Right on the heels of Bayram, we had a Thanksgiving celebration in Gyovren . Ryan (from Trigrad) came over early Thursday morning and we cooked all day in the kindergarten. With his guests from Trigrad, plus the people I invited in Gyovren, we had to prepare for about 40 people! The menu included turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, and apple and pumpkin pies. I alternated all day between feeling stressed about getting the food done, not having enough food, worrying that no one would come, and feeling generally unprepared (for example, we hadn’t planned where we would find plates, utensils, or drinks until about an hour before the meal). We also had to move the pies and dressing back up the hill to my apartment because only one oven in the kindergarten was working. After that, all the food had to be moved across town to the factory where we hosted the meal—thank goodness someone with a van helped us out! In the end, everything turned out great—people started showing up a half hour early for the dinner (which is unheard of here)! We served lots of seconds and only had a little pumpkin pie leftover at the end of the night. After the meal, they asked us, “Okay, what’s next? What do you do after you eat on Thanksgiving?” We laughed and explained that generally we fall into a turkey-induced coma on the couch or watch football games and then get up at 4am the next morning to start shopping for Christmas. But, since those weren’t options for us here, Ryan and I provided the after-dinner entertainment with an impromptu performance of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” I also initiated my friend Aishe in the tradition of breaking a wish bone. And, as generally happens at parties here, we ended the night with some Horo dancing.
Life since then has been good. The weekend after Thanksgiving Amber hosted a group of volunteers for a more relaxed Thanksgiving celebration. Following that we had our Inter-Service Training for all the volunteers who arrived in May. It was a refreshing time of sharing experiences and getting re-focused for the next stage of our time here. My parents and brother will be here in exactly one week to celebrate Christmas. I can’t wait!
