Thanksgiving

Right at this very moment I am most thankful that I have finished my paper for the class "Building a Culture of Peace.  It last clocked in at 40 pages.  It took me most of one week to write.  Literally, MOST of one week.  Each morning I parked myself at our kitchen counter with my coffee cup and computer and could be found there until evening.  My roommate Jen commented this morning that it's like groundhog day, I'm always there when she wakes up!  While writing this paper I felt like it sucked.  Some of my words and sections seemed amazingly brilliant yet made no sense while others just made no sense.  Somehow, today, it all came together.  Here is a piece of my intro:

Creating a culture of peace is creating a sustainable future for generations to come.  It supports empathy, compassion, and good communication with all people regardless of race, nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender, ability and sexual preference.  It endeavors to support life-long learning for students, community, and staff in the hopes that the creation and dissemination of knowledge will contribute to a culture of peace.

Not so bad, huh?  I was actually happy with my work when I sent it in.

On Thanksgiving Thursday, I could be found industriously writing.  Then the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade came on.   I never watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade but somehow I could not resist the Americanness of it and my roommate getting all sentimental while Internet chatting with her parents.  I pried myself away to keep writing until I couldn't take anymore.  When Miracle on 34th street came on, I sat down at the counter with Jen to peel apples and potatoes for our Thanksgiving Spectacular.   We had invited EVERYONE at UPEACE who wanted to have Thanksgiving to come to our house!

Rewind!  When we sent out the invitation we were really just avoiding school work.  It sounded like a great idea!  Thanksgiving Eve found us both writing papers until we could no longer avoid the inevitable - a shopping trip to Walmart.  Never have either of us so looked forward to going to Walmart!  We couldn't wait to see what treasures the brightly lit giant box store held for us. We dutifully emptied our backpacks, packed our reusable bags and headed out the door to the bus stop.  Luck was on our side as we literally ran down the staff bus on the main road out of town.  I frantically banged on its windows and the driver kindly let us board and took us directly to Walmart!  It was already turning out to be an enchanted trip.

At Walmart we oohed and aahhed at the store map, yes, a map; and then at the seemingly endless rows of American goods.  We loaded up on stove top stuffing, gravy mix and aluminum pans.  I bought a stacking tower of drawers and a bottle of Bailey's.  All the while we shopped we were mindful of the fact that we had to carry all of the goods back to the bus.  And what an adventure that turned out to be!  On our way to the bus stop, we crossed two highways, over one cement barrier, walked on a muddy dirt trail alongside a barbed wire fence, and climbed a metal staircase only to walk down the freeway to a bench marauding as a bus stop.  When the bus finally arrived, we celebrated with high fives.  We had done it!

Wednesday night and Thursday had us frantically cooking and cleaning.  Really it was quite fun.  Green beans, twice baked potato casserole, apple crisp, stuffed squash, roasted carrots, stuffing, gravy, 2 kinds of salad, cranberry bread and the crowning glory: 2 chickens!  Neither of us really knew how to cook a whole chicken in the oven so we stuffed them with oranges and rubbed them in oil and spices.  They were amazingly delicious for having been baked upside down as our friends would later explain!

Then the guests began to arrive.  Probably forty students ate at our house that night.  Before we served the meal, we all gathered and said what we were thankful for.  So many had never been away from home for Thanksgiving and even more had never celebrated Thanksgiving.  I was thankful to be a part of the genuine spirit of Thanksgiving and sharing it with new friends.  We ate, we laughed, we drank and we ate some more.  It was a beautiful evening.  Everyone was so relaxed and genuinely happy.  At the end of the night Jen and I sat and drank a celebratory drink outside and chatted.  Then we cranked some music and cleaned the kitchen before the ant army would arrive.  It was a satisfying day.

I am thankful for so much.  I am here and it's amazing.  I have the best friends all over the world.  I miss snow and home but I will spend the holidays at the beach.  I have an amazing loving and supportive family.  Each day is a gift.  I am constantly surprised and full of wonder.  My curiosity knows no boundaries and everything is possible.  Life has been so good to me.  How is all of this possible?  Things can be so difficult here.  Sleep is a rare commodity.  Laughs are not.  Nor is stress.  I guess that is balance.  Whenever I am frustrated, I just think about how lucky I am and say 'thank you' for something.  Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.