What Are You Thankful For

Thanksgiving เทศกาลสำคัญของอเมริกันที่มีธรรมเนียมน่ารักโดยการนั่งล้อมวงที่โต๊ะอาหารแล้วบอกกันในหมู่ญาติสนิทมิตรสหายว่าเรารู้สึกขอบคุณกับอะไรบ้างในชีวิตของเราในขณะนั้น แต่ต่อให้บ้านเราไม่มีเทศกาลนี้ เราก็แสดงความขอบคุณกันได้นะ

BICK: โบอยู่อเมริกามาสิบปี ผ่าน Thanksgiving มาสิบครั้ง ลองเล่าให้ฟังหน่อยสิครับว่า เทศกาลนี้มีความสำคัญอย่างไรกับชาวอเมริกัน และเขาทำอะไรกันบ้าง

Thanksgiving มาจากไหน และทำไมต้องไก่งวง

00:58

BEAU: เทศกาลนี้เป็นเหมือนการ celebrate the first dinner after the first harvest of the Pilgrims in the new world ซึ่งคือบริเวณที่พวก British เรียก 13 colonies ฝั่งตะวันออกของอเมริกา Thanksgiving ก็เป็นเหมือนการฉลองการเก็บเกี่ยวครั้งแรกของการย้ายมาอยู่ที่นี่ มีการ feast คือเลี้ยงอาหารกันยาวถึงสามวัน And that’s how Thanksgiving became Thanksgiving holiday and it’s my personal favorite because it’s very family-oriented. When I went away for college i would go to my uncle’s house and we would make turkey and stuffing…

FIAT: Why is it turkey? Why isn’t it like cow or something so you can stuff the whole cow and feed the whole village! But it’s always like that, right? The main dish that symbolizes Thanksgiving.

BEAU: Yes. Turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pies! It’s hard to find really good authentic ones in Bangkok. Thanksgiving is one of those family meals where you’d probably have to detox before you go to because you are gonna be eating the entire weekend, like five days straight. Usually it’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But sometimes we even have Wednesday off. The cooking, the eating, the entire house will smell like ham, turkey, good gravy and mashed potatoes…

FIAT: Look at Beau… พูดถึงของกินแล้วตาเป็นประกาย

BICK: And people are actually go back home for these particular feasts, right? Christmas and Thanksgiving are like สงกรานต์บ้านเราเนอะ คือทุกคนกลับบ้าน

FIAT: It’s the festival for shopaholics too.

BEAU: Black Friday! Oh my god it gets really crazy. People will camp out in front of Best Buy, which is like the electronic store, since the night before. The Black Friday Sales is insane! Really cheap prices. People have stumbled on each other before to get into the store as it opens.

FIAT: Thanksgiving is usually on Thursday and the Friday after that is Black Friday, right? And of course it’s the time to be thankful.

BEAU: What we usually do as a tradition in America on Thanksgiving night at the dinner table is after we serve all the food on the table, we sit together as a family and we would go around the table saying what we’re thankful for in our lives. And to this day I still meet up with my American friends or my friends from Thailand who go study abroad in America. We usually get together once a year on Thanksgiving for dinner, and we still do that, going around the table and saying what we’re thankful for.

BICK: มันเป็นธรรมเนียมที่น่ารักดี บ้านเราไม่มี Thanksgiving ไม่มีคอนเซ็ปต์นี้ แต่พี่รู้สึกว่าเราสามารถเอาธรรมเนียมนี้มาใช้กับเพื่อนๆ ในกลุ่ม หรือกับคนในครอบครัวได้นะ ไม่จำเป็นว่าเราต้องมีวัน Thanksgiving เพื่อที่จะมีความรู้สึก thankful กับสิ่งที่เรามี

BEAU: We even do this in school. Sometimes as a kid we used to have to write an essay on what we’re thankful for in our lives or in class the teacher would go around and asking individually, one by one, what we were thankful for.

ความหมายของคำว่า Thankful

05:48

BICK: So what do they mean by ‘thankful for something’?

BEAU: It means what you are appreciating at the moment in your life. What’s the big important issue that you’re thankful for. It could be money, health, family, friends…

BICK: So basically the good things in your life.

FIAT: It’s like recalling how lucky you are, because sometimes we take a lot of things for granted. For example we get up in the morning everyday and you feel like this is normal, but actually your ‘normality’ is not normal for everyone. You have the health, I mean, a lot of people go to sleep and never get back up.

BICK: So I think it might be fun if today we do the same thing, going around our little table here and tell the audience and each other what we’re thankful for.

FIAT: And in the meantime you might have your own list in mind of what you’re thankful for, too.

BICK: Let’s do that! Starting with Fiat.

