I am so blessed, this Thanksgiving
This American Thanksgiving started out with a long, homesick email to my mom. To be honest, I have been rather sad these last few days, missing my family, friends, and community back home. It's been over 2 months since I've seen the people I love more than the world itself. The tiniest things will remind me of somebody and get me thinking about them non-stop-- like when I found and bought pistachio nuts in an obscure market, thinking of my dad sitting on the couch eating his beloved pistachios while the entire family watches a movie. I knew what sort of family get-togethers I would be missing out on on this day; the gathering of Pearsons at Susan's house, or my immediate family driving to Phoenix to celebrate with my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Knowing that I couldn't be with the people I love when I felt I really should be was getting me very low.
My Thanksgiving, however, turned out to be such a wonderful celebration of adopted family, that my homesickness soon turned to joy. Three of us, Lissa, Anthony (the other Daya Dan teacher) and I went out shopping for a very large list of ingredients for the agreed-upon meal. Boy, we bought a lot, but we needed almost all of it. At 3 PM, we, plus Sophie, took a taxi with all of the food to a gracious friend's guesthouse near the Mother House, because it was the only hotel with a kitchen. We set to work in a closet-sized kitchen that simply had a sink, a small 2 burner stove, about 2 feet of counter, and an already-full refrigerator. We worked our magic for over 4 hours in that kitchen and outside in the courtyard area, with the help of Sophie's mom (who has joined us in India for a month) and Candace, whose guesthouse we were at. We had told guests to arrive between 7 and 7:30 pm, and we timed our food preparation just right-- we brought up the bowls of steaming foods right at 7:30.
As we brought up the food, I was greeted by a sight that made me so very happy: two rugs had been laid out on the roof, and sitting around them were about 13 other volunteers with whom we are friends (thus, we fed about 17 or 18 total). Our guests hailed from all over the world-- Ireland, South Africa, many Canadians, and more. The food was placed in the center: we had no turkey, we had no cranberries, but we improvised the best we could. Our meal included apple cider, spaghetti with spiced red sauce, an incredible pumpkin-coconut bisk, asparagus, garlic bread, mashed sweet potatoes, fruit salad, and green salad. Of course, we needed to have the traditional "Say what you're thankful for" as we ate. :) For dessert, we had black tea (not chai-- the first English tea I've drank in 2 months!), lemon tarts, and an incredible chocolate cake. We had searched high and low for the rumored pumpkin pie or apple pie, but every bakery we visited sent us to another bakery, telling us that the other one might make one for us. Oh well.
During dessert, I handed out construction paper for the idea that Anthony and I had come up with (you can tell we teach little kids by this)-- to draw turkeys by tracing our hands with markers! We had a little competition to see who could come up with the most creative turkey, and Sophie's scuba turkey was voted unanimously as the best. Candace collected the turkey drawings and, since she is very involved with the volunteer coordination at Mother House, is going to persuade Sister Karina (the Sister in charge of volunteers) to let her hang the drawings up in the volunteer room at Mother House. Everyone left the party overfull and very happy, myself included. It was a true realization that fellowship brings people together in ways that warm the soul and ease the ache of homesickness. Spending all that time cooking with Sophie, Lissa, Anthony, and Candace was such a bonding experience, as well. Now more than ever I realize that these are the kinds of people I want to surround myself with for the rest of my life.
~~
Tonight I leave for Darjeeling-- I'm really excited, and nervous! I've never been on a train for more than an hour, that I remember, and here I get to sleep on one overnight! I'm glad I'm taking this trip with Sophie and Lissa. I still need to pack, so I should probably finish this up. My next post will probably be from Darjeeling or Sikkim.
Best,
Jenn
My Thanksgiving, however, turned out to be such a wonderful celebration of adopted family, that my homesickness soon turned to joy. Three of us, Lissa, Anthony (the other Daya Dan teacher) and I went out shopping for a very large list of ingredients for the agreed-upon meal. Boy, we bought a lot, but we needed almost all of it. At 3 PM, we, plus Sophie, took a taxi with all of the food to a gracious friend's guesthouse near the Mother House, because it was the only hotel with a kitchen. We set to work in a closet-sized kitchen that simply had a sink, a small 2 burner stove, about 2 feet of counter, and an already-full refrigerator. We worked our magic for over 4 hours in that kitchen and outside in the courtyard area, with the help of Sophie's mom (who has joined us in India for a month) and Candace, whose guesthouse we were at. We had told guests to arrive between 7 and 7:30 pm, and we timed our food preparation just right-- we brought up the bowls of steaming foods right at 7:30.
As we brought up the food, I was greeted by a sight that made me so very happy: two rugs had been laid out on the roof, and sitting around them were about 13 other volunteers with whom we are friends (thus, we fed about 17 or 18 total). Our guests hailed from all over the world-- Ireland, South Africa, many Canadians, and more. The food was placed in the center: we had no turkey, we had no cranberries, but we improvised the best we could. Our meal included apple cider, spaghetti with spiced red sauce, an incredible pumpkin-coconut bisk, asparagus, garlic bread, mashed sweet potatoes, fruit salad, and green salad. Of course, we needed to have the traditional "Say what you're thankful for" as we ate. :) For dessert, we had black tea (not chai-- the first English tea I've drank in 2 months!), lemon tarts, and an incredible chocolate cake. We had searched high and low for the rumored pumpkin pie or apple pie, but every bakery we visited sent us to another bakery, telling us that the other one might make one for us. Oh well.
During dessert, I handed out construction paper for the idea that Anthony and I had come up with (you can tell we teach little kids by this)-- to draw turkeys by tracing our hands with markers! We had a little competition to see who could come up with the most creative turkey, and Sophie's scuba turkey was voted unanimously as the best. Candace collected the turkey drawings and, since she is very involved with the volunteer coordination at Mother House, is going to persuade Sister Karina (the Sister in charge of volunteers) to let her hang the drawings up in the volunteer room at Mother House. Everyone left the party overfull and very happy, myself included. It was a true realization that fellowship brings people together in ways that warm the soul and ease the ache of homesickness. Spending all that time cooking with Sophie, Lissa, Anthony, and Candace was such a bonding experience, as well. Now more than ever I realize that these are the kinds of people I want to surround myself with for the rest of my life.
~~
Tonight I leave for Darjeeling-- I'm really excited, and nervous! I've never been on a train for more than an hour, that I remember, and here I get to sleep on one overnight! I'm glad I'm taking this trip with Sophie and Lissa. I still need to pack, so I should probably finish this up. My next post will probably be from Darjeeling or Sikkim.
Best,
Jenn