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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A Handful of Jeopardy Answers

In all the years I worked for a BPO, I succeeded in convincing myself that either: (1) there are no holidays -- in the sense that I had to work them; or (2) there are too many holidays (Pinoy and US).

As part of culture training, we started celebrating the US holidays more than the Filipino ones back at the site. This was a way to educate our employees on how to better itneract with the American customers. Part of this culturation program included appropriate greetings and responses, more small talk topics, etc. It was safe to say that I knew and understood every US holiday there is on any given calendar. I had to; it was part of my job.

I could tell you how the holiday started, where it originated, how they celebrate it now, and when. I thought knowing all that was enough to understand them. Operative word: THOUGHT.

Now I know I did not know anything, but a handful of
Jeopardy! answers. It would be impossible to understand any of these holidays unless you lived it. You cannot know how they celebrate it unless you celebrate with them. The history and custom of celebration becomes less significant every time because it constantly evolves.

I am excited to say that this year, I will have the chance to really understand Thanksgiving. In 2 more days I will celebrate my very first (and probably my only) Thanksgiving the traditional American way. My sister has everything planned: we will have turkey, and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Other relatives wanted to use the Thanksgiving festivities as an excuse to throw a Pinoy fiesta -- with dinuguan at puto, cake, and arroz caldo. Nothing says NOT Thanksgiving more than that! Thank goodness my sister won this argument over my Tito. See? Another thing to be thankful for.

Also, as is the custom, we will go to at least 1 major retail store for the big after-Thanksgiving sale on Friday.
Lalay has been constantly reminding us to get up early on Friday. She wants to be at the store doors by 5am. I thought she was kidding! Do retailers really open at 5? Even for sale day? And the answer to my question would be a YES.

The biggest stores in town -- Best Buy, Walgreens, Walmart, Target, etc. -- would be lined with campers on the sidewalk as early as Thanksgiving night. The malls will be packed to overflowing, and parking spaces will be hard to come by. It's going to be chaos at its worst, but we will be right smack in the middle of it all. And I can't wait!

They say that the best teacher is experience. I agree. By this time next week, I can proudly say that I know what Thanksgiving is really all about.

1 side-notes:

vanilla said...

how was thanksgiving pala? and did you go to any of those crazy sales after?