Claire's Around the World Blog!: Happy Thanksgiving! გილოცავთ მადლიერების დღე!

Hello all, and happy thanksgiving! Hope all is well back home - all is going well over here. Currently I'm in Kutaisi with Goodloe, preparing for what is sure to be an epic thanksgiving meal! I decided a few days ago that I wanted to do a big thanksgiving meal in Zestaponi, so here goes nothing! Thank goodness Goodloe knows how to cook relatively well... (his apple pie at our all volunteer conference was a huge hit) so I'll have a seasoned professional in the kitchen with me. However, I'd like to think I've got some good cooking genes thanks to my dad. Plus my mom always puts out a mean table on thanksgiving and christmas, so I'll be channelling both of you tomorrow! On the menu is...

Turkey (5 kilo bird!)

Honey glazed carrots

Cheddar cornbread

Roast pumpkin

Salad

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy (რა თქმა უნდა! - of course!)

Apple pie

Hazelnut Pie (due to the fact that there really aren't pecans here)

Steamed green beans

That's it so far. We'll be cooking the pies and the pumpkin this evening, and everything else tomorrow. I hope that it all turns out well! One small challenge.... the gas will be out all wednesday in Zestaponi... so we'll be cutting it down to the wire a bit with preparation, but hopefully all goes smoothly! As for the guest list it is, Latoya, Tami, Caitlin, Goodloe, Brittany, Crystal and Katheryn (the two TLGs in my town) and possibly two other PCVs. It's going to be great. I have downloaded Adam Sandler's turkey song, and we've got white wine to both put in the gravy, as well as drink while cooking. I can't contain how excited I am!

We did, however, have a absolutely wonderful thanksgiving meal at all volunteer conference this past week. It was great to have one place where all of the Georgia volunteers were together. The ambassador, and our country director came, and the food was delicious! I've never had better pumpkin soup in my life! Additionally, the Dviri Cluster (my crew from PST) was reunited again. We had a great time together.

I had been a bit sad about leaving everyone and going back to site.... but this week changed all of that. I had my site visit on Monday, (my program manager visited and gave me feed back on my classes) which went really well. Then yesterday I walked into my seventh grade class to the blackboard reading, "I love you Claire and Nino" and then a surprise rendition of both Celine Dion's "My heart will go on" and Georgian folk music. It was hysterical, and I loved it. I've attached some pictures of my seventh graders so that you can see how awesome they are. Most of all, the reason why they make me so happy is because even though they don't know english very well, the majority of them really try. They put an effort into my class, generally do most of their homework, and participate everyday. I don't know how to express to them how grateful I am for their participation, or to you about how rare a classroom like this is in Georgia.

This thanksgiving I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here in Georgia. Grateful to my fellow volunteers, (especially the Dviri crew). To my teaching counterparts for being so open to new teaching methods and helping me integrate into the Zesatponi community I can't say enough thanks. To my students and my wonderful host family. Big thanks especially my host mom, Eka, who understands my bizarre quirks in diet, and everything else. Of course, I'm thankful for my friends and family at home and around the world. You all mean so much to me, and I hope we'll all have a chance to talk soon.

Lots of love from Georgia and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!