With only three and a half weeks until I go home for Christmas (who's counting?), being away for Thanksgiving wasn't so hard. I have already done it before - I was in Valencia, Spain and ate paella with my friend Margaret and her parents who were visiting for Thanksgiving! Today was great because my third semester students had a holiday fair where they had stands and presented about different días festivos around the world - one of which was Thanksgiving! I did go around wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving, and my students even clapped for me when they found out it was Thanksgiving. It was funny, as if they were congratulating me for being a U.S. citizen. :)
So despite the absence of turkey, I got to eat a lot of candy - some from each stand. It felt like a holiday because I got to experience Day of the Dead, Epiphany, Chinese New Year, Christmas, Ramadan, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and and Indian color festival all in one day! It was really fun! At the same time, they were putting up the (fake) Christmas tree in the Language Program Office. It was all around a very festive day!
A typical food that Colombians eat for Christmas is called natilla, which they eat with bunuelos. Natilla is gelatin, but it is opaque and tastes like cake or a cookie. Natilla comes in different flavors such as arequipe (caramel-like flavor), coconut (with shredded coconut), and regular. Bunuelos are fritters, and are always eaten with the natilla! Natilla is weird to me, but also weirdly addicting and kind of good! The experience of eating it is indescribable. All who are reading this will just have to come visit me and experience it for yourselves.
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| natilla y bunuelos |
Later in the day I was talking to some students and one went to buy a healthy afternoon snack. What could be healthier, and more appetizing, that chicken-flavored potato chips? And we thought ketchup- and pickle-flavored chips were weird! I laughed when I saw them, in spite of myself. He offered me some to try. And lo and behold - THEY TASTED LIKE TURKEY. I don't think it was my turkey-depraved senses creating the sensation of turkey to be thus - it really tasted like turkey! This hilarious coincidence I had to share. I can safely say that I got to taste turkey today.
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| Chicken Chips. |
And another attempt at Thanksgiving was made when I went to have dinner at the Colombo-Americano English school tonight. I forgot to take a picture before I ate, but here is my half-eaten dinner (just what you want to see, I know):
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| On red, white, and blue dining ware, of course. |
It was ham with salsa, a salad made with potatoes, peas, celery, and chicken, fresas, a roll, coke, and a creamy pastry-like dessert cake. Even though they didn't hit the nail on the head (it's impossible to do so without the existence of sweet potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkins, or even pies), it was muy rico! Some great musica was provided by some members of the orchestra I play in who have their own band! A very nice noche it was.
There is sometimes a very irritating and persistent honking sound that I hear when I am hanging out in my room, and I've always thought it was a car driving by selling things. Those are common to see here in Colombia - cars with the trunk open, full of fruit, and the driver going around with a megaphone announcing what he's selling ("¡Aguacate maduro!" "¡Tomate de arbol!" "¡Papaya!"). I found the real source of the very high-pitched, repetitive honking:
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| This guy. |
My next goal is to find out what he's selling to warrant such racket!
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| Tomate de arbol. Used to make jugo. |
On the subject of the sounds of Colombia, don't get excited if you hear a bell ringing from a truck driving down the street. It's not the ice cream truck, which I still haven't learned - I get hopeful every time I hear it. Old habits die hard. It is a gas distribution truck, which is significantly less exciting, unfortunately. Oh well.
In other news, oatmeal raisin cookies are way more successful to make in Colombia than are chocolate chip cookies. They actually come out looking like cookies, and are delicious!. Things are getting easier for me now.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: A Picture Story
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| They're easier, doughntcha know! |
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| The going was only slow given the tools disponibles. |
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| The anticipation kills me. |
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| Wow, they actually look like cookies! |
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| Thumbs up for cookies. |
Oh, and don't let anyone fool you that cookies with avena y pasas are healthier - they are not. Especially when you eat pounds and pounds of the dough, and then must sample various cookies to make sure they're coming out okay. Healthier would be eating chicken chips.
That is all. Thank you for joining me. ¡Feliz Día
de Acción de Gracias!
días
festivos = holidays
salsa = sauce (of any kind)
fresas = strawberries
muy rico = very good
musica = music
noche = night
aguacate maduro = ripe avocado
tomate de arbol = tree tomato
jugo = juice
receta = recipe
disponibles = available
avena y pasas = oatmeal and raisins
¡Feliz Día
de Acción de Gracias! = Happy Thanksgiving! (Literally, Happy Day of the Act of Giving Thanks!)
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