A Praktikant Thankgiving

Thanksgiving was very interesting for us here in the land of the Suisse...

If you can believe it, Switzerland does not really have an official Thanksgiving holiday. They do have harvest festivals and meals to celebrate but not exactly "Thanksgiving" like in Canada and the US. The Suisse don't really celebrate Halloween either. A few (or maybe more) years ago they didn't even know anything about the occasion. They have recently begin to incorporate it into their lives; mainly because of the people that have moved here from the States, but still it is getting a little more popular here... Not so much that people dress up in costumes or go "trick or treating" but you know.

Natalie (N. Carolina) Kim -------------------------- Pat (Canada), Krispin
(England), Darren (Canada) --------------------------- (Canada), Kim
- our roommate, Matt (England)

Anyways we decided to have our own Thanksgiving celebration
within the Canadian praktikant group this year and other fellow Alstom and/or ABB praktikants we hang out with. It was a potluck so we made a list and everyone decided what they wanted to bring and share with the group. This was very interesting because some people don't know how to cook and others have never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before and didn't know what to bring. It was our new friend Guilherme's, from Brazil, first Thanksgiving ever and he brought us different Brazilian candy which was really neat...it was very good but super sweet. Brian and I got my Auntie Flora's mashed potatoes recipe (my favorite) and also made an apple crisp from an internet recipe and they were both a big success (we think)! Of coarse our potatoes weren't as good as when my Aunt makes them but we tried! The dinner was hosted at our friend Taryn's house; well our other friends live there too but it was put on by Taryn basically so she gets all the credit for the great evening.

Andy and Taryn (Canada) ---------------------------- Mike (Canada)

Overall it was a hilarious night and a lot of fun hanging out with everyone again. Most of the food was really good and then there was some sketchier stuff but I tried most of it anyways. I definitely didn't have any cow tongue but I think that speaks for itself...
Brian on the other hand... But it was a successful night; we were all very full and satisfied so that's all that matters.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!