Thanksgiving in Galicia

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in America, but to Galicians it was a Thursday like any other. Except for a handful of Galicians who came over to a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Lauren and me. The ironic part was even with the 6-hour time difference between here and home, we had our meal around the same time.

The day started at my teaching job. Don't we get off for American holidays? A few of the classes were having oral exams, and in gym class they told me "Congratulations," an attempted wish for a Happy Thanksgiving. Around 5:00 Lauren and I began the process of cooking. We've never cooked a bird alone before, let alone in Spain. The two chickens we got had a few little feathers and hairs on them, which Lauren diligently plucked for a time. She even tried burning them off, but eventually grew tired of the task and let it be. Aside from chicken (not turkey, pero da igual), we had stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. We were a bit concerned there wouldn't be enough, but we even had leftovers. For dessert was an impressive pumpkin pie by Lauren-- she had to buy a pumpkin and puree it the old-fashioned way, since canned pumpkin is not an option here-- and filloas, a crepe-like dessert, made by her roommate. I think we did America proud. ;)

Although 4 people had to sit on the couch to eat, I think it was a perfect number of guests. Nine of us squeezed around the table, but that made it cozier and Thanksgiving-like. We all went around the table saying what we were thankful for. Mostly everyone was grateful to be among such charming & fun company.  After dinner, we were entertained by Diego on the guitar, and some interesting attempts at singing. There were plenty of songs in Galician/Spanish, but we had to pull up the lyrics even for the natives. My 'assignment' was to memorize a song by Os Heredeiros da Crus, "Non quero nada de ti." I worked so hard on it, but still couldn't spit the words out fast enough. Better luck next time.

As a Spanish twist, most guests left by 1 AM, but two of my best friends stayed til 4:30 AM. Evidently we were enjoying each other's company.