Thanksgiving Around the Foreign Service

I wanted to do this last week but did not get around to it (turkey’s fault). Here is a quick round-up of FS folks who marked Thanksgiving last week in their own special way:

US Ambassador to Moscow, John Beyrle posted a brief note on Thanksgiving last week. Check this out if you read Russian.

US Embassy Tokyo DCM, James Zumwalt of the “Z Notes” blog, also wrote about Thanksgiving here.

US Ambssador to Canada, David Jacobson blogged about family and Thanksgiving traditions and had the Marines over for fried turkeys with lots of Cajun spices.

Anne Frej of the Public Affairs Section of U.S. Embassy Kabul blogged in DipNote about celebrating both Thanksgiving and Eid e Qurban, the Muslim days of sacrifice in Kabul.

Josh Glazeroff, the visa chief at U.S. Embassy New Delhi wrote in in the official blog about Thanksgiving in India as also a day of remembrance and how 26/11 will always be remembered as an infamous day in the country for the Mumbai attacks last year.

In Germany, Ambassador Philip Murphy carved the turkey after he gave a speech during the Annual Fulbright Thanksgiving Dinner.

US Embassy Berlin Photo

On Thanksgiving Thursday, a small group of embassy volunteers led by Ambassador Ertharin Cousin (UNFAO) visited an orphanage and served and shared a Thanksgiving meal, complete with the uniquely American cheesecake donated by Eli’s in Chicago, to immigrant families from all over the world. Read more here.

Photo from DipNote Blog

Over at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and wife, Ching, visited U.S. service members and civilians and thank them for their service on Thanksgiving Day.

Photo by U.S. Army Capt. Michael Greenberger

In the Southern Philippines, Ambassador extraordinaire to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney served food to our troops in Mindanao and wrote about her family’s Thanksgiving tradition in her blog:

Photo from Amb Kenney's Blog

“This year, I traveled from Manila to celebrate Thanksgiving lunch in Zamboanga with temporarily deployed U.S. troops. The makeshift dining hall was festooned with streamers and turkey cut-outs. In accordance with tradition, I served the food to our troops, joined by the most senior U.S. military officer present and visiting U.S. Congressman Bob Filner.” Read her whole post here.

We also have post-Thanksgiving “thank yous” for the following generous souls: To the ambassadors and deputy ambassadors who we heard had invited single folks and newcomers to their Thanksgiving events this year, thank you. It makes a difference when you did not have to go and “catch-your-own” turkey at a farm or “cook-your-own” turkey in borrowed kitchenware when you just arrived in town. To the Foreign Service families who opened their homes to Peace Corp volunteers, some of whom have been on forced diet of rice and beans or fried fish for many months, we thank you for your generosity. To the Consular Section chiefs who made every effort to invite the local staff to their thanksgiving gigs, we appreciate your gestures. Some of these local national employees have worked for the USG for 5-10 years and have never ever been to a thanksgiving dinner. Thank you.