Turkey success

The turkey dinner was a great success. Most of us arrived at Rachael´s before 9pm hoping to eat around 10pm. The turkey however took slightly longer than expected so we had extra time to catch up with each other and enjoy all of the bubbly beverages we had brought over to celebrate. We ended up eating in true Spanish style around midnight. There were just under 20 people in attendance. It was such a treat to have everyone there, especially Rachael´s roommates who were celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time. Rachael prepared a delicious turkey with gravy, sweet potatoes, rice, green beans and salad.

Above: Bill cutting the turkey
Above: the whole crew eating dinner.

I spy Madrid

Above: By a fountain in Retiro Park. I LOVE fountains!
Above: On gran via
Above: In front of the Palacio Real

Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Malaga crew! The 4 of us are lucky to have several visitors from the United States meet us on Thursday in Madrid for a big celebration at Rachaels flat. It goes without saying that ham is the meat of choice in Spain, so I am extremely excited and interested to see how our turkey dinner will work out. Miss you all at home and see you so so soon!

Happy __________

I created my own Thanksgiving story book for my lessons this week. I printed out tons of pictures (turkeys, pilgrims, indians, feasts, and the Thankgiving Day parade) and wrote out a story about where Thanksgiving comes from and how we celebrate it today. My roommates gave me weird looks all weekend as I sat in the common room coloring the feathers of turkeys and Mayflower ships meticulously. After reading the story to my third grade students and quizzing them on some important Thanksgiving facts, I had one last question and it was to evoke the response, "Happy Thanksgiving." I said, "okay so for this holiday, what would you say to wish someone a happy one...kind of like 'feliz navidad...' or 'feliz pasuca...' " Then they all gave me the, "ohhhh I know what you mean" face, and in unison started singing, "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." It was hilarious. The other teacher and I completely cracked up and I almost didn't care that they completely forgot the TITLE of the lesson written in huge letters on the blackboard: THANKSGIVING.