Thanksgiving!

For me, this year Thanksgiving started on Monday…when I had to go to the carnicería (butcher’s shop) to ask if they had any turkeys. The man sent me to his friend who told me the smallest turkey he could get us would be 5kg (12lbs I think). He said he would go to his friend’s farm on Thursday, look for the smallest turkey, and kill it for us. I left worried not sure if he understood that I would need the turkey ready to be cooked…not a freshly killed turkey, feathers, innards and all.

On Thursday when I went to pick it up thankfully all the feathers were off, the innards were nicely contained in a plastic bag, and when I asked him to cut off the head for me (Emily and I didn’t think we would need the turkey head) he gladly did it. Also on Thursday at the market I searched the booths for pumpkin, found some sort of squash/pumpkin thing, and brought it home for Super Pumpkin Bars and Pumpkin Pie.


Friday Emily and I got picked up at 2:00pm and were taken to our friend’s house to cook the desserts. I am not sure if I have ever included that our kitchen does not have an oven, so all baking must be done somewhere else. Unfortunately, the 15 minute drive from our house to the oven resulted in a 15 minute drive back because we forgot the pumpkin. Friday was also when we prepped the turkey- plucked the remaining feathers and put garlic cloves and butter and rosemary under its skin. We also slathered it in olive oil.

Saturday we had to get up early to start cooking the turkey for our 3pm meal. We made the stuffing and popped it in the oven. In the end it was about 5.4kg, so it literally took up the entire oven (Spanish ovens are smaller than ones in the US). We also made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and jello shots with mandarin oranges. The best part was relaxing in between the cooking, watching the movie Love Actually, and drinking good Rioja wine.

Right at 3:00pm, okay, maybe it was more like 3:30, we finished everything up, put the turkey on the table, and made our friends all say something they were thankful for. Haha, it was great. We told them they couldn’t eat until they each said something sincere; they were so embarrassed. I had the honor of cutting the turkey, for the first time, and although I may not have cut perfect breast slices I got the turkey on the plates and that is all that mattered.

Being in Spain and celebrating Thanksgiving was really interesting. It didn’t feel real, especially because it wasn’t cold, there was no snow, I had to work on Thanksgiving Day, and I wasn’t with my family. It was fun and enjoyable and a great experience, but I missed home and friends and family.


The Crisis

If you come to Spain, even for a day, there is no doubt you will hear about what they call the ‘crisis’. Everyday on the news and in the newspaper there is information about the failing economy, the staggering numbers of jobs being lost, and the number of people turning to the government for help. The situation is incredibly sad, getting worse everyday, and does not have an easy solution. It is very sobering and eye-opening.

An aside: One of my friends is a civil engineer and has never had trouble finding work (one of the reasons he graduated in this field was because it had always had job security, even during economic downturns). Their system is a little different than ours in that people get contracted for a certain period of time and when the job/project is completed they look for another person with whom to contract. In one week, he will finish his current job but has nothing to replace it. He has been looking for work and submitting resumes for 4 months, but there are literally no jobs available.

I cannot imagine having an education, wanting to work, actively looking for work, but in the end not being able to. This has shown me, more than I realized before, that people who are unemployed are not lazy, unwilling to work, hoping to live off of government aid. Most people in this situation want to work. They actively look for work. But there is just nothing available.

Is it this bad at home? People ask me what the crisis is like in the US, but I came here at the end of September, before things started to get really really bad.

Vacation

On a happier note, I have less than 1 week left until vacation starts. Next Tuesday I leave for Granada to go skiing/snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada. I get to miss a few days of school, and hopefully the crowds at the ski hill, and extend my vacation from the 18th to the 8th of January. : ) This weekend I will also be going to some zambombas. These holiday parties are unique to Jerez and consist of singing, dancing, playing instruments, flamenco, drinking, and eating.

I hope you all at home are enjoying the holidays! Sending everybody love and besos!!!!