I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for having found such a wonderful family here in France (who allow me to cook crazy American food, walk around barefoot, and who have taken me in as a member of the family), thankful for having a job (which is both challenging and rewarding), thankful for this wonderful exposure to a different culture, thankful for my amazing friends at home (most of whom continue to keep in touch with me, despite the distance), my boyfriend (who writes me lovely long letters), and my wonderful family (which, of course, expands to my neighborhood… yes, I have a big family!)—THANK YOU ALL!
Today I had a morning class (we made Thanksgiving cards…the kind with the hand-outline turkeys on the front!) and as soon as that was over, I rushed home to make nutloaf. I had it in the oven at noon and then hurried to prepare for my afternoon classes. I removed my nutloaf just as I was leaving for my classes at the other school.
Photo: Happy Thanksgiving!
Once again it wasn’t raining while I biked, for which I am very thankful!! I made Thanksgiving cards (and told the story of Thanksgiving) with the younger kids, but the older kids had a test. Yep, I was informed by the director (of the other school) that I’m supposed to test the 10-11 yr olds. It’s odd because I don’t test any of the kids at the main school… Anyways, they took their test and then made Thanksgiving cards. I didn’t have time to correct the tests today, so I don’t know how well they did…
As soon as I got home (at 3pm), I headed into the kitchen. Catherine made filets of turkey, mushrooms, and gravy. I worked on another apple pie. And, of course, we had music! Today it was Gaelic Storm! Alison arrived around 3:45pm and started peeling potatoes. Catherine had to head to work around 4:30pm, so Alison and I kept on working!
Photo: Guess who opened the cornstarch a little too vigorously?
After the pie, we made pumpkin bread, mashed potatoes, rolls, peas (just the frozen kind), and vegetarian gravy! I also opened my two cans of cranberry sauce (sent to my by my Grandma!), which definitely doesn’t exist here in France.
Photo: Alison and Margot decorate the name cards while Alexandre tries to eat them...
We worked non-stop until 7:30pm (including making place cards and setting and decorating the table), when people started arriving. There was a total of 14 people at tonight’s Thanksgiving feast: Catherine, Ralf, Margot, Chantal (Catherine’s sister), Philippe (Chantal’s long-term boyfriend), Jeanne, Phillipe, and Claire (Chantal’s kids), Manu (Philippe’s son), Isabelle (a friend of Catherine and Chantal), Alexandre (Isabelle’s 15-month old son), Pablo, Alison, and me! Whew!
We all sat around the huge dining room table (made a bit longer for tonight’s dinner) and ate and ate and ate! Everyone enjoyed the food (not everyone liked everything, but they all at least tried it)!
Photo: A Thanksgiving Feast
My nutloaf turned out really dry because I couldn’t find wheat germ, so I put in wheat bran instead…fail. Luckily I was the only one eating it, so no one needed to know! The desserts were a real success—no one had tasted pumpkin pie before and almost everyone liked it! We spent hours around the table talking and Manu kept eating and eating (I think he had 4 pieces of pie!!)—that’s teenage boys for you!
Photo: Pablo keeps Alexandre entertained...
By 11:00pm it was just Catherine and Isabelle talking, Ralf doing dishes (I wasn’t allowed to help wash up), and Alison, Pablo, Margot, and I entertaining baby Alexandre and playing catch with pairs of socks rolled into balls. Everyone (except Alison, who is spending the night) headed home around 11:30pm and I crawled, exhausted, into bed to briefly skype with my family before heading to sleep! I’m sad to be missing Thanksgiving at home, but I’m so glad I could share it with everyone here!!
Today I got a letter from Mark!!! :)
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