Yesterday we celebrated our 1st Thanksgiving in Guyana as a Peace Corps family. As the day started off, it definitely did not feel like Thanksgiving. First of all, it was 85 degrees out with about 90% humidity and a blazing hot sun. Also, everything was open and running, cause here in Guyana it was just like any other Thursday. It was very weird; we all knew it was Thanksgiving but it just didn't feel like it.
Myself and a few other volunteers in my area planned to do a Thanksgiving dinner for about 12 people at Yesenia's house, a volunteer that lives about 15 minutes away from me. We did all the shopping on Wednesday and managed to find a Butterball turkey (yes, a real American turkey), boxed Stove Top stuffing and canned cranberry sauce at the American grocery store in the capital. Another volunteer, Carissa, is a really good cook and she had a bunch of recipes for different casseroles, au gratin potatoes, broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes and creamed corn. The amount of food we bought was ridiculous. We had 9 different side dishes, plus the turkey. Since we are in Guyana, we drank rum and made pina coloadas, a new Thanksgiving tradition :)
I went over to Yesenia's house Thursday morning and we, along with Carissa and Alyssa, began cooking. Carissa was the head chef and the rest of us helped out with peeling and chopping various vegetables, making the salad and the bread and other various tasks. Since it was so hot and we had the gas stove and oven running all morning and all afternoon, we were constantly stopping to cool down. We would peel a few potatoes, then go stand in front of the fan for a cool breeze. Chop up an onion and then stand in front of the fan. I don't think 4 people have ever sweat that much making Thanksgiving dinner before. We managed to finish everything in record time, I was quite impressed with us all. We had dinner at 4pm and it was absolutely delicious. We had all the Thanksgiving stables, including pumpkin pie for dessert. There were 14 of us there, including Yesenia's host mom Molly and Alyssa's boyfriend Damian. It was the 1st time either of them had ever had a Thanksgiving meal before. We had Damian try everything 1st and it was adorable how excited he was to try the turkey.
After we ate, we did the "what are you most thankful for" game. One girl brought hand turkey cut outs and we all wrote down a few things we were thankful for this year. Most of us said good friends, family, our delicious meal and, of course, our Peace Corps experience. Then it was time for dessert, homemade pumpkin pie, banana bread, and brownies. I ate so much food that its 24 hours later and I'm still full. And there was still enough left for everyone to bring home leftovers, which we all know is the best part of Thanksgiving.
Today I managed to do a little Black Friday shopping. We get paid our monthly stipend on the 25th of each month, so I went out today to do my grocery shopping for the next few weeks. I went to my usual vegetable and fruit lady and, during our usual bout of small talk, I told her about Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping back in the States. She thought it was the funniest thing that some people camp out in front of stores to buy things, I told her that people will do crazy things to get a good price. In honor of Black Friday, she decided to give me a free watermelon. Best Black Friday deal I've ever gotten :)
Here are some pictures of our awesome Thanksgiving feast!!!
Yeah Pina Coladas!!!!
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