So it was my first Thanksgiving away from home, which was really hard but I made the best of it. I woke up thinking about all of the things that I would normally be doing. I love thanksgiving... I normally wake up early to watch parades from all over the country and eat delicious poppy seed cake made by Papa. That is usually followed by an afternoon and evening filled with family, turkey, vegetables, pies and love. It was hard not to be sad and think about all the people that I would rather be with, and places that I might rather be than in San Jose de Chiquitos. But there I was. I decided to make my Thanksgiving a day in which I really thought about the meaning of the holiday.
I made pumpkin pies to share one of our American traditions with some of my friends in my community. To do this I went to one of my local tiendas, and bought a chunk of zapallo- a gigantic pumpkin-like squash. You just tell them how much you want and they whack off a chunk. I went home with 2 kilos of zapallo and got started. The pie making went well. Everyone in my house thought that I was crazy for making a desert from a squash, let alone not understanding what a pie was. They pretty much thought that it was going to be horrible, whatever it was. Since pie does not exist in Bolivia, I ended up using an old frying pan with out a handle and a cake pan for my pie plates. They turned out beautifully!! I shared the pies with my host family, Dona Deisy and Prof. Negro, the 2 women who work in our house Hilda and Anita, and my best exercise students and Dona Rosita. Everyone loved the pie, asked for seconds and was truly amazed that is was zapallo! A success.
I also had a very special lunch with Dona Rosita and my 2 best students. Dona Rosita and I worked all morning making corn tortilla shredded chicken enchiladas from scratch (one of her specialties from when she lived in Mexico!) We shared the delicious meal, toasted and gave thanks for each other’s friendship. It turned about to be a day in which I celebrated friends, food, and most of all thought about what I am most grateful for - my friends and family all over the world.
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5 comments:
Dona Rosita sounds like such a sweet friend! I am glad you had such a great holiday. the pie must have been goooood! i miss you!!
Hi Anna,
This may be the strangest comment to your blog ever. Anyhow, I'm an RPCV from Namibia and now I'm in medical school. We have the option to go learn medical spanish this summer but have to attach a project to it. Do you know anyone is Sucre that could hook me up with a doctor there? You wouldn't know what kind of things they do for post natal care for pre-term babies where you live would you? This is all very random PCVs are cool so I figured I'd give it a shot. If you can help me out at all, send me an email at michael.nabozny@gmail.com. Thanks. -Mike
Hola Anna, mi niña:
Me parece increible verte tan grande, toda una señorita, veo tus fotos y todavía tienes la misma sonrisa de cuando eras pequeña, recuerdas cuando te hacía trenzas? Todavía te puedo ver mientras hacias tu clase de gimnasia. quiero que sepas que estoy muy orgullosa de ti y de lo que haces por todas esas personas en Bolivia. eres un angel. Yo tambien hago Yoga. y estoy haciendo Danza tambien, puedes creerlo? te quiero mucho. Maria. (your "old babysitter)
Dear Anna: Estoy agradecida to your Mama, queme dijo como entrar a tu blog, he leido TODO acerca de ti y tu trabajo como voluntaria; eres increible!!! lo voy a compartir con todos. Love. Maria.
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