Thanksgiving

Thursday

The English teachers I work within Badajoz invited me to celebrate Thanksgiving with them, but November 25 was Dia del Maestros for teachers at primary schools. I was in Valverde de Leganes this week and was invited to eat la comida (lunch) with them. I was told that many teachers dressed up for this day and that after the first break classes were done for the day and that the students would have a party and play games for the rest of the day. 

I spent the day with 6 A y B. They drank lots of caffeine free coke and fanta, ate lots of chips and sunflower seeds and were really joyous. It was interesting to see the differences in party foods between parties I went to as a child and the party here. The only sweets they got were some gummy candies passed out to them by the teachers. Each student got one of each type of gummy candy, a long sour gummy (like sour patch) and a gummy shaped like a bottle. After everyone was done eating, we cleaned up and played musical chairs where two people would be eliminated every so that the game would finish faster and all of the kids got a chance to play. After musical chairs the children started singing while clapping "Queremos que (insert name of teacher here) baile la pelusa. Pelusa por aquí, pelusa por allá, pelusa por delante, pelusa por detrás!" When they sang por aquí, you moved both your arms to the left in a wavy motion almost like you were trying to hula dance, then to the right (por allá), then in front of you (por delante), and then behind you (por detrás). After you did all the motions, they clapped and cheered and then began again. The teachers took a lot of pictures of the celebration and the children also received their class photos from the previous year on this day.

The lunch for the teachers did not begin until 3:30pm and school ends at 2:30pm, so we carpooled to the bar in town to have a drink. The majority of the teachers drank coca cola for the caffeine and sugar. While the rest drank canas (a small glass of beer). The hour passed by quickly and we returned to the school. The tables were set up with table cloths, small bottles of soda and beer, large bottles of water, and buckets filled with ice and four bottles of different types of wine. We ate bacalao dorado, fried shrimp and other fried seafood as appetizers. Then we got a plate with queso roquefort, jamon iberico, and peeled, cooked cherry tomatoes; it was so rich. After that dish, we got a choice of soup, either chicken broth or a creamy squash soup with seafood. I had the squash soup and loved it. They then brought out sorbet, a cold lemon-lime drink. They then brought out the main course, which was pork tenderloin with a gravy, cooked red peppers, and freshly fried potato chips. I could hardly eat any of it, I was already so full. Then we were served dessert. I didn't take any because I knew I wouldn't be able to eat any of it. We were at the school until 6pm.

Friday

We had so much food.

The other auxiliares and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday night at my piso. Simon and Catherine (neither of them are from the US) made the 7 kilo turkey and gravy. Morgan made an appetizer with brie, raspberry jelly and almonds, wisconsin potatoes, and a spicy apple blueberry crunch dessert. Stephanie made mac and cheese and the best chocolate and carmel brownies. Ariela made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and brought cranberry sauce. Meredith made the most delicious sweet potato souffle as well as an appetizer that was pizza-like with asparagus. Marta brought a pasta salad, Attilio brought two fresh salads, one with tuna and the other with mozzarella. I made an apple pie and pumpkin pies. Some people invited their roommates and we had a total of 18 people celebrating. Almost every person brought a bottle of wine. Two of my roommates were in town and were going to make tortilla espanola, but when they saw how much food there was, they realized we didn't need the tortillas. We started eating at 9pm and left by midnight.

Roomies minus Barbara. Me, Monica and Maria.