god bless america.

wow, so thanksgiving has come and gone.

i've felt more patriotic in the last week than i think i have in my entire life. i spent the majority of my 20+ teaching-hours talking about the relationship between the pilgrims and the indians ["what the hell is a pilgrim?" my students would say], explaining why turkey is better than ham, exaggerating about our 3-day feasts and drawing maps of america over & over again to show them where the pilgrims landed in comparison to where the great state of florida lays.

"is everything really expensive in america?" my younger students ask. sometimes i actually give the question real thought, and other times i just say "well, milk is like 4 dollars" & they gasp.

what is it that i love so much about teaching my students about america? i swear they're probably scouting my arms & legs for an american flag tattoo. they probably think my dad works for bush and that i hate mexicans.

this thanksgiving was the first time [i think] that i didn't spend it at my family's farm. i called them in between my classes and they passed the phone around, "we miss you" they said, "it's not the same without you", "don't tell me you're eating olives today darlin'" my uncle lee said with his thick southern drawl. i almost felt like i was there, i could imagine it perfectly. but i settled for a delicious pasta dinner with my favorite american friends here in barca, and [ironically enough] we were able to catch "the new world" on t.v. [a horrible interpretation of john smith, pocohantas, etc.]

on saturday my friends and i went all out. we wanted to celebrate right, and since we all had to work on the "given" holiday, we put together a rather ambitious party a few days later. we were all scrambling around all week trying to find corn meal, cranberries and other "mystical" ingredients that spain has never heard of.

when the day came there was so much food....it was...well...glutton-looking. when our spanish friends arrived i was almost embarrassed, shrugging my shoulders like "well, shit, this is why america overeats." we had a huge stuffed turkey, at least 15 casseroles, candied yams, corn bread, pumpkin pies, apple pies and some weird pecan fruit-cake sent from the US. we drank spiked apple cider, hot buttered rum and lambrusco [spanish dessert wine] for 12+ hours. i [with lambrusco in hand] told the story of thanksgiving to everyone, and we played "pin the tail on the turkey."

my austrailian friend stood up in front of everyone & made a toast, saying "this is my first thanksgiving, and i love the idea of it. and here we all are, living in a foreign place. and i am thankful for that. i am thankful that we all have each other." i think it made us americans feel really good. and really proud. and really thankful as well.

here we are eating, drinking and being merry...

so, this thanksgiving i'm thankful for america [even though i'm not there right now, it's in my bones and it's in my heart.] i'm also thankful for the amazing life that i have made here in barca and the amazing people that i've met. i feel like i've lived another lifetime here in spain, and i wouldn't change it for the world. but america is my number 1. and that'll never change.