A New Kind of Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving was celebrated a little differently this year. It was just another normal Thursday - no one knows about Thanksgiving here (and why should they?). My celebration did not take place on the actual day of Thanksgiving like usual, but instead three days later. And it was celebrated with Spaniards, not family. However, it was still just as fun, and just as special, as any other Thanksgiving I’ve had.

At school that Thursday, I spent the day teaching my students about our holiday, feeling proud to be an American as I shared my favorite foods and traditions with them. When a few of them would wish me “’Appy Tanksgeeving Raashel!” (most of them can’t quite pronounce my name correctly) in the hallways it made me feel…a little emotional I guess. It hasn’t been difficult to be away from home, but a part of me may have felt a little homesick during the holiday.

The weekend began with my good friend Rachael English coming to visit. She studied in Sevilla with me three years ago, and is now living and teaching in Toledo (a small city just outside of Madrid). She came in October with another friend of hers to visit me before too. It is always so much fun when we’re together, even though she always seems to bring the rain with her. It rained almost the entire time she was here….and has barely stopped since.

We spent that Saturday talking, grocery shopping, and making a pumpkin pie from scratch. That’s right, we bought a butternut squash from the local SuperSol grocery story, chopped it up, boiled it, and mashed it. We also made the pie crust from scratch as well. And you should all know that when I say “we” I mean Rachael.

We went to Ana Bello’s house to help her with whatever last minute details or dishes needed to be prepared. We were there late into the night, and as a result slept until about the time we had to go for Thanksgiving the next morning!

We arrived to Ana’s house bearing beer and coke (staple drinks for a Spanish lunch), and all excited for a Spanish-American Thanksgiving.

There were ten of us in all; four Americans and 6 Spaniards. Ana had outdone herself: the table looked immaculate, and the meal was incredible. She even made a “turkey” out of different foods and utensils (picture below). And we actually had AMERICAN food!!

There was: corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and most importantly, PIES! We had two pumpkin pies and two apple pies! It was as authentic American food as you can get here in Spain. :) It was absolutely delicious. Some of the food the Spaniards had never tried before, like the sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole. But everyone there loved everything, and we stuffed ourselves as much as we could, then somehow still managed to find room for dessert (coffee or tea, and two pieces of pie each. Yum).

After clearing the dishes and washing up, we decided to play games. Now normally I would be in a food-induced coma sleeping off the feast I had just indulged in, but Spaniards don’t know all the Thanksgiving rules quite yet. So we decided to play Taboo. As you all know, I LOVE playing games, and this is also a tradition in my family during holidays. But playing a game where you have to describe words….in Spanish?! Needless to say I got quite nervous, and was not at all excited to play.

Rachael was good encouragement, and soon it was my turn to describe the word. And you know what? I did GREAT! Rachael and I both did. I was so impressed with us, and so proud of myself for being able to describe a word well enough (without being able to use those obvious clues) that Spaniards could actually guess correctly. What an ego-boost.

The day continued with lots of other games: cards, Parcheesi, poker…and lots more talking. All in all, Rachael and I passed ten hours there, speaking in Spanish almost the entire time (we did have our few off to the side sarcastic responses here and there, and they just wouldn’t be the same in Spanish).

On Monday after work, Rachael and I went to our old school (Acento) to visit our old professors and go to a flamenco show put on by this semesters’ students who have been taking flamenco dance lessons. The show was great, and afterward Rachael, Ana, our friends Kike and Martin, Sarah and Jordan (Acento’s student-coordinators) and I all went out to a couple of bars for drinks and tapas. It was the big rivalry soccer game between Barcelona and Madrid, so every bar was packed full of spectators (Barcelona won 5-0 – a blowout game and a big scoring game at that! Some people are calling it Barcelona’s greatest victory game). We had a fun time talking the night away, ending with tea to keep away the cold edge that the night had brought on.

This Thanksgiving made me realize just how much I have to be thankful for this year. Here I am living out my dream in the city I love so much, surrounded by friends who are encouraging me helping me through this new and challenging experience. I am so grateful that I’m here, and that I have my family and friends back home as well praying for me and thinking of me. :)

This is Ana cooking :)

Here are Rachael, me, and Ana at about 1:30am before our big day

Ana made this turkey out of different foods, and a rubber food paintbrush 

(I don't know the real name) for the top of its head!

The table was set so nicely, and the food was delicious! 

As you can see I still don't like my food to touch...

All of us ready to dig in!

Rachael, Kike, Martin, and Ana

The flamenco show!