To be completely honest, I didn’t make it through this Thanksgiving completely content. Like many other volunteers, I have been afflicted with a certain seasonal virus, Homesickness. Symptoms include irritability, slight depression, and frustration. One of the hardest things about being a volunteer is getting through the holidays in a foreign country where people don’t celebrate or understand the importance of your special days. On the one hand, it forces you to make the extra effort to make the day special for your own sake. On the other hand, everyone else’s indifference taints the day with a tone of being ordinary.
For me, what makes Thanksgiving so special is that it is the one day of the year when everyone pauses to reflect about what they are thankful and a spirit of generosity fills the air for a few weeks. It is what makes it my favorite day of the year. Why of all the holidays, birthdays and celebrations do I love it so much? There is just something amazing and comforting about seeing that kind of attitude fill an entire day on all levels from individuals, families, communities, and even the country as a whole. It is a rare time when everyone takes part in the same cause. Even though personal, national, and world issues continue happening at the time, it’s a day when those aren’t important. You could argue that the same thing happens at Christmas. Well, sometimes Christmas feels that it’s more about religious beliefs or receiving presents. Thanksgiving happens just for the sake of being grateful. It’s a day when religion, race, political affiliation, and social class don’t matter. There is a sense of unity and peace. Without that, Thanksgiving was just not the same this year. That special something was missing. It has made me realize that I am grateful that we even have Thanksgiving when most countries do not.
In honor of my favorite holiday, and because I couldn’t be home to celebrate it with my family back home, I decided to bring Thanksgiving here. For one thing, I couldn’t bear the idea that Thanksgiving would pass me by without any sort of celebration, and for another, I really wanted to share something important to me with my host-family. I feel that was important so they could understand not only our culture a bit better, but also to understand me a little more. This year, Thanksgiving happened to be on my host-dad’s birthday so I think they were super excited to have such a big celebration, especially since I was making them dinner. I think part of the excitement was due to the fact that I would be cooking and that also I would be making traditional American food. Outside of hamburgers and sandwiches, most Costa Ricans have never tried American cuisine. It really generated a lot of curiosity.
In theory, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for my family seems pretty simple. In practice, it’s a lot more complicated. Firstly, we don’t have an oven. Well, considering that an oven is necessary for most Thanksgiving dishes, it becomes a challenge. Once I figured out what I can make without an oven, there was the challenge of finding the ingredients. You’d be surprised how many things we use that they don’t even supply in my site. After scrounging around every single grocery store my site had, I found most things I needed, other specialty items were imported to me (thanks Megan!), and the rest I had to improvise. Improvise? What does that mean? Well, since I needed cream of mushroom soup for my green bean casserole and the stores didn’t carry any (if you don’t count the cans of soup that expired last year), I settled on making it from scratch. Well those were the major hurtles. So as I was prepping, I remembered that we don’t have a stove either. We cook by logs outside. Uh, what does that mean for controlling heat? Well, it meant take a guess and play around with cooking times. Well at the end of the night, it turns out that I’m pretty good at cooking by fire. I successfully made green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, some stuffing (from a box), and a pudding. We settled for fried chicken instead of turkey because let’s face it - I’m broke.
All that was left was for everyone to try it. Those were some hold-your-breath moments. I felt like a contestant on Top Chef. I had to stand there like a fool watching people slowly take bites out of each thing, think a bit, and then let me know what they thought. It was especially stressful when Manuela, our school cook, while tasting everything asked what I put in it and how things were cooked. “Well, it’s different...” Wow, those three dots never seemed to consume so much time. “…I like it!” Well who won Top Chef Orotina Thanksgiving Edition? I did! Yay, the sweet taste of victory!
Even through all the glory and the fun of bringing something traditionally American to my community, I still wish that I could have spent the day with my family back home. For one thing, what’s Thanksgiving without your family? Also, I just miss them. Like I said earlier, it’s been a tough year. I wish that I could have been there to be grateful and celebrate for having survived it and making it through the other side. We might have come out a little battered and bruised, but we did it. We’re still around and maybe we’re in a better place than when the year started out. And through it all, still have each other. I just wish that I could have looked into their faces and smile because we know that we do have so much to be thankful. Nothing makes you feel as isolated as that ache deep down reminding you that you’re missing out. Even with skype, the poor connection and the brief check in, while is exciting and better than nothing, is also a sad reminder about how far away we are.
All that sadness, the homesickness, the urge to be home remind me that I am grateful for all that I have waiting for me when I go home. I have people and things to miss, traditions and get-togethers that I love, and while I may be taking a break from all of those things right now, they’ll still be there when I get back. In the meantime, I’m grateful for experiencing a rare opportunity to immerse myself in a different culture, to work with a different kind of people, to self-improve. This year, I have more than my fair share of things to be thankful. What are you thankful for?
Our Thanksgiving/Birthday spread.
Me with my host-family...Beatriz, Doña Ada Luz, Don Antonio, and Anita.
My family and our neighbors singing "Happy Birthday," to my host-dad.
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