Thanksgiving in the Southern Hemisphere...

is, in a word, hot. So hot that the last thing we felt like doing was heating up the kitchen to cook a big meal, but we did it anyway. Laura did most of the cooking, with Lidia and I as assistants. Everything turned out amazing...we even had turkey (provided by Lidia's ex-husband Ron), which apparently is pretty hard to come by here. We ate outside (Lidia rented tables and chairs) which was a welcomed relief from the oppressive heat of the kitchen (nope, we don't have air conditioning...or even a ceiling fan). There were twelve of us, so it was quite a group! The food still tasted like Thanksgiving anyway, right down to the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.


The clean-up was pretty daunting, but with five of us working it didn't take too long. We were all hot and sweaty though, which may have been why Andre thought it was the perfect time for a water fight (he says I started it, but it's such a lie...I was just getting him back for throwing water on us through the window). By the time we were done we were both completely soaked, and the kitchen was under water. Good thing everything was tile - still, having a water fight on Thanksgiving Day inside the kitchen was certainly a unique experience!!


If you're wondering why my forehead looks a little pink in the picture, it's because I was still recovering from the sun I'd had on Monday and Tuesday. Laura and I, along with Virginia, took the three high school girls in our mission (MKs) to the Hotel Bugonvillas for a mini-retreat. It was such a relaxing time, and so fun to get to know the girls better. We did lots of lounging by the pool, enjoyed watching cable TV (in English!) and had a late night Monopoly game that lasted to the wee-hours. Laura and I teamed up, and (thanks to our Broadway/Park Place monopoly) finally wiped everyone out.

The late-nite Monopoly club: Erica, Kendra, Brittany, Laura, and Virgina

On Friday, before leaving for break, I tried to explain Thanksgiving to my predominantly Bolivian kindergarteners. It was pretty difficult...I'm not sure even now that any of them understand what the turkey has to do with anything. I divided them up into pilgrims and indians and had them act out the story, but that was kind of a flop too. The pilgrims had more fun pretending to be sick and dying, and weren't interested in taking food from the indians, and the indians were totally preoccupied with their feathered headbands. Still, they looked adorable and had a great time, so I guess that's all that matters.


We ended our break yesterday with a trip to Hans and Andre's Dad's house. He lives way out in the country on the other side of town, so five of us cramming into a taxi to get there was an adventure in itself. Dovanna and I had a great time petting their monkey, and enjoyed tramping around the property and spotting various animals including 7 tortugas, 5 perros, 2 vacas, and 2 caballos (okay, so if you know any Spanish than you know we didn't see anything very exotic, but I had fun practicing my Spanish vocab). It's the farthest away from the city I've been since I got here (besides my trip to the river) and it was fun to see a different side of Bolivia.


So I survived Thanksgiving break. I had a few bouts of homesickness...it's not easy being away from home during the holidays anyway, and it really felt more like summer vacation than anything else...but it was fun to celebrate in a different way. I have a feeling that Christmas will be even harder - decorating for Christmas in 90 degree weather is just not very fun at all. Please pray that all of us missionaries (short and long term) will remember that the heart of Christmas is not cold weather, snow, presents or even family...it's Christ's birth. If we can hang on to that truth even a hot Christmas will be precious.