Adopting Americanisms, Christmas and ¼ of the year gone already

At the end of November we experienced our first Thanksgiving, a holiday we have both decided to adopt as of this year as it is another excuse to eat good food, and why wouldn’t anybody want to celebrate that?

I had a fun time making i-i-indian hats with my first grade class and teaching them about Pilgrims and Indians, and that’s about as much as the class could handle and about the extent of my own knowledge about Thankgiving!

(My first Grade Class Mid Salute "YES MISS WEICHWL)

We experienced two Thanksgiving meals, one with just our teachers cooked by Mrs Valdez (2^nd) which was incredible. She not only prepared food for 20 people- a feat in itself – but the electricity was off for a large portion of the day and in the morning we had a panicked Mrs Valdez because the Turkey hadn’t yet defrosted! The second meal was in Tegucigalpa, which was an opportunity for us to catch up with the Vida Abundante teachers from Gracias, Catacamas and Choluteca. The meal was prepared and hosted by the Superintendents of the school in Teguc, and was in a league of its own. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and the all important pumpkin pie. The setting was stunning, we all dressed up and it was weird to be in such a beautiful house after four months in our little windowless room and hall...I mean it had a proper roof and everything!

(Our La Union Family) 

We have started preparing for the Christmas Pageant, a mere week and a half away, and I have managed to end up being responsible for my own dance (8^th and 9^th Grade girls) and helping Rachel (5^th) and Mrs Soto (1^st) with their own dances! I can tell you now that every grades has some movers and shakers and I’m so glad to be dancing again, even if it’s only a little bit!

As we move into December, we’re both having a hard time accepting how quickly time is passing, Kate’s denial of our time left of “37 what? 37 pieces of cheese, yes pieces of cheese” being one of the most memorable! Our Christmas holidays are quickly approaching and it’s a bit surreal that our return home (La Union) will mark our 5^th month here…before I left I battled with the reality of how long a whole year away from family and friends would be, but I’m quickly realising that it’s really not that long at all, and if anything I wish time was going slower.