คุณพ่อคุณแม่ไม่ต้องดีที่สุด แต่รักเฟี้ยตมากที่สุด

06:48

FIAT: I would say I’m thankful for having good parents. They might not be perfect. When we were little we always dreamed of the perfect parents, watching TV or watching the neighbor’s parents and we were like, why our parents are not like that? But I think they might think the same thing, why our kids are not perfect like their kids? We always expect our parents to be the best, but as we grow up we’ll find out that, oh, they’re just people. And they might have trouble raising us because we’re not the perfect kids either. So I’m thankful that they’re still here with us. My parents are the only two people who will love me no matter what condition I’m gonna be in and I’m thankful for that.

My parents are the only two people who will love me
no matter what condition I’m gonna be in

คุณแม่ที่ตลกและเป็นนักอ่าน มีอิทธิพลต่องานของบิ๊กบุญ

08:00

BICK: Well, can I also say the same thing? Because it’s actually on my list, too. And I’m sure it’s also on Beau’s. I’m thankful for my parents. I’m so happy that my mom is such a funny mom. She’s got great sense of humor. I remember since I was little she could always made me laugh. Then when I was in highschool and I was very very bad, in a way, she got so worried about me she kinda lost her sense of humor. I remember she’d always worried and yelling at me. She became very strict. But of course, like Fiat said, that’s because we weren’t the best kids for her either. It’s understandable why she had to be so stern and strict with us. But growing up as I could prove to her that I could take care of myself even though I’m not a perfect kid, but I did pretty well in school and she didn’t have anything to actually worry about me. Little by little I earned her trust. I think she became relieved and she’s not worried too much about me anymore. And she came back to her own self, you know, back to being funny again.

And also because of her, I love reading. Because she loved reading and she’s got tons of books in the house. When I was little I was kind of a weird kid I didn’t have a lot of friends. I didn’t have any friends actually. But that got me into reading. And that actually made me the person I am today, working in publishing business and all. All that is because of her. So I’m grateful that she’s a funny mom and a book-loving mom.

And my dad has passed away, but one thing I remember the most about him is that how much he loved my mom and how much he was faithful to her. คนชอบพูดถึงพ่อพี่ว่า “โอ้โห ผู้ชายอย่างนี้หาไม่ได้อีกแล้ว” and that’s the best quality I’d ever want or expect out of a dad, and I got that. So I’m very thankful for that.

So I’m grateful that she’s a funny mom and a book-loving mom

ผู้ชายอย่างคุณพ่อ คือผู้ชายในอุดมคติของโบ

10:46

BEAU: Me too. My number one thing that I’m thankful for is my family, my parents, and now I have an addition in my family, not a baby, not yet, but it’s my husband. My parents, they are seriously the best parents ever. I’m not bluffing. They are so patient and they would love me unconditionally. They’re so supportive of everything I wanna do. Ever since I was little they know I always have this dream of becoming an actress or a singer. They never once said, ‘Oh it’s impossible, you need to go and be a lawyer! Get a real job! This is just a dream! Do not pursue your dream!’ they’re always supportive, like, ‘Yeah, quit your job. Come back to Thailand and go to AF!’ My parents are like, ‘Go for it! If that’s what you wanna do, go for it!’

And they are the model of how I look for my spouse. Ever since I could remember, when anyone ask me, ‘What’s your type?’ สเป๊กเป็นยังไง I would say, ‘Just like my dad!’ because he’s the perfect man in my eyes. He is, like your dad, พี่บิ๊ก, so faithful. He loves and takes such good care of his family. My mom got a stroke, several years ago, and my dad has been there for her every step of the way, through her recovery. Until today I haven’t seen them apart. They go everywhere together. And I’m thankful for them and for their love for each other. Actually I’m just thankful for just still having them in my life. They’re still very much involved in my life. I call and talk to them every single day. Yeah I’m a baby. Ha ha. But I’m an only child so what am I gonna do?

The second part of my family, my husband, I’m very thankful that I have him. We just had the second year anniversary of our wedding and this is our third year spending Thanksgiving together as husband and wife. I’m thankful that I have found him and have him in my life. I never thought I would ever find a guy like that, a guy that is really similar to my dad. The one who understands me and doesn’t judge me on anything and loves me for who I am.

FIAT: Aw, does he have a brother?

BICK: Okay back to you again, Fiat. What else are you thankful for?

อะไรไม่ทำเราถึงตาย จะทำให้เราแกร่งขึ้นเสมอ

14:21

FIAT: I’m thankful for all the moments in my life. I’m thankful for every minutes of it that I’m alive. Bad ones, good ones. All those moments that take me here, to be who I am now. If you look through your life, you’ll see that it’s not so bad at all, even the bad situations or bad things that happened, you can always learn something from it, and you’re stronger. Like what they say, ‘What doesn’t kill you make you stronger’ it’s just like that. All the lessons, especially the bad moments. If they can give you the best lessons in your life, they’re not bad at all.

What doesn’t kill you make you stronger

บางทีสิ่งที่ไม่ได้มองหา อาจกลายมาเป็นสิ่งที่เหมาะกับเราที่สุด

15:20

BICK: Okay I wanna say I’m thankful for my job. Actually this job I’m having right now is not something that I was pursuing at all. I know that I love reading and I know that I love books. I’m such a geek. I read all the time. Twenty years ago when I had a full-time job as a radio dj I was still sidelining as a columnist. But I would never in a million years think that I could make a career out of it. I thought that this is like a hobby. I didn’t think I can write full-time professionally for a living, let alone working in a publishing industry which I have no knowledge about.

