thanksgiving newsround.

so i had one of the best thanksgivings possible in this country, even without a turkey or pumpkin pie!
the ten or so volunteers in the kostanai oblast (we were missing a few people, sadly) got together in rudny (about an hour away from me) at a volunteer's apartment. we made our own stuffing from stale bread (not hard to come by here, as all bread seems to be a bit on the stale side...), parsley, onions, and beets. so we stuffed our chicken (which in all actuality, really could have been a small turkey due to its sheer size) and roasted that bad boy. it might not have been turkey, but it was kaz-tastic! we also made mashed potatoes, and butternut squash stuffed with cornbread stuffing (our host had lovingly baked cornbread from scratch the day before for this purpose; i told him he was a culinary master). the thanksgiving feast was rounded out by salads (done kazakh style) and not just one, but three kinds of dessert: cherry pie (that our host had lovingly picked the summer before and preserved for the winter), apple pie, and a vanilla walnut cake baked by one of the host mothers. while these pies were a great way to end our thanksgiving meal (who needs pumpkin pie, anyway?), it was an even better way to start the next day. pie: breakfast of champions (and a pretty good hangover cure to boot).

highlights of our kazakhstani thanksgiving:
1) chicken, instead of turkey.
2) everything on the table made from total scratch (not a canned good or box of Stove Top stuffing in sight!).
3) lots of pie.
4) obligatory vodka toasts.
5) spending the night with some amazing volunteers (the fact that our host opened his home and heart to the rest of the volunteers in our region is so astoundingly heartwarming; we had only met him that day!). and it was almost like a how-many-people-can-you-fit-in-a-telephone-booth contest, except with a one-room apartment.
6) remembering that thanksgiving isn't about turkey or pumpkin pie or stuffing (those are simply bonuses), but about spending the day with people you love and people who love you, and being thankful that you have these people around you. too bad the majority of people i love are all so very, very far away. i love you.