I was super excited to share the Thanksgiving Holiday with Manolo until I realized that it really wasn't all that exciting. We get together with family, eat a really big turkey, then sit on the couch and watch tv or football together, the end. At least that is the way it is in my family. There are no huge festivals, late night adventures (too much turkey in your belly to allow being awake past 10pm), songs, or elaborate traditions (besides going around the table and saying what you are thankful for). Manolo did enjoy the food (although roasting a turkey is not unique to America) especially the stuffing and he did enjoy the opportunity to meet most of my family. He thought the day was more like a typical Sunday dinner with family then a National Holiday. I must agree.
The one difference we did find was how to pronounce numbers. As we drove up to my Mother's house in the country he asked how to pronounce her address "12455". He was expecting me to say it as one giant number "twelve thousand four hundred and fifty five". Instead I said as is normal here in America "twelve - four - fifty five". In Spain almost all long numbers (except telephone numbers) are pronounced as a long number. For example a hotel room in Spain "307" would always be pronounced as "trescientos siete" while here in America it would be "three zero seven" or even "three oh seven". This further confused Manolo because he couldn't figure out why in the world we would ever say "oh" for 0 instead of the correct "zero". Unfortunately I really don't have a correct answer for him except that a "o" and "0" look similar.
