Thanksgiving from Seatle
I'm Claudia Riera, a travel enthusiast who decided almost two years ago to leave Barcelona, the city I grew up in, and move to the States to work as an au pair. After graduating from college and working for a year as a copywriter, I started this life adventure that took me firstly to work for a family in Seattle, taking care of two sweet and loving little boys, and secondly to Columbus (Ohio), where I'm currently living and start working as a social media manager.
Now, you may be wondering why I am telling you all this. As someone constantly soaking in this country's culture, I'll be sharing my experience living in the USA, its traditions and festivities, common expressions used and much more in this blog. And today being Thanksgiving and Black Friday tomorrow, why not start the blog talking about these festivities?
We all know that Thanksgiving and Black Friday go hand in hand to set off the winter festivities when millions of US shoppers head to the stores after a day full of food and football, trying to save on their Christmas shopping. And, even though Black Friday is nowadays a global phenomenon, not everyone knows the story behind its name and origin, which traces back to the 1960s in Philadelphia. Every Saturday after Thanksgiving, people from around the country were drawn to the city to watch the Army-Navy football game. This event led to lots of traffic on the day before the match as well as congestion in retail stores, leading police officers to start calling it "Black Friday". Although retailers weren't happy to be associated with traffic and smog and tried to change the name to "Big Friday" to give it a better connotation, the initial term had already solidified in people's minds. Needless to say, the tradition of shopping during that weekend has become the tradition we know today.
