Happy Thanksgiving!

            Just under 400 years ago, some brave souls left the Old World for the New World for better opportunity, a new start and the dream of riches.   They landed on the eastern shores of the New World in the cold of winter and these city slickers that had inhabited the Mayflower for nearly 3 months were now were faced with illness, lack of food, and inadequate shelter.  They were not farmers by trade and therefore were ill-prepared to farm in the poor soil of what we now know as New England.  These were the Pilgrims, or pelegrenos (according to my Spanish teacher).  They sought refuge in the kindness of strangers, the Wampanoag, to help them through the harsh winter.  These kind indigenous people taught them how to plant crops successfully, find ripe hunting grounds and prime berry patches.

             Jump to 2009.  An unassuming family of four from bucolic Northern California hops on an airplane to a foreign country.  Only seen on a map and on the wondrous internet, this family blindly sets up house in a large, Central American city.  With only work contracts and the hope of adventure, the family lands in the new world in the midst of political crisis and strife.  Poco a poco the family meets new people,  known as Hondurenos.  The Hondurenos take this family in and provide important information; like how to navigate a city where only 1% of the roads and streets actually named and how not to be afraid of men on motorcycles with huge shotguns - because after all - they are guards, not robbers.   In fact, we are feeling increasingly safe with the pervasive presence of weaponry.  Maybe that's not such a good thing, but I digress....  Over time, this North American family starts to feel more a part of the new world.

              Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving twice already - the first was last Saturday at the high school principal's house.  We ate all the traditional foods.  Someone even made creamed green beans and broccoli with fried onions sprinkled on top.  I ate some, that was a first.  Yumm.  And as you can imagine, the principal lives in an outrageous neighborhood with a view of the city I had never seen.  I thought we had a great view from our 4th floor roost.  But this was amazing.  Wish I had my camera.

               The second Thanksgiving feast happened today.  Our school celebrated the first meal of the pelegrenos and the indios.  A little strange, if you ask me, that we are celebrating this event in Central America, but at this point I'm not going to complain about getting 2 days off of work.  From kindergarten to grade 12, each student in our school partook in the traditional feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and corn bread.  The room moms organized each class's feast.  I wasn't sure how the kid's would respond to the food, but they went crazy for it!!  Our class ran out of turkey and my students were going to the other 4th grade classes to see if they had extra turkey!

The picture at the left is our Thanksgiving spread, with some room mothers dishing up the food.

Instead of pumpkin pie, we had turkey shaped shaped sugar cookies.

               So many Hondurenos have asked us if we will be celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow.  We will not be celebrating it in the traditional sense.  We haven't had a day off of work since Sept 18, so no, we will not be cooking a turkey tomorrow.  We are heading for the mountains of Nicaragua for some rest and relaxation at a beautiful coffee plantation.  We will, however be celebrating the spirit of Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for our health.  We are thankful for a roof over our heads and good food on the table (I won't rub it in that it is cooked by the maid).  We are thankful for a supportive family that didn't disown us when we told them we were leaving our cozy life in Sonoma County for the unknown life in a not-so-stable country.  (*NOTE: The presidential elections are on Sunday.  Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.  Just remember not to double cross your fingers - that's bad luck.)  We are thankful for hope that Honduras will be able to return to "normal" and that the play-ground politics that have plagued this country for too long will give way to a more even handed government.

                We are also thankful for our family and all our friends who have kept in contact with us as we have chosen to travel so far from home and set up a life in a new place.  You may not know it, but even a little message from home goes a long way.

                GobbleGobble.