Día Acción de Gracias

I spent most of today really, really wishing I could fly north for some of Ma and Pa Gelbs' delicious cooking. Instead, I'm here in Mexico, where celebrating Thanksgiving would be sort of like us gringos taking the day off from work and preparing feasts in honor of the arrival of Spanish Conquistadors in the 16th century. I dunno if that analogy works perfectly, but you get the idea. It would be weird.

Lucky for me, though, the program I'm with - which is entirely run by Mexicans - decided to throw a little party, complete with traditional Turkey Day fixin's. We ate in the dining hall of one of the host-moms' houses, which I assume is more of a mansion, though I didn't see the whole thing (our 10 tables, each of which could seat 10 people, fit easily. I don't know anyone in the US with a dining room this big).

There was decent beer, good food, and a few program directors and students made little speeches, thanking everyone (how appropriate!) for their contributions throughout the semester. The wait staff (!) even walked around with pretty little pewter vessels in one hand ("Mas gravy, señor?"). The first course was a big plate of tide-bottle-orange spaghetti, which threw me off a little, but everything else was pretty much spot-on, right down to the pumpkin pie dessert. The whole thing went off without a hitch, and I really couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my first Thanksgiving away from my family.

I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my health, and all the other wonderful things going on in my life right now. Thanks to everyone who's taken a few minutes out of their day to read this blog. I'm having a blast doing the writing, and I hope I've provided some insights that made the trip to this address worthwhile.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thursday. Take 'er easy.