Happy Thanksgiving!

This week marked both our last week of Model School and Thanksgiving! It was an exhausting week, but my last few days of teaching for a while were really enjoyable and I’m actually going to miss some of those classes! I did a 2-day unit on persuasion and advertising with my more advanced classes, and that was a lot of fun for all of us. Now I just need to learn enough English to teach them advanced grammar!

Thanksgiving here was absolutely wonderful. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I’ve never been outside of the United States during the holidays, and of course it felt nothing like Thanksgiving here all week. By the time it was all said and done, though, it only could have been better if I had been able to spend it at home. To begin with, the food was amazing! We had 5 or 6 turkeys of our own, but then the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda came to visit and brought us another one. He also brought pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce! In addition, we had mashed potatoes, shells and cheese (!), corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, and about 10-15 desserts. A couple of trainees spent a few hours picking and decorating the dining room with beautiful flowers, and a big sign was posted right outside the dining-room door where we could all list what we’re thankful for. We also decided to make it formal, so everybody got really dressed up and looked amazing! 

After a spectacular Thanksgiving, I woke up Friday morning to find out that Texas beat A&M! Now we’re playing Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship, and my Nebraskan roommate and I are desperately trying to figure out how to make an event out of it all the way over here. I don’t know how much luck we’re going to have since we almost definitely won’t actually be able to watch the game, but we’re going to try!

I’m leaving on Monday to spend three days with a current health volunteer in the Eastern Province, and I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t been east at all, so I’m anxious to see more of Rwanda. Keep your fingers crossed that the roads are straight and I don’t get too car-sick!

Love and miss you all so much, especially around this time. Email me pictures of your Christmas trees!

My friend Penny and myself at Thanksgiving supper.