Thanksgiving and Summer Weather

So it's almost the end of the year.  The year is once again flying by.

So, what was Thanksgiving like here?

I was able to arrange my evening classes I would have had on Thanksgiving Day for other days of the week, and I went to a nice dinner at The Black Rock Pub.  I had never been there before, as I went to California Cantina last year.  I wanted to try something different, and it was great.  I met a solo traveler there named Kimberly who decided to travel the world.  We talked about our experiences traveling and living outside of the States, and it was a really nice conversation.

The food was AMAZING.  Turkey, ham, roast beef, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and more.  It was set up as an all you can eat meal, and so I took full advantage of that.  The chef even came out and asked everyone how the meal was, and I got to chat with her before leaving.  Her English was perfect, and I was surprised to learn that she's Chilean.

The Saturday of Thanksgiving was another celebration.  One of my friends Allison graciously offered to host at her apartment.  She prepared about 6 or 7 dishes, and it was a US/Chilean celebration.  The US element was the typical food from home, and the Chilean element was grilling meat.  My contribution was StoveTop stuffing that I brought back from my visit home in August and my mom's recipe of mac and cheese.

Allison had reserved the grilling area, but it was overcast and cold  In the end we celebrated in one of the multi-purpose rooms.  Everyone brought something to contribute, and we were almost equally divided between Chileans and Gringos (with the exception of Allison's Peruvian boyfriend).  

There was plenty of food and drink, and I really enjoyed chatting with my friends and making new ones.  I arrived at about 2 and stayed until about 8, but when I left the celebration was still going strong.  Apparently afterwards everyone started grilling meat too.

These two celebrations really made me realize how fortunate I am.  Even though I'm away from family and my friends from the States, I still have opportunities to celebrate my holiday.  This year I've met some wonderful new friends and started a new challenge with my job at SII.  Work has been relatively stable, and despite the desire to lose weight I am still in good physical and mental health.

It's the end of December, but it certainly doesn't feel like it to me.  The weather is hot, and up until still very busy with work.  Classes at my work ended the first week of December, but after that there were final exams to give, final reports to write, makeup tests to give, and programming and preparation for the following year.

I'll update about the holidays in my next post.

Wishing everyone a very belated Happy Thanksgiving and less belated Merry Christmas!