When does one become an American? Part 1: Thanksgiving...

Let me first tell you what it means to me. Becoming an American is really becoming a world citizen, something that, despite their generous open hearts, many American-by-several-generations-Americans tend to forget when it comes to international politics and American fought wars around the world... Enough said about politics...

Becoming an American... It starts here, on this land of immigrants, where one meets with many cultures of the world. I guess there is no other place on earth that appreciates and encourages differences more. It must be because of that that it all becomes about discovering one's own cultural heritage then. The American experience teaches one what to look for. For example, Istanbul, most gorgeous city of all, had been a big chaotic metropolis for me with lots of sexy things to do. It was not until I came here that I discovered the real Istanbul, a city that cooks its own meal with ingredients from the east, and the west, and a history of 8,000 years; a city which is not eastern, not western either. It is Constantinople, it is Armenian, it is Jewish, and today mostly Muslim, Turkish and Kurdish. It is Istanbul, just Istanbul, and only Istanbul...

And it was not until I came here that I realized we are the lucky keepers, not the owners of it; that 8,000 years of history and the magnificent Suleymaniye Mosque of Mimar Sinan belong to everybody as much as does the magnificent Hagia Sophia (Αγία Σοφία). Istanbul is “our” precious; “we” are the world.(*)

I would probably still have enjoyed the music, the food, the mosques and the churches of Istanbul had I not come here, but not the way I do today. That itself is enough reason to celebrate Thanksgiving, so it is time to talk about food now. But wait; I have not answered my question yet: When does one become an American?

Did I become an American when I got my citizenship? No, probably much earlier.

Was it when I stepped on the American land in Rochester? Oh that was a very humid summer day.

Or was it when I celebrated my first Thanksgiving? Nobody had an idea about what language I was speaking when I spoke English when I came to the US. Oh boy, my pronunciation was so bad. I decided to work on it; I also wanted to learn more about Christians. So what better than attending a free English class at a church? Then I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at Houck family's via the church. I only had to arrange some friends to join. The Houck family, our friends, Daisy and I held our hands in a circle around the dinner table, the way you see in the American movies, as the family expressed gratitude to Jesus. That felt a little weird for us Muslims, praying to Jesus, but then what was I expecting really? That was probably the first time I realized that we the people say amen to the same good wishes… By the way, being foreigners to the culture, we did not know that we were supposed to send a thank you note after the dinner, and we did not. So dear Houck family, if you read this entry one day, this is my thank you note to you after so many years...

Was it when Daisy and I held our first Thanksgiving dinner for our friends? Neah, it cannot be that one, we roasted a chicken that day, our first and only chicken mistake on a Thanksgiving. We did not skip the bird later even when we cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for two.

So was it the Christmas party at which we became part of a beautiful all American family? Was it the other Christmas party at which there was only one Christian and several Jews, Hindus and us? Or was it the other one with all Jews and Muslims, no Christians?

Maybe none, may be all...

to be continued...

(*) Probably nobody understood that better than the Ottoman Sultans. Since depiction of the human form is considered to be blasphemous in sunni Islam, the mosaics of Hagia Sophia were covered with plaster by the Ottomans. However, the plaster was periodically removed, the mosaics were maintained and plastered again by the Ottomans.