1. Happy Thanksgiving.

    Many of my fellow volunteers have been lamenting and homesick all day, wanting to be home for one of the biggest American holidays and all too well aware that they are here in Moldova and not at home with their families.

    I am not one of those volunteers.

    I admittedly forgot it was Thanksgiving until around the fourth lesson today, my partner turned to me and said, ‘Shouldn’t we be including some important American holiday in the lesson plans soon?  The one with the turkey?’

    Oh. Right. Yes.  The one with the turkey.  That would be… approximately… today.

    I felt a little unsettled for forgetting this big day, but then again, it’s never been a huge deal for me.  I used to be very cynical about it - in sophomore year of high school I wrote some essay attacking Thanksgiving for its promotion of mass slaughter of turkeys.  But I now realize that for most, Thanksgiving is primarily, well, a day to give thanks.  And I think it, like most things ‘American,’ holds much more significance for me while I’m away from home. As soon as I became aware of the day, I began thinking about everything I love and miss… not in my summertimes blues sit-in-bed-and-mope sort of way, but more in a, ‘Damn, I am lucky,’ sort of way.

    That came to light further later in the day, when I could go home and truly give thanks that I now have a three day break from those students that like to make my life miserable.  I ended up sitting at the kitchen table for almost five hours today with Oxana and the rest of the family.  She started to teach me how to crochet, we ate lots of placinta, and we just talked.  Eventually, I got out my computer and was able to skype with almost my entire family at home - my parents, my brother Brian, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin Kate.  It was a really exciting time to unite my two families in the world and I became all the more aware of how lucky and fortunate I am.  Because yes, of course I miss home, but I don’t feel like I have this gaping hole in my heart where home should be but is missing.  I feel like I have gone throughout my life constantly accumulating home, adding to it and recreating it but never losing its core essence.

    While I may not have eaten tofurky today, or even mashed potatoes, and while I may have not seen a single American and won’t for a month, I felt Thanksgiving in my heart perhaps more than ever.  Because look at me.  I’m here in the middle of no where and I have people scattered across the globe who care about me.  I really don’t know what I’d do without all of you, and your love and support. 

    But let me stop here before things get real gushy.  I wish the best to all of you, and don’t forget to think about the turkeys.





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