Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Okay, so I’m a bit late, but this way I guess I can be sure that everyone has already got their fair share of turkey, mashed potatoes and pie by now. For my Thanksgiving, I went to a potluck dinner hosted by two other auxiliares who live in Cádiz. It was truly one of the most interesting Thanksgiving dinners I have had, as we packed nearly 20 people into a single apartment; 7-8 Americans and the rest a random collection of various European nationalities: Spanish, French, Czech, Swedish, Icelandic… I could very well be missing a couple. It was really great having so many first-time Thanksgiving-ers around to celebrate – I feel like this holiday is one of the few uniquely American celebrations that is still relatively unknown by people from other countries. We (the Americans) got to introduce some of the foods and explain for why it’s patriotic for Americans to stuff their faces every fourth Thursday in November. For those who are curious, yes we were able to find a turkey, stuffing and most traditional Thanksgiving cuisine, but came up a little bit short as we were missing cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

But before I get any further in my entry, I have a confession to make:
Up until now, Thanksgiving has never been a favorite of mine. It has always just seemed like another day where we fulfill the “country-of-gluttons” stereotype by consuming way too much of everything. Oddly enough, despite (or perhaps because of?) the untraditional nature of my Thanksgiving this year, I shed my Scrooge-iness and really enjoyed the beauty of this holiday. It was wonderful to be in a room full of so many people from so many places and different walks of life and still be able to share such a warm, pleasant evening with them. Not surprisingly, not being at home for the holiday made me feel like I was missing out by not being in Tualatin, but it also made me realize that the more grown up everyone becomes, the more often life will get in the way and prevent us from all being in the same place at the same time, making the rare occasions when we are together all the more special.

Also, another “growing-up” realization that has recently dawned on me is the genuine appreciation for the things that I have in my life that are easy to overlook. For example, I really do feel blessed to have a job that I enjoy, that I earn me enough money to pay for rent, food, and even have a little left over to have fun with, that I live with two wonderful Spanish friends who help me improve/laugh at my Spanish, that I have a group of American friends who help keep me sane when I need it most, and last but not least, a wonderful family and group of friends from home who I love and miss!!!

Now that I’ve successfully turned this into the sappiest posting ever, I think I’ll sign off! Besos a todos!