But this job was offered to me, I think, by accident. Ten years ago I got to know พี่โหน่ง my boss. He was reading my book and I had been a big fan of his for a very long time. Of course I would love to work with him, I mean, anything. But at that time that we got to know each other he didn’t have any opening at his company. But one day, the editor of a book Publishing then quit the job. So พี่โหน่ง just asked me, ‘Well, would you like her job?’ and without thinking I said, ‘YES!’ I didn’t even know what I got myself into because I had no experience whatsoever. I was a writer and had some of my books published and I got to work with people in a publishing house but I had no idea what they were doing there. Actually I kinda got a very scary concept of having to put out 2-3 pocket books a month and I thought I would never be able to do that. But like I said I wanted to work with พี่โหน่ง so, whatever it takes. I just jumped right in.

But it turned out that it was so me! นี่แหละคืองานที่เราไม่รู้มาก่อนว่าเราหาอยู่ แต่มันดันกลายเป็นงานที่เหมาะกับเรามาก I’m so thankful that I found พี่โหน่ง and this job.

FIAT: Yeah นี่ไงถึงบอกว่า Don’t just close the opportunities. When you lose one job and then you got offered another things that you don’t know you’re gonna like, it might be the one. Actually this applies to a person as well. When someone walks into your life and you might be like, ‘This is not my type’, but guess what, this is the one. You gotta try it out and give it a change sometimes.

ดีแค่ไหนที่ได้เกิดมาในรัชสมัยของในหลวง

18:25

BEAU: For me I think I speak for the most people in Thailand. I’m thankful for our King Bhumibol, our ninth king who has just passed. I’m thankful for him and what he has done for the country throughout his life. I feel so blessed to be living during his reign, and to have a figurehead, a monarch, as devoted as him. And I’m thankful that once in my lifetime I was alive when he was really active and helping the country and getting to know his people. I’m thankful to have him as our father-figure.

I’m thankful that once in my lifetime
I was alive when he was really active
and helping the country and getting to know his people.

ฟ้าส่งลงมาให้เป็นเพื่อนกัน

19:43

FIAT: I’m thankful for my friends. For good friends, you don’t even have to say a word and they understand us. Just a sight of them makes us feel better already. I’m thankful for friends because they’re not related by blood but I think it’s destiny. Friends cannot be forced. I’ve tried to have forced friendship before, like I wanna be friends with that person, but it doesn’t work.

Friends will accept us. We can eat greedily in front of them. We can actually lay around naked with them. I have those kind of friends! I know each other since grade 2. We can point our feet in their faces. We’re that close. It’s so comfortable. It’s the blessings.

Friends cannot be forced

ขอบคุณตัวเองที่เป็นคนรู้จักเข็ด

21:06

BICK: You’ve said before that you’re grateful and thankful for the mistakes you’ve made, or something like that? Yeah, I wanna say the same thing. All my failures in the past and all my mistakes that I’ve made. Actually I’m thankful for myself for being the kind of person who could be taught by those lessons. พี่ว่าพี่เป็นคนรู้จักเข็ด อะไรเกิดขึ้นแล้วมันแย่ เราจะจำ เราจะเข็ด เราจะระวังไม่ให้เกิดอีก

ขอบคุณในบ้านหลังใหม่

21:45

BEAU: I think I’m gonna put my friends into the first category with family because my best friend and I we’re like soul sisters. We get along so well and we’re so much alike that we’re sister-like.

Now what I’m so thankful for this year is my house! My new house! It’s about to be done. I’m so excited! After such a long time! So I’m thankful for being able to move in hopefully before new year.

และนี่คือเครื่องมือที่ดีที่สุดในชีวิตที่เราควรต้องขอบคุณ

22:40

FIAT: Yeah! Can I say one more? I wanna say that I appreciate my body. It’s not a perfect body but I think our body is the greatest tool that we ever have. It’s not the smart phone, not the tablet, not the computer, but this old body that stays with you for a very long time will take you anywhere in the galaxy! And it’s given by the love of your parents. And even though it’s ‘given’ it’s not yours! A lot of people think that oh it’s my body I can do anything with it. I can go fat, I can eat, I can smoke, I can have any cancer-risk behaviors. But if you take good care of it, it’s the best tool in the world. And even when your parents are gone you can always see the resemblance of your parent on your face, on your skin, everywhere. So be grateful for that. Take good care of your health and your body. Be thankful for it.

BICK: I think today’s episode is not about bragging. It’s not like we’re showing off that we’ve got so many great things going on in our lives. Because we’re sure if you search inside yourself you’ll find plenty, too.

FIAT: One more thing we’d like to say that we’re thankful for is our audience. Thank you so much for listening to us.

Our body is the greatest tool that we ever have

Photo credit: pixabay.com

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,