Words I put into sentences......

*Posted a little late….*

11/29/2010

It’s not about the turkey, it’s not about the stuffing or the gravy or the mash potatoes or the cranberries or the pumpkin and apple pies (although all of these are very important and oh so delicious), it is all about FAMILY! And never in all of my Thanksgivings has one been so important as my first one in Peace Corps. 

Peace Corps has its fair share of ups and downs. Its fair share of crazy, happy and sad and as one of my close friends said “It’s great having something to look forward to”. And I had been looking forward to Thanksgiving for months! Literally, waking up and getting super excited because it meant that we were one day closer to the FEAST! If you haven’t figured it out yet, I LOVE Thanksgiving, it’s my favorite holiday. Why? It’s simple really, Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts wrapped in shiny paper (though I like getting presents and I like Christmas). Thanksgiving is about family and friends getting together, feasting and just being thankful for one another. I LOVE it! Well, I love eating but I love being with family. 

The process of putting together a Peace Corps Thanksgiving started with an idea to get a bunch of volunteers together from the Oriental region to celebrate. Then this invitation extended to one of my best friends whom I’m so so so so lucky and grateful to have in Morocco with me, Jackie Shay, amongst some other non-Oriental region volunteers. Basically Joe, Colin and I invited our family lol. It was great. 

Thanksgiving day is ALWAYS crazy and I learned that no matter where you are, if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving, it’s going to be crazy. Be prepared :) Let me just give you the run down of the process of preparing the feast:

1. I made tortilla chips, hummus and banana-walnut bread on the day before Thanksgiving.

2. I get to Joe’s house around 1p on Thanksgiving day.

3. After hugs, I meet Colin in the kitchen. He has started laying down foil on the cookie sheet to cook the turkey.

4. A couple of us make a run down to get some last minute items from the marche in Jerada and especially BUTTER! 

5. I pop a beer open and start helping Colin prepare the turkey with butter, salt, pepper, garlic and some special spices Joe had in his house….

6. Turkey in the oven, we take a break and munch on some hummus, chips, peppers and carrots and banana bread. Snack time!

7. Steven starts on his yams and cranberries.

8. Martha starts on her green beans and corn (bomb!).

9. Jackie makes HELLA mac n’ cheese.

10. I think Martha and Jackie both made AMAZING brownies. 

11. Cynthia had already made the pumpkin pie and mexican wedding cookies ahead of time (we feasted on those after stuffing our faces).

12. Turkey is done, tastes soooooo good! And Steven has the amazing idea to just put the stuffing on top. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

13. Anton makes his garlic mash potatoes!!

14. EAT!!!!

We had a little ceremonial turkey cutting, me with the knife and everyone around staring with moved eyes. No one was really hungry because we had been snacking all day but it wouldn’t really be right if we were hungry. Thanksgiving is about your stomach hurting sooo good haha. It was just such a lovely time. Just lovely. Drinks, great food and amazing friends who are now my family. Family is such a strange word because the boundaries of blood really have no meaning. What it really means to be a family is to respect, care and love each other. The volunteers I spent my first Peace Corps Thanksgiving with are AMAZING people! I’m so thankful that I have gotten this opportunity to get to know these people, become friends and in the midst of a crazy volunteer life, we have together as a family, managed to pull off a truly momentous Thanksgiving!!  The happiness everyone was feeling was erupting from their faces each time they took a bite of food off of their plate, bowl, tupperware lid or tupperware (we had limited dishes to work with). It was one of my best days in Morocco and I miss it all the time. Can’t wait for next year!! Here are some photos from that night.

*The food!!*

*The family, from left to right (Colin, Cynthia, Martha, Steven, Erika, Jackie, Joe, Anton and Me)*

 

*The after affects of Shuksgiving. Martha was already passed out. Time: approx. 9pm*

*All photos courtesy of Josh Bernard (http://joshbernard.smugmug.com). Thanks!!*

It was an amazing amazing time! Thanks everyone :)

Love,

Socorra