That For Which I'm Grateful

So most of the time, I feel like there is not much legitimate culture to share with the world that comes from the States.... unless you consider pop-culture to be culture. Luckily, Thanksgiving is one of the few exceptions that I have found, and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to share this experience with friends here in Chile. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to host 20 gusts at the apartment to share with them what Thanksgiving is

all about, representing the States, Chile, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the UK, Australia, and Holland. To be honest, I was slightly terrified that the meal would be a success, as it definitely was the first time that I have prepared a Thanksgiving meal. There were definitely a lot of barriers that we came across in the preparation of the meal as well. It was nearly impossible to find a turkey (which did not even turn out to be the whole turkey), we could not find pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie, I had to search high and low for yams, we could only find cream of chicken soup rather than cream of mushroom for the green beans, the pecans for pie cost $25 US, and we came across cherry pie filling by accident. Two friends and I spent 2 full days in the kitchen preparing the meal, I alone spent at least 18 hours in the kitchen those two days... my feet definitely hurt. However, it was totally worth the effort, as everyone had an incredible time--it was great to see the expressions of friend's faces when you would tell them what was served... the concept most difficult to understand was eating potatoes that were sweet, haha. It also felt really good to celebrate Thanksgiving, considering that I was not able to be at home to celebrate with friends and family, and it is one of the few holidays that is truly cherished in the states. I think that the highlight of the whole night, though, was when literally all 20 people stopped and listened to five of us argue... just like a real family Thanksgiving! The fight was over the proper conjugation of the verb 'gustar' (meaning to like), as it is different from normal verbs... we still have not determined who won the debate.

THE MENU...

• 1 Turkey
• 2 Hams
• 34 Potatoes for Garlic Mashers
• 12 Yams for Sweet Potatoes
• Green Bean Casserole
• 5 Small Loaves of Bread for Stuffing
• 15 HUGE Asparagus
• Gravy Made From Scratch
• 2 Bowls of Salad & Vinaigrette From Scratch
• 24 Rolls
• 1 Cherry Pie from Scratch
• 1 Pecan Pie from Scratch
• 2 Kilos of Fresh Strawberries