Happy Thanksgiving 2007

For lunch today Chechu and I went to Foster's Hollywood, an American chain restaurant here in Spain, to have our own little Thanksgiving celebration. Both of us ordered barbecue ribs (no TG menu, unfortunately) and had brownies and cheesecake for dessert. Not exactly the turkey drumstick, stuffing, macaroni & cheese, yams, greens, potato salad and pumpkin pie that I was hoping for, but American cuisine nonetheless. In exchange for the mammoth-size plates we usually serve ourselves on Thanksgiving, the restaurant's portions were quite reasonable so we didn't overeat by any means, thus going against the deep-rooted American TG tradition of stuffing oneself unconscious.

I'll have to admit that I am a little envious of this point of Riss and Mom, who are comfortably enjoying the day and the forthcoming feast, even though Mom will be celebrating with Gram, Aunt Mim and Aunt Bertie while Riss is on the other side of the country with Josh's family and a whole sloo of MIIS alumni. Regardless of the fact that I'm now living in another country, it still sucks to have to get up on TG morning and carry on as if it were just another weekday. I think next year I'll make a note to plan a Thanksgiving meal with the family here, even if it has to be celebrated on Saturday. I realize that I live in Spain now, but that's one piece of American culture that I'm definitely going to keep for as long as we live here.

In other news, Chechu finally got his contract this week!! He went to the Department of Education this morning to sign his contract. At this point it has to be sent back to Madrid and from there they will submit to him all of the additional information that he'll need as far as when he officially starts, etc. I would imagine that by the start of December he'll be teaching. He also has a part-time job interview this afternoon to work three days a week as a graphic designer for a company in Almería. So, if that comes through, he'll have his hands quite full with work, which is exactly what he was praying for.

Both of us truly have a lot to be thankful for this year. With all of the expenses we've had, and everything else that is still to come, God has truly been faithful to provide for us.