Happy Thanksgiving!! :)

Thanksgiving in Kuwait, October 11th, 2010

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God"

I Thessalonians 5:18

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving! Although I may be far from home, friends and family have definitely been on my mind today. I am truly thankful for the people God has placed in my life both in Kuwait and back home in Canada. I am thankful for the emails, phone calls and notes of love and encouragement that have been sent my way since coming back over here for another year. I am thankful for the blessings God has given me while I've been living in the Middle East - the new perspective on cultures, the understanding/use of a new language, the love for my "kids", and the surreal traveling experiences! My heart feels full as I reflect on all the things I have to be thankful for. :)

As for some good ol' traditional food this year......I discovered a pumpkin a couple weeks ago in the grocery story and snagged it right away. You may remember my blog post last Thanksgiving when I couldn't find a pumpkin at all (fresh or canned) and ended up being given one in a Prada paper bag after a student hunted one down for me in the southern part of the country. ;) Anyways, I did manage to find one this year, so after successfully scouring the stores here for the ingredients to make pastry, I figured if nothing else, we would add fresh homemade pumpkin pie to our feast of yams this year! LOL

In preparation for as close to a Thanksgiving meal as we can get over here, I made my sister-in-law's special cheesy yams dish (the ONLY way I will actually eat this root vegetable) and my mom's homemade pumpkin pie. Gillian brought a KD chicken (you get them already roasted for only 1 KD and they put them on a plate with fries and a piece of flatbread) and some stovetop stuffing, and we added some Middle Eastern flair with falafal, hummous and flatbread. All together, we made ourselves a Canadian Thanksgiving feast......Kuwait-style! ;) Sure beats the tea and yams we had last year! LOL

Here's all the food we pieced together....falafal, roast chicken, pumpkin pie, stuffing, chessy yams, hummous and flatbread! It was sooooo good, especially after such a crazy day at school! :)

Last Thanksgiving.......Gillian and I with our tea and yams.

This Thanksgiving.....much happier with real pumpkin pie! LOL

Yay for pie and the self-timer on my camera!

I was talking to my students today about our tradition of Thanksgiving and we were discussing things that we were thankful for. They suggested some of the more common things: friends, family, health, parents, education. However, I had to laugh at some of their other ones: Chuck Taylor's (shoes), mobiles, internet, hands and feet, having a brain, Joaquin and River Phoenix , The Avenues (a big mall in Kuwait). They had to trace their hand, write the top 5 things they are thankful for and colour it a "fall" colour. I took them all and taped them up onto the wall to make our "Tree of Thanks". :) It doesn't look like it, but there are over 100 hands up there! It was neat to read all the different things they were truly thankful for. :)

They also decided that they wanted to get my family on Skype, to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It was the middle of the night back in Canada, so we recorded it on my computer instead. LOL Here's their message! :)

So from all my "kids" and I, to everyone back home......HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!