The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Volleyball celebrates Thanksgiving around the globe
11.27.2014 | Volleyball
Several Texas Volleyball coaches and players reflect on Thanksgiving around the country and world.
Mirta Baselovic - Split, Croatia
We have a national holiday that is like Thanksgiving, but it is very different. It doesn't translate from Croatian to English, but it is similar to, 'day of being thankful.' There is no school and it's similar to Thanksgiving, just not as big. It's just a small family meal and get-together where everyone gives thanks. It's on August 5 in the U.S. and it's hot in Croatia at that time.
Assistant Coach Erik Sullivan - Munster, Germany
I have been in several different countries for Thanksgiving, but one that sticks out was in the year 2000, when I was playing professionally in Holland. Nineteen Americans playing all professionally all over Europe all drove to Munster, Germany to a former UCLA player's apartment. She had a little two-bedroom, one-bathroom, couldn't have been more than 1,000 feet—the kitchen maybe 100 square feet. We cooked Thanksgiving dinner in the microwave, a tiny little oven and a tiny little fridge. We made everything—stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes and rolls.
Kat Brooks - Honolulu, Hawaii
In Hawaii, we do a normal Thanksgiving with turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, etc., but we also have more of an Asian influence. In Hawaii, there is rice at basically every meal. For Thanksgiving, people will bring noodles and other Hawaiian food like poi, salmon, or whatever. Everyone will bring what they want to make in addition to the original Thanksgiving foods. Family gets together, but we call everyone 'auntie' and 'uncle,' so close family friends and anyone that wants to come will, and it is a great time.
Pilar Victoria - Caguas, Puerto Rico
My family will go to one of our other family members' house—like a cousin's, aunt's, grandmother's, or our house—we will eat turkey and the same things we do in America. But we also have to have fried plantains. Fried plantains or sweet plantains, rice, beans, mashed potatoes—for dessert, we don't eat pie. We have cheesecake, or ice cream, or cake with ice cream.
Associate Head Coach Tonya Johnson - Zachary, Louisiana
Typically, we have the traditional Thanksgiving meal and then a couple days after, my mom and I love to make gumbo together. It's one of our favorite things to do together. We make it with shrimp, chicken, sausage, crab and basically that's it. My entire family will come—my brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins—it's pretty cool. We make enough to last through the cold season.
