Feliz Dia de Obrigada!

Despite my inability to stay in one place, this year was the first Thanksgiving I was away from home. I missed the 4th of July when I was studying in London, but a trip to a Hard Rock Cafe decorated with American flags and memorabilia made up for it. I missed Easter when I was working in Australia, but Dan and I managed to make our own Easter dinner consisting of kangaroo and Asian noodles. But what was different about yesterday was the fact that in Brazil nobody knows what Thanksgiving is.

I

I took it upon myself to devote the day to teaching my classes about the history and traditions associated with this great American holiday. And they took this day to suck up to me.
Me: On Thanksgiving it is common for families to talk about the things they are thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Student: Teacher, I am thankful for you.**

(When you read this in your mind you must pronounce "teacher" as if it were spelled "tee-sher")

**This happens to be the response that I enjoyed the most...the remainder of the class found other seemingly more important things to be thankful for.

While the students were writing their responses, I compiled my own list of things that I was thankful for.


Things I am thankful for:

I'll get it out of the way first by stating the obvious: my health (minus my inability to run as far as I used to), my supportive and a tad bit crazy family, my amazing friends and my extremely patient boyfriend.

My fourteen year old cat, who I hope that upon returning home is still able to jump up onto the kitchen table and sprinkle his hair on the top of all our meals.

I will group the food into one category since there is so much of it: First and foremost, pinto beans, which have made my life in Brazil complete. Acerola juice, brigadero, dolce de leite, mangoes, acai with granola, jabuticaba, mocoto and goiaba, which I am going to sorely miss upon leaving Brazil. And of course, back in the United States, Special K, which I could not have survived college without. Honey wheat pretzels, peanut butter and nutella sandwiches, and Raisinettes, which make the long road trips and flights much more bearable. New York bagels, Chicago deep dish pizza, Wisconsin cheese curds, San Francisco sourdough bread, Munich potato dumplings, my mother's meatballs and my grandmother's delicious spaetalae. And I can't forget Moe's and Red Mango.

I am thankful for not currently being in a prison in Paraguay, for surviving numerous mototaxi rides, for my bungee cord holding tightly in New Zealand, for not getting kidnapped while hitch-hiking in the US, for my parachute releasing at the correct time while sky diving (okay, perhaps a few seconds late) and for surviving the Peru flu, among many other things...

The invention of the airplane, which can successfully take me to a new cultural experience in a matter of hours.

My GPS, which never lets me down (except the times it takes me through the streets of Time Square on a "shortcut".)

Soccer, which has provided me with uncountable hours of entertainment and friendships.

Couchsurfing, which has introduced me to some great people and provided me with free places to stay in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.

After discussing the things we were thankful for, we watched clips from the Thanksgiving Day Parade on the internet while my family emailed me pictures of their tur-duck-en dinner and Dan texted me about his disappointment in finding apples in his stuffing.

Definitely a Thanksgiving unlike any other.