Thanksgiving Eat-Fest 2009

For Thanksgiving I went to my friends’ house along with eleven other Volunteers from my group. Rach and Mo were kind enough to host all of us in their house, which is pretty tight for that many people. Most of us arrived on Wednesday and spent the day catching up and getting acquainted with Marcala.

Thursday, the big day, a few of us girls woke up early and went for a “Turkey Trot” before we went back to the house and started cooking. I’ll just say this, I am incredibly impressed that Rachel and Kathryn (the two main cooks for the festivities) were able to pull off such an amazing meal. Rachel had the dishes on a schedule down to the minute of when they should start being prepared and the ingredients that were needed. The rest of us took turns chopping and doing dishes to make sure that the flow of the cooking could continue. With four electric coils, one small toaster oven and limited cooking utensils, these girls made one of the most amazing meals I’ve had in my life (and the water wasn’t working half of the day)!

All I did those couple of days was eat amazing food:
Breakfast (Thanksgiving Day) – Fruit salad and delicious banana bread
Appetizers: Deviled eggs, guacamole, humus and chopped veggies
Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey (16 lb. Butter Ball), creamed spinach, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing and there might have been more, but I don’t remember ...
We didn’t end up killing the Honduran turkey and I’m not quite sure why, but Rach and Mo went and bought a turkey in Comayagua, which turned out awesome! A friend of Rachel’s allowed us to use her oven for the five hours it took to cook the turkey and such things.

I don’t know what else there is to tell about Thanksgiving. At different points of the day there were any number of us outside, pacing the road, talking to family. A dog died right out in front of their house and there were millions of vultures around the carcass. It was really gross, but hard to avoid looking at as the phone is passed around to various family members.

I thought this was pretty hilarious … So Friday morning we wake-up and people are stirring, making coffee and getting ready to depart, etc. Well, 13 people staying in a house puts considerable amount of stress on the bathroom in terms of using the shower and well, the toilet. Why does it seem that all stories about Honduras rise from the bathroom?

Me and Plank were walking around town, getting some fresh air and stretching our legs when we get the fateful call: “Can you guys buy a plunger?” Uh oh. Well, all of those who claimed talent at plunging toilets were unsuccessful and after a considerable amount of time with the crappy plunger (pun NOT intended) the plungers resorted to sticks and hot water. There were two main plumbers who trudged in and out of the house with sticks of various length and girth. Every now and then Mo would wander in to check on the state of his bathroom and each time emerged, practically dry heaving and complaining about the poo water being tracked all over his house.

For the 1.5 hours that I think the toilet was clogged there was much discussion about the emergency situation that we were nearing as “the coffee [started] to kick in!” and Thanksgiving dinner has finished it’s … journey though the digestive track. I have accompanying pictures of people finally leaving the house (with toilet paper because Hondurans seemed to always have a toilet paper shortage) to find bathrooms. It was pretty hilarious, but that might be because I wasn’t in dire need of a bathroom. The toilet eventually was unclogged, but our little adventure prompted a nostalgic discussion of “industrial flush” toilets in the U.S.
Life in Honduras generally results in odd conversations and events. For example:

- The multi-HOUR conversation on all types of “that” girl at parties that the guys carried on
- The conversation that followed was “that” guy
- The various wiping methods of the hombres in attendance at the party
- A lengthy vote on the name of Rach and Mo’s new kitten, which ended in Snarf (his given name) being held up to the white board to chose his name …

Weird.

I want to say that the Hondurans have Americans beat when it comes to how early they put up Christmas decorations. I’d say the week before Thanksgiving people here started putting up their decorations and more notably Christmas-y things started to be sold. I was amazed. I recall that last year Christmas decorations and music could be seen/heard the week of Thanksgiving. Here, they had us beat. It’s ridiculous. There are Christmas trees and lights in most houses. The outside lights haven’t made as much of an appearance, but even public places have all their decorations out. It’s really weird seeing all these things that remind me of, well, Christmas and cold weather. I went to Laura’s house this afternoon to watch some T.V. and was weirded out by her Christmas tree and the unseasonably warm weather occurring at the same time. I don’t know how I feel about this.

I must say, that I’m not as annoyed with the Christmas decorations coming out so early as I was in the States. Maybe that’s because it still doesn’t feel like Christmas or Christmas is so much less commercialized here that it appears less calculated and more sincere.

That’s pretty much it on my Thanksgiving festivities. It was great to be around good friends and not feel as homesick as I had expected. We had great food and great (or interesting) conversation and it was a welcome vacation.

I hope that everyone also had a wonderful and satisfying Thanksgiving. I want to give my thanks and recognition to Rachel for being an amazing cook and sport at having the gathering hosted at her house and Kathryn for being an amazing chef as well!