letter28

Dear Family and Friends,

I remember fondly the Thanksgivings of my childhood. I remember insisting
endlessly that I be the first to arrive at "Nana and Papa's" house in order
to form my own "Welcoming Committee" and greet each unique family member as
they entered the warm home. "Oh, look, there comes Uncle Donny up the
driveway and it looks like he brought his singing equipment so that he can
sing for us! Oh, goody!" or, "Nana! Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue are here,
better hide the pies from Mike!" or, "Uncle David, can I sit by YOU at the
Thanksgiving table again this year?" I wore my badge of "Welcoming
Committee Chairperson" with pride, as I ensured that not a single person got
through that door without the "proper" welcome. As my cousins arrived, I
was giddy with excitement, balancing Monopoly, Life, Yhatzee, Scrabble,
Outburst, and other such games in my delighted fingers, begging the boys to
"play just ONE game!!! Please?!!?" Sometimes, my pleas worked, yet other
times, and especially as my cousins and brother grew older, I was left to
pout in a corner and watch from a distance as they destroyed one another in
Nintendo, and then later Play Station, games instead. These gatherings were
full of gaiety, however, as we chatted, played games, and enjoyed the
familiar scents of browning turkey, homemade rolls, sensual fresh-baked pies
of all varieties, buttery corn and mashed potatoes, sweet cranberry sauce,
fluffy stuffing, etc. as the joyous day progressed. And, finally, we would
all gather around the table, which coincidentally was enlarged to include
even the youngest child, and we grasped hands and bowed our heads in prayer.
My mind would race as I pondered what exactly I was thankful for and how
exactly I would finagle that last piece of pecan pie later on. Times I
took for granted; times, that seemed to a young girl, which would last
forever.

It has been three years since I last experienced those Thanksgivings with my
family, three years and two more to go as a Pilgrim in a new land. I
celebrated wonderful Thanksgivings with three wonderful, warmly hospitable
families while I was going to school in Georgia, however, through those
times, my family was certainly not far from my mind. And, now, here I was,
ready to celebrate another Thanksgiving apart from my family, while they
celebrated also, thousands of miles away. Our celebrations in Bulgaria took
place over the weekend because, obviously, we all had to work on
Thanksgiving Day. On Thanksgiving Day, I enlightened my students with the
concept of Thanksgiving as we made hand turkeys and did "The Turkey Jerky."
Needless to say, I came home with a bag FULL of colorful hand turkeys of all
shapes and sizes! "Here, Miss, my turkey is for YOU!" :-)

And then, on Friday, I made my trek to central Bulgaria, to a city called
Kazanluk, where one of many Thanksgiving celebrations was taking place. In
Bulgaria, turkey is an expensive delicacy. Our two fat turkeys cost 35 leva
a piece, practically a fortune to the Bulgarian wallet. Most Bulgarian
families manage to save up enough money to make turkey apart of their
traditional New Year's feast, yet, other than that, turkey is unheard of.
To even be able to make turkey apart of our Thanksgiving meal, we had to
find the turkey and find the right Bulgarian to slaughter and pluck the
bird, which, in our case, just so happened to be a Baba in a village nearby.
But, we were lucky, many Peace Corps Thanksgiving celebrations were
tragically without the one thing that all Thanksgivings must have!

And, then, let the preparations begin! We were a whirlwind activity as we
prepared our large feast! The turkey had been plucked and slaughtered ahead
of time (they were sitting on the porch when we got there!), but we had to
finish cleaning each turkey and preparing it for our stomachs by burning off
the coarse yellow hairs that still lined the bird's pink skin using lighters
and candles and we had to remove some of the slimy innards with our hands.
We had to twist off the long red neck by breaking the tough bone within, to
be used later for our gravy, and then tie the legs in such a way that the
bird would fit in the oven. I'm telling you, it was quite a process! And,
in the midst of turkey preparations, we also bustled about making fruit
salad, mashing potatoes, boiling the fresh pumpkin from the market to make
our pumpkin pies, creating pie crusts and mouth-watering croissants from
scratch, cooking corn and green bean casserole with fresh Bulgarian
vegetables, etc. We not only made use of the few burners in the kitchen to
create our feast, we also utilized the top of one of the space heaters! We
made a mess and then some, but then delighted in sitting together in a
circle in a room without furniture, a family of Peace Corps Volunteers. Our
mouths watered as we said what we were thankful for, a tradition, which made
many volunteers, think of home with nostalgia. "I am thankful for my nephew
calling me on Thanksgiving and calling me 'Uncle Chris' for the first time,"
Chris said thoughtfully; "I'm thankful that I will be going home in 9
months," A volunteer, who has been in Bulgaria for the last year, stated;
"I'm thankful that my mom, who swore she would never leave the country, sent
me a copy of her passport and promised to spend next Christmas here with
me," Sarah said with a glimmer in her eyes. We shared our thanks, shared a
few toasts and "Nazdrave!"s ("Cheers!" or "To Your Health!"), and shared
steaming plates of delicious food as the wind and snow whipped around
outside. Bulgaria has taught us to be more thankful than ever before, yet
Thanksgiving allowed us to put all of our "thanks" into perspective a little
bit more. And, to top it off, I always "dreamed of a white Christmas", who
would have ever thought I'd have a "White Thanksgiving" too?!!?

Oh, how thankful I am to be experiencing Bulgaria! Nazdrave!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well,
Chantel