Hey, if you want to spend a weekend in Toronto, we TronnaDopers would be pleased to entertain you. 
[sub]It’s only five hours away on the Evil Death Highway of Doom known as the 401. Or you can take the train from Windsor.[/sub]
Me, too! Or saying, “it is the custom…” and locking the dog outside or taking the host’s wife into a bedroom and shamelessly shagging her. I can see him saying, “in our country, we cannot eat X. It is considered a barbarism.” and shocking the table.
Now I have a combo of the Swedish chef, adult Swedish films and a Swedish version of Frasier in my head.
I’m glad to hear you’re happily here, OP, and that you’ve met so many friendly people. Hooray for multiculturalism! I, myself, hope to be studying the finer points of English language usage in Spanish in Barcelona in a year or two if all goes well…
And a fine place to do it, too. I’m sure you can find a lot of first-hand sources there.
Thanks. We didn’t have enough of this in the first thread, apparently.
It’s important for the OP to note that the Detroit Lions are one of only four teams (in a league of 30 (32?)) that play a game on Thanksgiving, and they’ve played on every single Thanksgiving for 40 years IIRC, so Thanksgiving football is a Big Deal in Detroit–it’s a Big Deal everywhere in the US, but especially in Detroit. And we love explaining the game to foreigners, BTW.
Yeesh, who said I was the expert? 
Feel free to weigh in with a contrasting opinion, so CW won’t think I’m, like, God or anything. :rolleyes:
Oh, wait, I see you already did that. End of crisis, I suppose.
I told CW not to “expect” alcohol, which is perfectly valid. Many Americans are still significantly “dry”. And thus if you don’t expect alcohol, you won’t be disappointed if there isn’t any.
And you won’t embarass yourself by asking your teetotaling Baptist hostess who has just served you a glass of Kool-Aid “where the drinks are”. 
By the same token, don’t bring her a bottle of wine unless you’re sure she’s not either a Baptist or a Methodist. Or a Mormon. Really, the subject of “bottle of wine as hostess gift” can be an American social minefield, so ask your friend who invited you to dinner first, or else stick with candy/flowers.
That’s not as much of an issue in the Detroit area as it is, apparently, in other parts of the country.
When were you thinking?
I don’t expect the thanksgiving dinner to be any problem. What you wrote seems to me like universal common sense. I have brought gifts with me from Sweden, chocolates from Anthon Berg as well Swedish gourmet coffee. I think that will be good.
On Wednesday there will be a Thanksgiving parade starting at Warren/Mack. Anybody going?
As for the Red Wings, I don’t care that much about ice hockey, so I wouldn’t want to bother that man about it (though he does come from the same city as my father). I will likely get to watch SuperBowl soon and that will probably be good enough for my sports check-list. Hah, you should have seen the face on this woman today when I told her I had never seen SuperBowl. I might as well have told her I had never seen the sun.
Cactus Waltz:
The Swedish street in Chicago is probably (I’m not sure what you’re looking at) Clark or Foster around 5200 north. I wanted to let you know it’s very accessible via mass-transit (Red line, Foster stop). The Swedish Bakery is still very good. It’s also a huge alternative-lifestyle neighborhood, FWIW.
-Cem
No worries, there–she’s probably never heard of Sweden!
Try living here and not caring about football. Die hard fans look at you like you’re crazy or sick or both…
I hate to break it to you, but “the Super Bowl” (never just “SuperBowl”, people will look at you weird if you say it like that) is a single game, and it’s played in February.
(To cactus waltz: ) Everyone’s expected to watch the Super Bowl not only because it’s a big event, but because traditionally it’s also when the advertisers go all-out to make funny and generally entertaining commercials–so “I just watch the Super Bowl for the commercials” is a common meme. Unfortunately, the commercials haven’t been so great for the last few years. Last year they were mostly just the same commercials that ran during any other football game IIRC, because the advertisers were saving money for the Olympics, which started in the same month. May be better this year, I dunno.
Yeah, I’d highly recommend chekcing out the Swedish Bakery too. Just wanted to point out that there’s no Red Line Foster stop, though. Best bet would be the Red Line Berwyn stop, IIRC. But it’s a little bit of a hike through the neighborhood to get to Clark.
I’m thinking someone else should decide?
Ok, realistically, everyone’s probably got a ton of obligations already scheduled through to January. We could shoot for the week before NYE, many people are out of work and no school, but folks also plan vacations or aren’t back from the family visit yet. So that’s putting us into January fifth or sixth already, and CW’s leaving mid-month, so yuck.
He’s also trying to work a weekend to Chicago trip in, and we don’t want to interfere with that, but folks need time to plan, too.
