Thanksgiving with a Side of School

We were not sure what we were doing for Thanksgiving since we would both be working and the kids had to go to school.  We eventually (Thursday night) invited the sister missionaries to come on Saturday for a possible "Thanksgiving", but we were having no luck finding a turkey.  We had checked some larger supermarkets out of town and all but one grocery store in our town.

Our First Snowfall

It snowed the day before Thanksgiving Day and the kids were ecstatic. Kids all the way to school were carrying snowballs which some carried like a show and tell item into the school.  Unfortunately everything was melted by recess.  We were told this is the most snow we will ever get here.  That is fine with Brent and me but not so much with the kiddos. 

 

We came to Spain with no Thanksgiving decorations and we weren't feeling the season so I pulled out these feathers we had shipped and told the kids we were going to make a turkey. This turkey is what we came up with!  At least it made us feel more at home.

I didn't expect anything to be Thanksgiving related at school on Thanksgiving day but the first grade classes taught a lot about our Thanksgiving with videos, coloring pages and they even made hand turkeys.  I loooved it! 

I didn't notice this school board next to the office until the day before Thanksgiving as I was walking to the break room.  The school did have a special Thanksgiving day lunch for the teachers which I was initially quite excited about but I felt guilty when I left my kids to go enjoy the feast.   The kids did request some deserts if possible.  When I walked into the break room I knew my expectations had been too high, not only were there no deserts there was no "Thanksgiving food" either, with the exception of mashed potatoes. They did; however,  have paella with noodles, cooked veggies,  the usual crusty dry bread, chicken chunks in gravy, and fish something. 

Before I get to more Thanksgiving I want to share a few things about our school.

This is our school's only drinking fountain.  I was so thirsty today which made me really miss American drinking fountains.  I wasn't  quite thirsty enough to run outside to use this.  The kids in the school drink out of the bathroom sinks but the faucets are so close to the bowl that I don't think I could fit my head under it.  The only normal "American" drinking fountain we have seen here in Spain has been the one at the Stake center.  These Spanish, maybe European style, drinking fountains are most everywhere and work best with a water bottle.  They are really difficult to turn on even for me and I feel like I have bruised my palm after pushing it on long enough for my kids to get a drink. 

 

This is a boy in the 1st grade.  He is new and so I took him out to help him catch up in his English book.  This picture is to show their pencils. They don't use pencils with eraser tops here but instead a large separate eraser they call a "rubber".  In first grade they share just one sometimes two per table, which they constantly fight over and hide for themselves.  I have finally began bringing  my own with me so as I am helping the kids I can always find one. 

Something quite different about our school is that the caretaker/custodian lives at the school year around.  Down below the walkway out to 5th/6th grade is his little apartment and porch/eating area.

This is the first grade hall which looks really good  in this picture.  Most of the time there are coats strung everywhere that I feel like we are parting the red sea as we slide the coats to the side so the kids don't trample them.

This is one of the four 1st grade gym classes.  I just wanted to share a little about how their gym is different.   Each class has 2 gym days a week, one inside and one outside.  When they are inside they have to change into clean gym shoes and a gym shirt and then change back after.  When they are outside they just change their shirts after.  On those days the kids wear sweat suits or tracksuits and have to bring a small towel to wipe off after. Some of the older kids shower after gym class as well.  The first graders have been working on bouncing ballswith a partner the entire month of November.  Kaiya and Morgan have been doing Yoga, but have also done acrobatics and sometimes play dodge ball but with just one ball.


 

Now back to Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving night is not a night where I normally get a lot of sleep and this year was no exception.  I wasn't standing in line at stores but I was worried that we wouldn't be able to find a turkey and we would have to serve the sister missionaries deli turkey.  I also worried about being responsible for the outcome of the whole meal instead of just a couple of the dishes.  I woke up tired as usual Friday morning and I set out determined to find a turkey!  There was one store left in our town I hadn't checked yet so I thought I would start there.

This is the very steep street I walk down to go this store and walk up to return.  It is so steep that sometimes I feel I need a rail to hold onto when going down.   And when returning home I am going up and am always carrying groceries that feel like bricks.     Notice the dog sign:  This sign always makes me wonder.  I have seen these at the park and I assume it means to watch out for dog dung, but who knows, maybe it means that it is okay for your dog to do his business here!

SUCCESS!!! I finally found our turkey at the store at the bottom of the hill.  I was so excited that I called the sisters and had them help me choose a set of elders to join us. Unfortunately all they had was a small 7.5lb turkey so we couldn't invite all 8 missionaries from our ward.

I wish I had gotten a picture before we cleared our plates, but I think the missionaries enjoyed it, what do you think?