Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pilgrims in Thailand?

I had the good fortune to live and work in Bangkok many years ago. I was the only American in my office, and of course Thanksgiving is not a Thai holiday, so when Thanksgiving came, I took the afternoon off to go have dinner with other Americans.

That morning at the office, before I left, I was chatting with some colleagues. In an attempt to bridge cultures, I joked, “Even though this is an American holiday, we can all take a moment to think about all the things we have to be grateful for. For example, you can be thankful that the pilgrims didn’t land in Thailand!”

Everyone laughed politely and I was congratulating myself on the success of my cross-cultural humor, when several people asked at once, “What’s a pilgrim?”

I knew then I had a lot to learn!

No matter where you are in the world, Happy Thanksgiving!

10 comments:

  1. I've hopped over from the Friday Follow over 40 and am smitten by your blog. I have just signed up to follow you and am looking forward to finding my happy place by reading your lovely posts. Nice story. I worked in Morocco for the Americans years ago and was fortunate enough to experience Thanksgiving....we sure could do with a day like that here. :)
    www.facing50withhumour.blogspot.com

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  2. Nah, THEY have a lot to learn!

    They should know what a pilgrim is. Half of their country is over here now.

    Geez, could you imagine if you called it "Turkey Day"? That would have mystified them completely!

    Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! Love yours as well!

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  3. Well, I don't know about that! In the three years I lived in Bangkok, I assure you I learned much more from them than they did from me. Ironic since part of my job was to train my Thai colleagues to deal with "Western" clients. In fact, I spent much more time teaching our Western clients to appreciate the Thai way of doing things!

    My time in Thailand was years ago, but what I learned there shaped who I became both professionally and personally.

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  4. Good story - maybe they would have understood if you said 'displaced person'!

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  5. Hi, I am a new follower from Java's 40+ Follow. Great blog and I will come back to visit often.

    Shawn

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  6. What a great story! I love your 10 steps and really need to practice them just a bit more!
    I am so happy to be a new visitor and follower via Java.

    http://doreenmcgettigan.blogspot.com

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  7. Hi!

    Thanks for stopping my blog and visiting!

    I would like to invite you to join the Over 40 Bloggers!! Take a look an join in the fun!

    I'm now following you!

    Be sure to come by on Sunday for the Meet Me On Monday Blog Hop!

    Have a great day!!

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  8. Welcome to new followers and thank you! I will be visiting your blogs soon, if I haven't already!

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  9. Great Story!! I know we have a lot to learn about the culture in Belize... and I am sure we will have stories to share like yours soon :-)

    thanks for stopping by my blog. I am your newest follower from the Over 40 blog hop!

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  10. Hi, Alida. I traveled in Belize years ago. Beautiful place.

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