And what are we going to do? Ann Arbor has tons of things to do, or we can do something low-key and chatty at someone’s house, or we could go caroling or a million things.
So, umm, I’m all about the suggesting, someone else is maybe better at the planning?
I don’t do this and no one I know really does this either. American football is boring to me-the game is too slow. I used to watch the game for the commercials about 10 years ago, but now why bother even doing that? Of course, I do risk missing out on wardrobe malfunctions and aging pop stars giving bad performances, but I manage to soldier on…
Cactus Waltz–college bowl games are played on Thanksgiving–I think the Rose bowl, but by now it’s probably the Mitsubishi/Kellog Bowl or something. Anyhow, expect to have some football game on the TV.
The Rose Bowl is still “The Rose Bowl” and its played on New Year’s Day.
In Detroit, on Thanksgiving Day, it is traditionally the Green Bay Packers vs the Detroit Lions.
Good thinking.
This is what I feared. I’ll be out of town or busy from 12/20 through NYE.
CW, is there a date that’s particularly good for you?
I went to law school in Ann Arbor, but that was fifteen years ago :eek: It’s a great town, but I won’t pretend to know what the cool stuff is anymore.
Do we want to start a separate thread for planning?
Weren’t we supposet to 'fest more often now that we know we have bunches of Dopers?
I’m 400 miles away, but you’re also invited to my house for Thanksgiving.
I’m glad you’re here and settled in–I was just thinking about this on Saturday when I was grocery shopping, and there was a mob around the turkey section. Kinda sad you’re only here for two months. On one hand, it’s a long time, but on the other it’s really not long enough to get the full experience of a foreign country. This is an interesting and busy time of year to visit America, too–you’ll see the best of us (friendly holiday cheer and charity) and the worst of us (tons of consumerism and cynicism), sometimes from the same people.
Thanksgiving is an Event, definitely, but obviously, traditions vary. You’ve probably already thought of this, but if you’re not sure, just ask your host whether they have a formal or informal celebration at their house. They won’t mind, and you’ll know whether to expect tons of people crowded around the TV or everyone sitting at a nicely decorated table.
One piece of advice I would give: do not go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Opinions on this vary–but even people who enjoy the mad rush of the 60% off sales admit that it’s a stressful day. Personally, I stay home and enjoy my day off, but you’re likely to encounter some people planning their strategy to get up at 4:00 am and fight the crowds. And there are crowds, lemme tell ya. I hope you have fun plans for Christmas and New Years Eve, though!
Good luck on your project–I agree, that’s a good area to study the medicare system.
Right, that’s what I was trying to say. I have still heard “I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials”, although a lot less than 10 years ago.
No bowl games are played on Thanksgiving, since the regular season is still in full swing. The Rose Bowl is on New Year’s Day. There are a lot of classic college rivalry games played on Thanksgiving, though.
It may be stressful, but if you can get up at 3 or 4 in the morning and line up at the store of your choice, you can get some killer deals, especially with the dollar as weak as it is right now. I’ve heard legends of $200 laptops and such.
You see how much I care (or know) about football…
I’d avoid the shops on Black Friday (so called because it’s supposed to be a great day for retailers). Some people really get into it and go as a tradition, but I hate crowds and shopping, so the two together don’t appeal to me.
IMS, St Lucia day is big in Sweden, no? If you were in Minnesota, you might get to see an American take on that holiday, but I don’t know if there is a large enough Scandinavian population in Detroit to make it a day worthy of mention (in terms of customs and local celebrations). You might want to host a St Lucia’s Day for your co-workers (I’m not sure what happens on SLD, except a young girl has a wreath of candles on her head–I’m not of Scandinavian descent). Just a thought.
Today was an interesting day:
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I was pumped for four dollars by a homeless man. He said he needed an egg sandwich. I am honest man and I am always caught off guard when these things happen.
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I waited for an hour for the bus to Fairlane center to come but it didn’t show up. The bus system in Detroit is so odd. Even though I have checked with three local Americans about bus stops and bus schedules, I still manage to get it wrong.
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I was hungry and went to the Venti Sliceria. I knew since my last visit that they have pizza slices in two sizes, so I asked for a large pizza. The girl in the counter replied: “Do you want the whole pan?”, which I figured meant a whole pizza length and so I went for it. But no, it was really the whole cooking pan - six full slices! Oh no!
St Lucia’s *Eve *is indeed a big holiday, I believe it’s the most popular holiday among Swedish teenagers. The girl with the wreath chants different Lucia themed songs, usually in the morning when it’s dark. She does while walking around the chosen place of celebration (as to spread her light).