It seems that more Michigan Dopers seem to crawl out of the woodwork each time we come up with a new thread.
I rode around on the Detroit People Mover at 10:00 o’clock at night. Had a great time and some incredible views. Quarter a circuit… best way to get around downtown. Greektown is fun. Walk around the Renaissance Center for some great views.
Sorry, that’s 50 cents.
See? We don’t all eat babies!
Yeah, seriously! All the babies die in gang shootings- TOTALLY different.
Speak for yourself.
[Homer]Mmm…A Modest Proposal…[/Homer]
You’re from Sweden, and no one has mentioned a Red Wings hockey game?
Get out to see a hockey game! The Red Wings are one of the top teams in the National Hockey League!
This is true. Lots of Swedes on the Wings.
I actually promised a friend of mine to try and see a Red Wings game. For me personally, team sports are all alike. If anything, I am excited to see the Swedish street in Chicago!
I went to Wayne State for a few years and I wanted to remind you of the tons of student activities that go on every day there. Their sports teams (except hockey) may not be much to brag on, but there are films and clubs and all kinds of gatherings you can involve yourself in. Likewise, Wayne has an agreement with the University of Windsor that may allow you to go over the border for some activities.
The drinking age is 19 years old in Ontario, by the way, (and 21 in Michigan) though I don’t know how old you are.
Red Wings tickets aren’t easy to get, sorry. There may be some Standing Room tickets left on game days, but hours of standing on cement gets tiring fast. If you care about hockey as a sport, go to a Wayne State game; if it’s hockey-playing Swedes you care about, it may be worth calling the agent of one of the Swedish players Nick Lidstrom and explaining your situation. Maybe they will share a family ticket with a fellow countryman! (Lidstrom’s from Vasteras.) Can’t hurt to ask.
For foods from various other countries (mostly European), get over to Hamtramck. Take a friend.
Also, nothing is free from anyone on the street. Any newspaper or little flag, etc, is for sale, even if someone shoves it in your hand. (Sometimes on campus even.) I once had a guy push a flyer from CVS drugstore into my hand and demand I pay him for it. Mind your bookbag and other items around campus, there are thieves that prey on students not watching their things carefully, as the Campus Bulletin will attest.
CW, you need to understand that eating a Thanksgiving meal at the average American home isn’t just “a meal”. It’s an Event. Figure on arriving mid-morning, say about 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. There will be munchies and snacks, chips with dip, that sort of thing. You are expected to partake of at least a token amount of these; refusing to do so on the grounds that you’re “saving room for the turkey” will not do, as everybody else will be snacking. And anyway, the turkey won’t be served until about 1 p.m., so if you don’t eat at least some of the snacks, you’ll have to sit there hungry while everyone else chows down. And they know this perfectly well, and they can’t enjoy their chips and dip if they know you’re sitting there with a growling tummy. So put a small amount on your plate and try to relax.
The meal itself will be large. Pace yourself. Put small amounts on your plate at first–“take all you want, but eat all you take”. Thanksgiving is not a time of wasting food. So–IMPORTANT POINT: As a “foreigner”, there will be foods that you may not recognize, and more importantly, some of the foods you put on your plate you may dislike as soon as you taste them. So, what to do, to avoid wasting an entire helping of cranberry sauce or sweet potato casserole? Simply announce to the table at large, “Oh my goodness, I’m not sure what this is [whatever it is]”, and then just put a small spoonful on your plate. If you like it, you can always get more when Seconds go around.
And Seconds WILL go around; that’s what Thanksgiving is all about. Depending on the family, sometimes Thirds go around, too. The technique is to eat small portions on the first round, and then you’ll know what you feel like eating more of, so when Seconds are passed, you can go for it. You’re generally expected to at least take a spoonful of something else during Seconds, even if you feel like you can’t eat another bite. Generally non-filling, quickly digested starchy things like mashed potato are good for this (avoid high-volume things that fill up your stomach like vegetables and fruit). Take another spoonful of mashed potato and then inconspicuously fool around with it on your plate; if you spread it around a bit, you can avoid having to eat the entire serving.
And then there will be a sort of a lull in the proceedings, while the table is cleared. It’s good form for you, the Guest, to get up and begin to carry empty plates into the kitchen. You can start with yours. Your hostess will then quickly snatch it away from you and protestingly insist that you sit back down. So you have made the gesture, which is polite, but you don’t have to actually do any work.
Then they bring in dessert. Generally one doesn’t expect to have Seconds on dessert, although frequently the Senior Males in the group will. However, you are allowed to have two desserts. This probably seems confusing–you can have pumpkin pie AND apple pie, but you can’t have two helpings of pumpkin pie without looking greedy. This is because there usually aren’t mass quantities of pie prepared, whereas there are always mass quantities of turkey and dressing and potatoes and gravy and veg, etc. so the general rule of thumb is “no seconds on dessert”. Unless of course the meal is mostly over, and the kids have been dismissed and the adults are just sitting around the table, talking. Then you’re allowed to browse for whatever desserts are leftover, and help yourself. It’s customary to preface the quest for “more dessert” with, “Think I’ll have just a bit more…”
If mince pie is served, unless you’re familiar with it, ask your hostess to give you “just a taste” of the filling. Mince pie is definitely an acquired taste.
Do not expect any kind of alcohol to be served at this, if it’s a typical American Thanksgiving meal. Beverages will be limited to tea, coffee, milk, possibly soda pop (if you don’t see diet pop, by all means ask if there’s any, or the hostess can get you some instant iced tea), and possibly what’s called “punch”, which is a non-alcoholic fruit punch with 7-Up and with sherbet floating on top.
