Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is my favorite holiday because it is like Christmas, but without all the stuff. I particularly like Thanksgiving when my family holds it at our house because I enjoy cooking all the foods, the smells, and I do not have to travel. I love Christmas lights, music, and movies, but feel frustrated at the consumerism of Christmas and the stress it seems to bring to our lives, when really Advent is a time of remembering Jesus and his words, but we forget his words guarding us against the temptations of materialism. So, I love Thanksgiving best of all because it is a day to be grateful for what we have, and with the thanks to remember all those who do not have as much as us, and our responsiblility to others in the world. Thanksgiving is a day to be with our family and friends and to be grateful for their presence in our lives.
So, I was not sure what Thanksgiving would be like thousands of miles from home and without any of my friends. Two years ago I spent Thanksgiving in Northern Ireland, vising my friend Olivia who was studying there. My roommate, Keatin, and I spent Thanksgiving 2007 with Olivia and made a big Thanksgiving feast for her friends there. Even though I was away from family, I had two of my closest friends with me. Well, my Thanksgiving was slightly weird, but overall very entertaining and fun.
It started about a week before when I met Elvia´s secret boyfriend who spent two years in the United States and was very excited to have a Thanksgiving dinner. He said if we cooked the food, he would buy the turkey and wine. I said, sure, I have helped my mom before and can figure it out. Which I did, but with many bumps along the road.
First, because the boyfriend is secret, the Thanksgiving would have to be secret. It would just be Elvia, myself, the boyfriend (refered to as frijol, or bean), and if another YAV wanted to come in. Well I live a good bit away from everyone else, and most everyone else was doing something with their families. So it was going to be just us three. Then we inivited some Italian volunteers in the Casadiocesana to join us, but they were going to be at a meeting on the coast that day and not returning until Friday. Again, we would be three eating everything by ourselves.
Second, I asked my mom to email the instructions to everything I needed to make, but looking at the list I was not sure I would be able to obtain everything, especially the lard needed to make pie crust, my most favorite thing to make. Also, pumpkins do not exist in Guatemala, but Marsha told us we could make a pie out of a squash found here in Guatemala. I was also unable to find evaporated milk for the pie, it is only found in larger chain stores in big cities. See, I do not live in a touristy area, which is often great for me. I am not harrassed by vendors as much, and people do not jack up the prices as much. They do a little, but I am willing to pay a small gringa tax. But the problem is, there are not many imported foods found in San Marcos. Well Elvia and I spent an entire evening going from store to store and vendor to vendor looking for everything. We eventually found everything needed except lard and evaporated milk, but I was able to substitue lard with fake butter out of vegtable oils and made my cup of powereded milk thicker. The pie turned out very well in the end.
Third, the turkey was 8 pounds, so Fanny Farmer said to cook it 15 min for each pound, So, 2 hours would be needed for the Turkey, and I would give it 3 just to be safe. Well, Wednesday afternoon I was asked to go to Chichicastenago with Elvia´s sister to help her buy things for the store. I had already said I would go with her when the date was some mysterious day in the future. Well, now I was unable to say no because the Thanksgiving was secret and I did not have another excuse. See, I am a terrible liar in English, so I am that much worse in Spanish when I am only able to speak directly. Well, I asked when we would be back and she said around 3. Plently of time to get the turkey dressed and in the oven to eat around 7 or 8.
Chichicastengo was very interesting. It is a huge market (Thursday is markety day) full of Guatemalans and tourists. The strangest thing was walking through the market and hearing English. In Chichi a Catholic priest wrote the first translation of the Popol Vuh, the sacred text of the Mayans. I went to the church that serves as a Catholic church but also has aspects of Mayan worship. Judy told me a story about when she was studying in Chichi and a little boy asked if she wanted a tour of the church and she said sure. Along the aisle of the sancuary there are stone tables set along the floor where people light candles and burn incense for different things. The little boy was telling her about all these ancient customs the Mayans have and that each stone was to pray for a different thing. Well he got to one and said, "this stone, ancient ancient mayan custom, is to pray for your car when in breaks down." I thought that was funny and we laughed about that for a little while.
Going to Chichi and coming back we encountered various road blocks and traffic jams, so I ended up getting home at 530. Uh, oh. Well, if the turkey goes in by 6 it should be done by 8, a normal eating time for dinner here. I run home, make the stuffing and put the turkey in the oven. Then Elvia and I make the rest of food and Francesca, one of the Italians, calls and says she can come after all. Perfect, we have a lot of food that Eliva and I don´t want to be eating until Christmas. Everything is going great, but the turkey is not cooking very fast. See, ovens here are all gas, and don´t have heats on them, and Elvia´s is an older model that does not get very hot. Well, the turkey took 5 hours to cook. We did not eat our Thanksgiving meal until 11 at night. Everyone was good natured, and I blamed it on my mom (sorry mom!). We had fun talking and by 10 I almost feel asleep watcing Knotting Hill in spanish before we went and ate.
Overall it was a wonderful day full of different friends and different experiences. It was a day I will always be grateful for and I will always remember the first Thanksgiving meal I cooked in Guatemala in a fake oven.
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