Thanksgiving morning the kids had school. While it is an American school, there has to be some compliance with the Ecuadorian schedule, so only half a day is given. Don't feel too bad for us, we still get Friday off.
The kids have a few Thanksgiving-ish things to do as well. There is an assembly for the whole school at the end of the morning and Lucy's class also got some face painting done. I'm not exactly sure how face painting ties into Thanksgiving but it was pretty cute nonetheless!
Cade's class put on a Thanksgiving dinner for the janitorial staff of the school. It is a third grade tradition. I had the privilege of making a whole pile of stuffing since there are so few gringos (maybe three in all of third grade) and Ecuadorians (and Asians, and the other nationalities represented) aren't familiar with stuffing.
All the kids dressed like pilgrims. Well, okay, all the kids wore pilgrim hats. Cade was, of course, the cutest little pilgrim ever.
Cade got to sit beside the man who is in charge of the department. He has worked at the school for around 35 years or so and is married to the sweetest Ecuadorian woman who also works at the school. I don't think God could make anyone nicer than her. The school would completely fall apart without him - I don't know what they will do once he retires..... they may as well just shut down. Okay, that maybe a little extreme, but you get the point.
Thanksgiving afternoon we had the delight of celebrating with many Youth World friends. We headed out to El Refugio with our stuffing (yup, made more stuffing) and had a marvelous time. I cannot tell you how blessed we are to have so many great people to celebrate with. It is very hard to be away from family during the holidays (although of course my mommy is here right now - so that is a bonus!) but we are so thankful that we have friends who are like family. Even though some of them are not people we spend a ton of time with, they are all so important to us and mean so much. I think that all loving Jesus and being connected through Him makes everyone like family. In fact, I guess we are family!
The other bonus about Thanksgiving with all of these wonderful people is that you are bound to have some amazing food. And indeed we did! Like any good Thanksgiving, we felt ready to roll out of there.
Since Thanksgiving about turkey (well, the meal portion anyway....), and turkey is poultry, and since chicken is also poultry and I was making chicken stock, I thought this was a great time to show off my pot of stock. It is a bit of a stretch in the connection but.....
I just needed to post this lovely photo.
When in Ecuador, if you buy a "whole chicken", you do indeed, get the whole chicken. You also get the neck - with the head still attached! Yup, eyes, beak and all. Delish.
Since I have seen soups here served with the claw actually in it (proof here - the first picture on this post: Christy is eating - sort of - the claw that was in her soup!), I thought it must add good flavor. It may have done that.... not sure.... but it is so disgusting to look at that I just might not use them again. Unless it is Halloween.
But this is Thanksgiving.....
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