Aisha Malik from Pakistan, Mariana Tesch Morgan from Brazil and Gaetana Poponcini from Belgium spent Thanksgiving in Evanston, at the house of professors Dave and Debra Tolchinsky.
By Elio Leturia—THANKSGIVING IS A NEW holiday for the visiting Fulbrighters and a new American experience in this country. I still remember my first Thanksgiving in the U.S. during my Fulbright at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was in 1990.
A classmate of mine invited me to her house to spend it with her family. I was not sure what it was going to happen. I had never seen or eaten cranberries. They were so exotic! I had eaten roasted turkey before (we prepare it for Christmas and New Year’s) but never seen a green bean casserole, pumpkin, sweet potato or pecan pie. There was also something called “Ambrosia salad” that had marshmallows. It was so different!
Papas a la Huancaína. Photo by Leticia Delboy
I brought a replication of a Peruvian dish called Papas a la Huancaína which main ingredient is ají amarillo. Remember, these were times were most people didn’t know what cilantro was and supermarkets didn’t carry it, so imagine trying to get ají amarillo. I improvised with some Mexican chile peppers—which were completely new to me. It was not the same but somehow it worked out. At the end, the objective was sharing.
So let’s share some images about how YOU spent your Thanksgiving! Please send your pictures with your name, country of origin and captions to eleturia@colum.edu
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JUAN JIMÉNEZ from Chile. PhD program in Science Education at Illinois Institute of technology
Thanksgiving ONE: An IIT classmate invited Jiménez to her house in Lisle, where he enjoyed the holiday with her family, eating, talking and playing games. Her classmate’s brother is an engineer who each year designs games to play with the family—even babies and grandmas.
Jiménez spent his second Thanksgiving with classmates and friends at his adviser’s home.
JIménez adviser “killing” the turkey.
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IVY MARISCHA from Indonesia, Masters Program in Computer Science at Loyola University and SYLMINA ALKAFF, from Indonesia, Masters Program in Bio-Medical Engineering at Northwestern University
Sylmina Alkaff and Ivy Gladys Marischa spent their Thanksgiving studying but attended a Pre Thanksgiving party at the Indonesian Student Association of Illinois
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AISHA MALIK from Pakistan, Masters Program in Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University
Aisha Malik from Pakistan, Mariana Tesch Morgan from Brazil and Gaetana Poponcini from Belgium spent Thanksgiving in Evanston, at the house of professors Dave and Debra Tolchinsky
FULBRIGHT CHICAGO 