After the meal is over, the womenfolk will probably clean up, and the menfolk will retire to the nearest TV set and watch football. As a Guest, it’s polite to offer to help wash the dishes, but the women will shoo you out of the kitchen. So figure on spending the rest of the afternoon lolling about in a recliner, watching football. There will be more snacks later on in the afternoon, including leftover turkey.
No matter how bored you may be, do not volunteer to “do something” with the kids, unless you have a divine gift for working with children, because they will make your afternoon pure hell. Leave them on their own, no matter how much they may scream with boredom. Anything you attempt to do with, or for, them, will only end in tears.
It’s permissible to find a magazine, and make yourself comfortable in a quiet corner of the house, as long as it’s a public enough place that it doesn’t look like you’re hiding from folks. Usually the living room has a quiet corner. You can sit there leafing through Time or People and thus pass the afternoon quietly enough.
When you leave, your hostess will insist that you take a plate full of turkey leftovers, wrapped up in tinfoil. You must take this, or else you will hurt her feelings. Put it in the refrigerator as soon as you get home.
You’ll also b watching the Detroit Lions game on Thanksgiving. It’s American football. If you have any questions about that, ask away.
I’d like to add that at an event like Thanksgiving, it’s quite acceptable to walk around with your plate, snacking. It’s only when everyone is seated at the table and eating that you must sit. Just don’t leave your plate or beverage sitting in any room you’re not in, except the bathroom. It might get thrown away as trash.
When the main meal is served, wait to lift your fork until the host/hostess has begun to eat. This may be after a grace/prayer is said. As the guest, you may be offered the privilege of saying grace so have something prepared and keep it short and thankful.
Yeesh, who made you the world’s leading expert on Thankgiving? At my parent’s house, we eat at 6, drink loads of wine, never watch the game and have no family children AND we can serve ourselves as much pie as we like. Cause we, you know, make loads of pie since we are expecting 20+ people… and half the guests bring dessert. Now that I read it over, it sounds positively unAmerican!
I would have one suggestion: no politics or religion at the dinner table.
Eh, DDG, did a fairly good summation, but we tend to not have too much in the way of appetizers and we DO have liquor (wine) at the meal. The men also drink beer here at our house, but not with dinner. It would be nice for you to bring a bottle of wine or a small bouquet of flowers as a hostess gift. Chocolates are also good for this (boxed). Sorry, you’re not from another planet and I’m sure you know all about polite behavior etc. Just trying to prepare you!
Typical Thanksgiving dinner:
Grace is said, even if the family in question hasn’t seen the inside of a church/temple/mosque etc in generations. (unless they’re atheists-I have no idea what happens then. Perhaps small animal sacrifice of some kind or they all shout “booya!”. No idea. Note to atheists: this is a joke.)
Turkey
stuffing–bread crumbs or corn bread, seasoned with herbs, sausage (or not), cranberries (or not), celery etc.
Some type of potatoes and/or some type of sweet potatoes
Green beans
Rolls
Gravy
Macaroni and cheese (popular among some segments of the population, others find this to be odd. I mention it only because I am the one who finds it odd, but the other nurses at work all include it. To each his own)
Cranberry sauce–don’t you guys have lingonberries or something in Sweden?-like that
white wine
water
pop(banned at our house for any meal)
milk(kids)
Dessert:
pumpkin pie
pecan pie
mincemeat pie
apple pie(never heard of this, but again-YMMV)
Whipped cream/Cool Whip/the Everready stuff out of the aerosol can whip product
coffee
tea
more liquor/beer/wine
Anything else is up to the individual family and their traditions. It is ok to “pick” at the carcass once it’s in the kitchen, but only if you’re truly family…
Be prepared for boring football (especially if you’re not interested in football), MORE football, the Macy’s Tgiving parade where you watch other people watching people walk by. Surreal.
Everyone will talk about the coming Christmas onslaught and their varying degrees of stress regarding it. Politics/religion are usually avoided, unless you all agree. Expect to be asked about Sweden, you may well be a very welcome diversion from Uncle Steve’s story about his triple bypass and Aunt Lisa’s new car.
Oh, and please let us Chicago Dopers know of your planned DopeFest here–I’d love to meet you.
Oh, and ETA that we never watch football either, but we have to this year because of my husband’s BIL–he can’t go without. :rolleyes:
Happy Turkey Day!
nods Someone may ask your opinion as a non-American; my advice is just to excuse yourself politely, don’t let them draw you into a debate. Those things can get ugly quick at family gatherings. Plead ignorance or lack of English vocabulary or something, anything. Even of the person asking doesn’t get the hint, those around them will and hopefully will intercede to prevent a scene.
A gift for the host/hostess will be a nice thing; maybe a Swedish dessert? If you can’t make one, maybe you can offer to teach everyone a game or folk song or if you play an instrument bring it along.
Just saying, “It is tradition in my country to ______” will allow you to do most anything you want at someone’s home, even if it’s helping to load the dishwasher.
That’s awesome, now I have this image of CW doing the most outrageous things prefaced with “It’s tradition…”
Clipping the pet’s nails, repotting the house plants, rearranging the living room decorations, etc. 
Oh, and don’t forget to visit Canada at some point. It’s just around the corner from here!
“Yes, it’s a special tribal ritual called ‘Eye-kee-ah’, followed by the serving of meatballs.”