One of a Kind Thanksgiving

November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving is over and I am a bit more tired because of it. For Thanksgiving in the States I never really had to make much as far as the food went. But this week I made up for a few of those years. The Williamsons (with them doing the majority of the work) and I prepared food for a noon dinner with English speakers in Pinalejo and then the camp staff in the evening. I did most of my cooking on Tuesday evening -- homemade oatmeal rolls, pumpkin pie dessert, zucchini bread, and a raspberry jello. By the end of the evening I was done baking for a while, though I do have a little pumpkin left to use in some kind of recipe.

Thursday morning I made one last run to the grocery store for the Williamsons and then headed out to camp. On the way I noted some men in the electric poles along the highway and I briefly thought, "I hope that the power is not off." I arrived at camp to the sound of a generator and realized that yes, there was no power. The power had gone off just after the corn pudding got warmed up in the crockpot. Because of the occasion and the need for the refrigerator, Wes had hooked up the generator to the house. What had started as a dinner for the staff kept growing because family of the staff kept arriving on camp, having heard there was a party. That is cultural and very different from the North American way of doing things. We were worrying about whether there would be enough food and yet knew that culturally we could give everyone a little and everyone go away hungry and it would be okay. But to us, that was not the way to do things.

The other random events of the morning. Cows, bulls in fact, had wandered onto camp once again and this time they did not want to move out of the driveway. I could have taken one out with the car though in fact it might have taken me out. I did not have the heart nor the time to chase them off of camp this time. Mid-morning the gas for the oven ran out and the new gas tank did not fit with the current valve. I had to drive around camp looking for one that would work. Meanwhile the turkey sat in the oven, half cooked.

For the noon meal we were not sure if the nurse from Pinalejo was coming so in the end we started eating. She arrived around 3:00PM, just after all the food was put away except for her plate. In the meantime the electric remained off and Wes had to siphon gas from the lawn mower to keep the generator going. Several times we did the "quick open the fridge and grab everything you'll need for the next hour." We had been told that the power would come back on at 3:00PM. Jokingly we commented that if it came on by 4:00PM the report would be accurate. We have noticed that 3:00 can be anything between 3:00 and 3:59. All that matters is the first number and hence what we think of as late arrival to a meeting is still "on-time."

At 3:56PM according to my watch, the power returned much to our delight. It would mean lights by which eat and a fridge for storing the leftovers. The evening meal went well and we had more than enough food in the end. And of course that is how Thanksgiving usually is. For the Honduran staff the dishes of apple pie, pumpkin dessert, sweet potato casserole, and turkey were new and exciting foods. It was a fun day but a little draining. Thankfully between the two meals there was not much new food preparation that needed to be done. But even so we had to compensate all day for the lack of electricity with lots of problem solving and improvisions.

Usually Thanksgiving for me includes some games and down time -- both of which did not happen yesterday. At the same time it was fun to see the Hondurans excitement at experiencing a day that is so important in the North American culture. And I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family from Honduras -- all of those at camp. So it was a good day but I am glad there is a year between now and the next Thanksgiving. In the meantime I look forward to Christmas in the States with family.
*For a Williamson perspective on the day and photos go to: www.mdvida.wordpress.com