Thanksgiving in California, in Brasil.

As any American would know, today is Thanksgiving...or yesterday I suppose (1:09 AM here in Brasil). It's a day to remember and be grateful for those things people sometimes take for granted.

Since I've been born, my memories of this day are filled with the familiar sight of golden turkey and the sweet aroma of freshly baked pie. Though today was the day of feasting, today was also the day to toast; to pay tribute to those integral, yet often overshadowed elements of life. Friends, family and time together.

For Brazilians however, today is just another day.

I woke up today assuming that I would not see the familiar golden breast of a turkey, nor would I see the freshly baked pies. I've thought about today, so that when I actually realized that what I'd been accustomed to for 18 years was about to change, it wouldn't come as such a shock. However, it was still peculiar. I sat down at my dinner table with my two brothers, hungrily devouring my pão de queijo, while my host mother went to pick up my host father from the airport.

After dinner, I logged onto Skype. I spoke with my family, who then went off to have their Thanksgiving dinner. Just after I had accepted not doing Thanksgiving, something changed everything.

Lily Watson, one of my friends living in California, was about to have her Thanksgiving dinner with her family. Knowing that Brazilians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we (with parental permission of course), arranged for a virtual Thanksgiving via Skype. Now this I didn't expect waking up.

So there I sat at midnight in my bathroom, watching the flickering of soft candlelight at Watson Manor. Despite being a continent and 1000 miles away, we could still laugh and make jokes at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about elephant ear sandwiches, vibrating mattresses among other things.

Today, the thousands of miles separating me from American culture were rendered to the thickness of my laptop screen. You never really are alone after all, are you?

Happy Thanksgiving readers.