Thanksgiving #1
Chef(s) (this is possibly the most important question): Juan
Guests: Napala, Dan, Juanaco, and I
Location: Juan/Dan/Juanaco's apartment
Date: Thanksgiving Thursday
Foooooooooooooood: Spanish.
Manchego (from Juanaco's town) and picos
Clams in some sort of AMAZING butter garlic sauce
Dorado... "goldfish"!
Favorite moments: "¡Amber! Tienes que crecer! (Amber! You have to grow!)," says Juan as he piles extra fish and potatoes on my plate. Normally I would disagree, but a food baby is almost a requirement of a Thanksgiving meal.
Although I didn't have turkey on Thanksgiving, it was awesome to know that the Spaniards wanted us to enjoy our day regardless. I even got an e-mail from one of the teachers I work with wishing me a happy thanksgiving and hopes that I wouldn't miss my family too much. Also, it was wonderful to hang with friends before going home and catching up with my family on skype. Last, but not least, since Juan is such a great cook, I didn't have to feel too bad about missing out on the food at home, which Ali so "graciously" sent me pictures of.
Thanksgiving #2
Chef(s): Everyone in house church (potluck)
Guests: House church members, each one with a plus one... or two or three...
Location: "Local" (that's what we call the church)
All dolled up pinterest style
Date: Saturday
Foooooooooooooood: Traditional U.S.A.
Turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, broccoli, stuffing, sweet potatoes, carrots, cornbread, corn
The only thing missing was enough space on the plate. Yes, I still went back for seconds.
Desserts: pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, carrot cake...
David, an auxiliar from England, and his English friend thought that pumpkin pie was a savory dish. They were quite confused when we told them it was a dessert. (David had never heard of banana bread or cream cheese frosting either.) Then later, he excitedly told everyone about how much he loves Cola Cao, the Spanish version of Nesquik. The poor boy has never had Hershey's chocolate syrup.
Thanksgiving #3
Chef(s): Napala and I... Dan helped with the turkey
The carving required a bit of teamwork...
Guests: Kiwani campers (Dan's unadvertised wilderness camp in Maine draws a lot of campers from Madrid for some odd reason)
Diving into the grub
Location: Juan/Dan/Juanaco's apartment
Date: Sunday
Foooooooooooooood:Traditional U.S.A.
Due to our carving skills (or lack there of) the turkey came out a little more shredded then normal. But that just meant less cutting for individuals... which was good since we were short on knives.
Napala's great stuffing!
Favorite moments: When Napala and I requested milk for the (boxed) mashed potatoes, Dan began this long dramatic story about how he went to buy milk but then didn't because... wait for it... it was on the shelf! Yes Dan, we've been here for 3 months and you live with two Spaniards. You didn't realize they use box milk off the shelf?
All of the Kiwani boys sang a camp song prayer to bless the meal. Fifteen high school/college/young professional boys (men?) singing around our turkey was quite precious.
When we followed Dan's family tradition of saying what we were thankful for, a few of the Spaniards said they were thankful to Napala and I for allowing them to experience what might be their only Thanksgiving ever. (These comments were followed by Río's thanks to us for making his 23rd Thanksgiving a success.) It was so bizarre to really realize that some people never celebrate thanksgiving! And even crazier to think that I was such a key part in putting that much food on the table! Clearly I learned from the best. Thanks Mom!
And of course, Juan's magic tricks make the list. As he says, "The cards talk to me..."
He's so tricky!
The metro rides throughout the weekend are worth mentioning as well. Transporting (sometimes hot out of the oven!) Thanksgiving food across the city is no small task! By the time I had left my third Thanksgiving, I had gotten used to it though and even hoped that someone would try and pick pocket me... they would've been sorely disappointed by the turkey carcass I was carrying.
Now, from reading this blog, some people might start to think that all I ever do is eat. That's slightly true and I'm mostly okay with that. Nonetheless, there are a few other events to take note of from the past few days...
Arte-an Dantzaz Konpainia. For Napala's birthday, I bought tickets to go see a show that was part of Madrid en Danza 2012, a city-wide dance festival. We wanted to see the national company, but after confusion with the tickets, we ended up getting tickets to see a smaller Basque (a region in Spain) company. But it was AWESOME. The lines, partnering, and costuming were magnificent. Plus, their presentation of "Earth Apples" had the best use of potatoes that I've ever seen in my life. (Definitely better than the boxed mashed potatoes I ate the next day.) Check out the video below to get a glimpse of the spectacular show that we came out of our food coma to enjoy.
Las monedas. On Monday night, I went to the pandería, as usual, to buy some sweets for house church. I ordered an assortment of polvorones (typical Christmas treats... maybe I'll bring you some!), and clumsily rooted through my two different wallets to get out the proper amount of money. Then, as I was leaving, the owner pulled out a bombón (truffle-ish chocolate) to give me. A little overwhelmed by the small kindness, I mustered up a "gracias" and quickly walked out the door to organize myself. But with so many wallets open and my hands full of my purchases and chocolate, I ended up tipping over my coin purse and sending all my monedas (coins... which are in fact worth something here since there are 1 and 2 euro coins) in every which direction.
This would still not normally be that big of a deal, but since I had bought a 3€ cercanía (local train) ticket at a machine with a 20€ bill on Saturday night, my collection was more valuable than normal. (The machines only give you change in coins.) But after a minute or two (and with the help of a passerby), I managed to pick everything up (or at least recover the amount I knew I had in "big" coins) and I headed off to house church.
Today, I stopped again at the pandería to buy some bread to accompany the last of my chili. As I was leaving though, the owner stopped me, talking about how I had dropped all of my coins outside his door the day before. Embarrassed, I laughed off my clumsiness and told him that I had picked everything up though, so all was well. Right then, he finished fumbling in the register and told me that I had not, in fact, gotten all of my coins. Handing me a coin from the register, he recounted how he had found it when he was opening up the store that morning.
I am in a city of over three million people, and someone took the time to give me the 10 cent coin that I had dropped the day before.
I walked out, baffled, holding back tears at the reminder of the good of humanity. Although my 9th graders maintain their squirrely chatter, disrespecting what I think is a fascinating lesson on parenthetical citation, I can't get frustrated with the human spirit. Because in the smallest gestures of kindness, I am reminded of how human beings are wired to care about each other. What a difference 10 cents makes.
Much love,
Amber
