Happy Thanksgiving!! Our ‘Día de Acción de Gracias’ (literally Day of the Action of Thanks… terrible translation) was surprisingly delicious here. Debra (Jake’s dad’s lawyer friend) cooked a fantastic meal, complete with turkey, gravy, stuffing (I had forgotten about stuffing… mmm), excellent salad (again, with vegetables and flavors that didn’t know you could find here), sautéed greens, amazing candied boniato (a root vegetable that is common here) rather than yams, and Jake’s sister came to visit from the states and brought some canned cranberry sauce with her. So we were pretty well taken care of. Oh! And in the dessert department (as I write this it’s making my mouth water, and I’m a little jealous of myself for being able to eat this) we had boniato pie (rather than sweet potato pie), carrot bread (Debra’s own recipe; sooo gooood), and homemade brownies.
Although our group was kind of a mish-mosh (six American students and 3 Cubans, one of which was fairly uncertain about the origins of Thanksgiving and thought it had origins in Judaism until we corrected her), the whole affair was definitely something to be grateful for. I find that I like Havana a lot more on a full stomach, and after such a great meal I started to reflect on my experiences thus far. I won’t expound on them too much here (otherwise, my final post would be rather anti-climactic), but as hokey as it sounds, I realized how lucky I am to be from a country like the United States. I’m thankful to live in a society where my ability to express my personal opinions is valued (and legal), and to know that my country was founded on principles such as self-realization. More than anything this year, though, I’m grateful that my life has afforded me the opportunity to go abroad so that I can realize exactly how fortunate I am. Many Americans take their fortune for granted, considering such liberties to be givens because they’ve never known anything else. However, after having had this experience I believe more strongly than ever that we owe it to ourselves, and to other citizens of the world who aren’t so blessed, to exercise our rights and take full advantage of our freedom so that we appreciate them to their fullest extent.
So now I’m off of my soapbox. Hope everyone else’s Thanksgiving was restful and delicious!!
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