Colombian Couple to Celebrate First US Thanksgiving Asks For Invites, Hundreds Respond

• A Colombian couple wishes to celebrate their first Thanksgiving in the U.S. with an American family.
• Susana Orrego and her husband Edward are living in Boston while she completes her two years of masteral study in Harvard.
• Susana took a chance and posted on the local neighborhood app “Nextdoor” where she received hundreds of invites.

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Colombian couple Susana Orrego Villegas and Edward arrived in Boston in August to complete her masteral study in Harvard.

As Thanksgiving in the US approaches, the couple decided to embrace the culture of the country. Susana said that there are no traditions in Colombia quite like an American Thanksgiving. 

“I think it’s part of understanding the culture,” Susana told Boston.com. “For me, it’s important to understand what happened with the population, what they celebrate … My husband and I want to understand or learn from American culture.”

Since they don’t really know anyone, Susana decided to post on Nextdoor, an app for neighborhoods where users can get local tips or buy and sell items. She asked if anyone would share Thanksgiving dinner with them. Susana also uploaded a photo of herself and her husband,

She wrote:

“Want to share Thanksgiving with new neighbors? This post will be super crazy but I will take the chance. My name is Susana; I’m a medical doctor, a full-time student with a Master’s degree at Harvard Medical School. My husband and I recently moved to Boston, MA, and we will live here for two years (we came from Colombia). We live in Brookline at Beacon St.

We are a super lovely couple and want to know more about American Culture. I want to have our first traditional thanksgiving with an American Family. We can bring food, beverage and help with all the processes of dinner preparation. We offer to share our gratitude and friendship and share our Latin American and Colombian heritage.

If you want to share this special day with two fun, fully vaccinated and Covid-19 responsible couples, please let me know. I appreciate any help you can provide or suggestions. Have a great raining night!

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Susana”

Within days, hundreds of users responded and invited them to join for Thanksgiving dinner. Others offered to meet and share a meal at a different time. 

“We would be happy to invite you to share Thanksgiving with us,” wrote one user.

Susana and Edward accepted the invitation from Carol Lesser and family in Jamaica Plain. The couple had already met up with two other families they connected with through the app.

“I said to her, I felt like I won the lottery because she chose us and we get a chance to meet them,” said Carol. “She seemed so genuine in her reaching out, and I felt like we could reciprocate and show her a good side of America.”

“In Boston, sometimes you say hello to people, and people don’t reply, so I thought people are probably not too friendly,” Susana said. “But after [posting this], my mind changed completely.”

Source: Sunny Skyz