¡Feliz Día de Gracias! Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm not sure if Venezuelan turkeys exist or not, but regardless of whether I'll be eating turkey tonight (or just more arepas), I'm excited for my untraditional Venezuelan Thanksgiving dinner experience. This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family, so it does make me miss them, but I'm so thankful that I'll be coming home to them in one week! Actually, I have exactly one week left here in Venezuela as of today, because I'll be leaving for the airport early next Friday morning. It's hard to believe that 3 and a half months went so fast. After my classes today, I will officially begin my last weekend in Venezuela, so I definitely want to make it count!
Tonight, VENUSA (our school) is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the students and their host families. Thanksgiving isn't actually celebrated here, but they are having the dinner for us, so we can feel at home :)
Some of the students went to the market yesterday (while I was studying for 2 final exams) to buy fruit for tropical fruit pies. One is piña colada, coconut and pineapple that is, and another friend of mine who loves to bake is making a guava pie. Needless to say, I'm excited for the dinner tonight...it's going to be an adventure! I'm hoping there will be a pumpkin pie tonight too - squash and pumpkin (which are considered the same thing here) are called "calabaza" or "auyama" are pretty popular ingredients in soups, so we'll see if someone is brave enough to transform them into a delicious home-made pumpkin pie tonight! Unfortunately I have a final paper due this morning for my politics class, and then 4 classes to attend throughout the day. That's a total of 8 hours of class (my Thursdays are always busy) and then the dinner starts just after my last class gets out, so I have no free time for baking :(
Oh well, I guess I'll just eat and photograph. I can handle that! It's weird knowing that it's Thanksgiving and I still have class...and not seeing all of my Mom's festive decorations. But I'll make the best of it, study the day away, and then enjoy dinner and be thankful for all of the wonderful people I've met here and get to spend Thanksgiving with!
...even though I'll be thinking of all of the wonderful people crowded around a Thanksgiving table at my house eating together. I miss you guys and I wish I was there with you! Happy Thanksgiving, and eat lots for me.
Love, Sarah
Coming soon: a post about tonight's Venezuela-style Thanksgiving dinner!
Oooh love the new header!
ReplyDeleteWell maybe not you, but it ABSOLUTELY feels like you've been gone for three months!! :( Was totally wishing I could have a lakewalk with you yesterday afternoon... it was in the 50s here!! Sorry... I can't promise it still will be when you get back.
OOOH and I finally set a date for surgery!! December 14th. http://www.drtrirunner.com/2011/11/surgery-valgus-producing-subtrochanteric-femoral-osteotomy/
Lake walks sound so good. I've heard the weather has been nice, but we'll see if that holds up for one more week! Oh, good you have a date set! I just read your medical history cliff notes (after just watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy) and I'm really hoping that this surgery will be your last! And that you'll have a smooth recovery and be on your feet as soon as possible afterwards. In the mean time, we can schedule some movie dates.
ReplyDeleteOh, and to answer your question about my favorite kind of pie, definitely mango-cinnamon. See my most recent post for photos :)