HAPPY belated THANKSGIVING

For the past three months, Facebook and I have had a very healthy relationship. The occasional updates from friends and family have made the thousands of miles that separate us seem much fewer. However, for one day, I empathized with the middle schooler who saw a picture of his crush with a different guy because I saw how Facbook could transform into a mean, jealous-eliciting monster. That fateful day was Thanksgiving.
I knew since July that I was going to be spending my favorite day of the year in a country where the fourth Thursday in November just means one more day until the weekend. But I failed to acknowledge the true magnitude of this fact until I was walking down a busy street in Santiago, looking at each passerby and realizing that they had no idea or care for the significance of Thanksgiving. I mean it was Thanksgiving! The glorious day dedicated to food, family and football. The wonderful day that connects me to aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins in Philadelphia. The magnificent day when it is socially acceptable to eat so much that you need to take nap. And none of these Chileans cared.
Fortunately, the patriotic, Thanksgiving spirit was not entirely dead in Chile. Through some handy investigation by James Cohen, an elementary school friend of Reed’s whom we have enjoyed hanging out with almost every day in Santiago, we found California Cantina, an American restaurant that had a special, prefixed Thanksgiving menu. Although it was impossible for this Thanksgiving dinner to compete with the real thing, it took the edge off of the lack of Thanksgiving in my heart and, more importantly, in my stomach. The meal started off with a cinnamon pisco sour (with a strong emphasis on the pisco) and a house salad that left me anxious about how quality the main course would be. But once my plate arrived, decorated with all the day’s favorite dishes, I began to feel a bit better. And after I took a bite of the turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, I could have sworn that I was transported to Philadelphia with my family.

The main course: cheesy green beans,
baked potato with cheese and bacon
 bits,  stuffing, turkey with
 cranberry sauce and gravy

Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Mmmmmm Thanksgiving

Although the food was delicious, it was missing a little something. At first I thought that it was just the quantity of the food*, but then I realized that it was something different. It was missing America. It was missing the days off of school and the excited chatter leading up to it. It was missing the fall autumn leaves and the cool weather. It was missing the feeling of sitting at a long table, surrounded by family and catching up.
So when I went on Facebook that night and I saw pictures of friends sitting on a couch with their family, deep in a food coma, I was jealous. I wish that I could have been home. But it was Thanksgiving, not Jealousgiving, so I reflected on all that I had to be thankful for. I thought about how fortunate I am to have the time and resources to travel around the United States WWOOFing and to learn Spanish immersed in Chilean culture. I thought about how proud I am to call the US home. But with the true spirit of the day, I thought about how thankful I am to have the amazing friends and family that I do.
      Although it might be a bit late: Happy Thanksgiving!

*The plate was completely filled with food, and on any other day be considered a giant portion. But due to the lack of seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths, my stomach was not uncomfortably stretched as it is used to on Thanksgiving. In an attempt acquire this uncomfortable, pregnancy like stomach, we purchased a few extra goodies on the way home.