasta stuffed with mushrooms as well.

Dessert was from the dinner menu as I had already tried both desserts on the lunch menu. The chef suggested the change in the dessert. It was a lovely pineapple tart.

After lunch, I did some Christmas shopping. Toulouse has adopted the Black Friday concept so many of the stores are having big sales this week. I bought some (what I hope) are fun clothes for my friend, Natasha’s children and for Soup and Liza’ child.

The Christmas Market opened today so on my way home, I walked through the market. I did not really partake of anything, just wanted to look around. The Christmas Market was not as crowded as it could be.

In the evening I did a faux Turkey Trot. I ran with Run in Toulouse. I am going to miss the running group and the community I have built there.

After the run, Elliot and I walked over to the Christmas Market and had a cup of mulled wine. It was much more packed than in the day time. I am sure I will visit the market again a couple of times before I leave.

As a final note, there are so many things I have to be thankful for in my life. The wonderful family I was raised in and I miss them greatly. The fantastic friends that I have who adopt me as family, especially the collective Zoretich family. My other friends who make my life meaningful, Jesse, Jen, Sean, Soup, Liza Cam, Jason, Annalise, Nate, Tom, Liam, Sarah, Barbara, Emily, Margaret, Ryan, Ellen, and a whole lot more. The longer standing friends such as John and Carrie Foldberg, Mary and Jim Inskeep, John Murkey, the Field family. Of course, Brian and Veronica as mentioned earlier. They list in not in any order of preference or importance. I am sure I have left out many.

I am thankful for all the experience I have had in life. I have been very fortunate to have been able to travel the world and experience many cultures and places. Every time I think that I have visited or lived in 33 countries, it amazes me and makes me realize how lucky I am!

I am thankful for Toulouse and this chapter of my life. I get to experience an amazing city and community. I am grateful for Elliot, Marc and Noam who have made me feel welcome in Run in Toulouse. I am most especially grateful for Enzo and Evrim at Le Panache. They have truly welcomed me and made me part of a community.

As I return to Alexandria, I am grateful for the life and community I have built there – Revel and UnWined, La Fromagerie and Vintage, Saint Paul’s, NOVA Rogue Runners, Pacers and all the other wonderful things in Alexandria.