El Trampolín: Dìa de Acciòn de Gracias

Well, Costa Ricans don't exactly celebrate Thanksgiving, but that didn't stop Cailah and I from taking a day off of school in order to spend the morning cooking many of our families' traditional dishes. In the afternoon we had a big Thanksgiving feast with all of our teammates. While most of the dished came out wonderful, we did have a few bumps do to unavailability of certain ingredients. I really wanted to make my aunt's pistachio salad, which calls for cool whip. I gathered together all the other hard to find ingredients, but couldn't find cool whip. No problem, I could make my own. After spending almost 2 hours desperately trying to create my own version of cool whip based on peace corps and other missionaries recipes, I gave up and substituted chantilly cream (which several sites said you CANNOT do). Ultimately it turned out okay, but it wasn't quite the same as home.

This would be how I'd describe the whole Thanksgiving day. It was wonderful to have several families to share the day and family recipes with, but it wasn't the same as spending it with my family. This was particularly hard, knowing that Benje was home from New York and Blake had come home from Cal Poly, so I was really the only person missing from our family. Plus, Gerry and Gerrina, two of my youngest siblings, adoption was finalized on Tuesday, and I was the only one missing for that too. I guess I'm just beginning to realize more of the family sacrifices of moving so far away. I am so thankful for all of the modern technology that allows me to stay in contact so well with everyone. And I am extremely grateful for my amazing teammates and their very loving kids. There's never a shortage of hugs.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Know that I am missing you all and am so thankful for each one of you.

Cailah and I excited about missing school and cooking!