So, this year’s Thanksgiving was our first one as future U.S. residents. Even if my aunt lives in Utah, I never had a traditional thanksgiving dinner in my life. My closest contact to Thanksgiving was through Friends or other american TV series. So we decided to change this from now on.

While watching our favourite Thanksgiving episode of Friends some weeks ago one of my girlfriends and me made the big plan to have a Thanksgiving dinner this year! Unfortunately the Thanksgiving thursday is not a holiday in Germany, so we had to throw a belated dinner party on Friday. My Thanksgiving experience began with going down to the grocery store in the morning to buy sweet potatoes. I have neither eaten nor cooked sweet potatoes before, so it was kind of exciting. I made a sweet potatoe casserole and a New York cheesecake for desert and our friends at who’s house our dinner party was located took care of the traditional turkey. We normally only eat such a big turkey for christmas, so it was really new to us to meet with friends and make such a huge dinner in November! But even if this was my first Thanksgiving I have already decided that I won’t skip this tradition any year from now on.

We had to make a vow to our friends that we will invite them over for Thanksgiving the first year we live in California. Even if this date lies about two years in the future, I can’t wait for it. I can’t wait for my first thanksgiving shopping in California. I can’t wait for my first turkey in California. And I can’t wait for my first official Thanksgiving holiday! I think this is such a nice tradition, which brings you together with your family and friends. And I will definitely teach this tradition to my kids one day. And I guess by then I will have some experience and not be surprised by the taste of sweet potatoes anymore.

It finally happened! We found our passports in the mailbox this weekend. With our US visa inside! We were both kind of overwhelmed. Yeah, we knew that this could happen any day now, but it hits you kind of unexpected to actually find the big envelope adressed in your own handwriting. It actually took me a minute to understand why my hubby was smiling like a lunatic when he opened the box. When i hold my modified passport in my hands, I actually realized that this is the start of a whole new life.

Till now our plans to move to the US always were kind of spongy, because we hadn’t actually made some serious plans yet. But now there are no more excuses why we shouldn’t write applications or why we shouldn’t start looking for flats. We are now finally actual Greencard winners, not only applicants for a Greencard anymore. Even if I would love to just pack my things and head to California, I will have to stay calm for about another year. We decided not to rush things. This means we will only move over when at least one of us has a job and we have a place where we can stay not only for a few weeks. Till then we will have to hang on to a dream. The dream of getting that job we applied for or the dream of moving forward time and catch that one special one-way flight tomorrow.

Our next trip to the US will be in late march I guess. This will not only be a holiday but the visit at which we will activate our Greencard. It will be my second visit in my future home. And the visit where I will meet my hubby’s American friends and some parts of my family I haven’t seen in ages. I hope I can still enjoy America as someone who is just visiting for now and still be happy to come home to Germany. The home where I will have to stay for at least another year! But even if I don’t want to come back home anymore, there is one thing that will always cheer me up: A look at my Greencard and the thought that I will use my Greencard and move to sunny and lovely California very very soon!

About six weeks ago one of my girlfriends called me and told me the exciting news: “We are going to fly to Florida in November!” She and her boyfriend actually chose Florida as their destination, because we only told them good things about our trip in October! Yes, the weather was another factor, but let’s just skip this. A week later I visited the two and couldn’t stop to burst out things they definitely would have to visit over there and told them about all the funny things we did and saw. She thoroughly wrote everything I told her down and assured me that she will visit all the places I told her about. I was so excited for her going to the place I loved so much, I wanted to call her everytime something slipped into my mind.

I guess it’ll be the same when my husband and me come back from our California vacation next year. I hope for my friends that none of them will make a trip to the West Coast any time near us, because I would be able to drive them crazy with my tips and enthusiasm. It feels kind of strange to like a place you don’t even live in so much. We actually had friends from London over for our wedding and I couldn’t think of anything to show them, because to me my hometown Cologne is kind of boring. Therefor it felt good to feel excitement for a city again.

I guess and hope that when we finally activate our Greencard move to California I will be the best and most motivated tourist guide to find. But perhaps you should get back to me by the time we will have our fourth or fifth visit from german friends. By this time I predict I won’t be the let-me-show-you-everything-girl, but will have moved on to the do-you-need-me-to-come-or-can-I-just-explain-the-way-girl. Eventually I will be jealous of my friends flying home to Germany at the end of their visit. And depending on how homesick I will be, I might try to get Amercians to visit the cool spots in Cologne. Till then I stick to envying my friends who book the next vacation in the US and enjoy being jealous!