November 29th-
Thanksgiving- So many things for which to be thankful!
Today is Saturday and the day my
school community will celebrate Thanksgiving.
The actual holiday goes by without much thought. I am reminded what I am missing as I scroll
through Facebook, but other than that (and a conversation with my boys) I try
not to give it much thought- the holiday that is. I do give a great deal of
thought to those things of which I have to be thankful. First, it is the forever friendships that I
have forged in the past and in my current situation. As I am cooking this
morning, Jolyn stops by to give me some celery leaf I need for my stuffing
(white bread of course like mom). As we talk, tears well up in my eyes. That process of tearing the bread reminds me
so much of the holidays with my mother. My siblings and I would sit around the
L-shaped kitchen table and help with the process of tearing the bread for the
stuffing. As I do it alone in my current kitchen, I am nostalgic for a time
that used to be. When my parents were alive, and when holidays brought us all
together. Yes, most of the time there would end up being
drama- but today I long for that drama. Jolyn starts talking about how lucky we
are to have family traditions to remember and soon she is tearing up. She also
said something else that stuck a cord with me.
The goodbyes we say in our life are often as important as the
hellos. I think sometimes those stay
with us longer. We take the hellos for
granted. If we never met a person and
have the opportunity for hello we do not know what we miss. But our goodbyes
are sometimes permanent. Through loss (especially when the loss is too early)
it is hard to not be hit with that melancholy feeling when a person least
expects it- like when cooking. One of my
ex-students is getting married this weekend, without her mom to celebrate the
day with her. One of my fellow teachers in Pflugerville tragically lost her 7th grade son to suicide last month; bullying bashed his spirit. These
special occasions make us remember. I am
glad for that. My goodbyes this summer
were hard and I know when I leave this place I have made some forever friends
of whom it will be hard to say goodbye.
With all this said, however, I am so thankful I had the opportunity to
say hello because each has left an impact on my heart and in my life. I think the greatest give we can give people
is a piece of ourselves. As a teacher
and a friend, as a mom and as a sister- I hope those I have met and those I
will meet with take a little of me with them.
Back to today- I start by helping
set up the house we are having the potluck at.
It is so nice having the school guards and cleaners around to help. They bring over 50 chairs, 10 tables and help
set those up. We start to trim the flowers and they take them from our hands
and take over. The social committee will
pay them extra but still not enough to make up for all the help they
provide. Entertaining over here is so
easy with people around to help with the set up and clean-up. Spoiled- yes- I
am getting there.
Now to the kitchen, I almost
screw up mom’s pecan pie by only putting in one egg. I stir and know it is wrong, but go ahead and
pour it into the homemade piecrust. Then
I look again at the recipe. Two eggs,
too short. I dump and add the extra eggs. Rookie mistake. It might not be
pretty, but hopefully I saved the pie.
Next, how does one make stuffing with no celery?? I buy a can of water chestnuts and hope it
will make a crunchy substitute. Lastly, I had my sister-in-law bring me some
canned pumpkin so I make a pumpkin dump cake (I will put the recipe at the
end). We have a few gluten-free folks so
I try to be sensitive and do it with a gluten free cake mix. Think again. The cake mix is about half as much as I need
so I do a little one for my principal and use a carrot cake for the rest.
Hopefully, this will work. I am doing all this in a 13inch by18inch convection
oven. Fingers crossed!!
As I look at my notes from the
last few weeks, the majority of it I covered in my last blog. I did discover one thing that should have
been obvious but it wasn’t. The other day I am in a taxi and have my camera
cocked to take a picture of a man on the side of the road. I peer around to get a glimpse at what he is
looking at- he is kneeling down facing the fence. I cannot see anything and be stands, flaps
his longyi and I miss my shot. My oh huh
moment came when I finally figured out he was not looking at anything but
rather he was popping a squat and peeing-- On the side of the road in the
grass. Then it hits me, there are no public restrooms around. Taxi drivers work
for hours on end; people walk from place to place. I guess this also answers the question-“What
do they have under those longyis?”
I also made another discovery. I have never been attuned to my body and what
food had an effect on it in what way. A
few years before I made this journey, I quit drinking diet coke (for the most
part), but I substituted Crystal Light.
Now that I mostly drink water (and beer), my headaches are few and far
between. The other day I bought a diet
coke and made up some Crystal Light I got in my package (and also ate many
fritos). I had a headache for three days- not a bad one, but that small ache in
the frontal lobes. Now, if I could just get myself use to drinking ENOUGH
water, I might actually win.
I am living in the world’s most
generous nation (tied with the United States).
Now this is not just my observation- Time news reported it so it has to
be true. Here is the article. http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/the-worlds-most-generous-country-has-been-named/story-e6frfqai-1227127974116
I am not
surprised by this news. Besides the bugs,
humidity, occasional snakes and horrible traffic-- the nation and its people
are fabulous. I am so glad I got this
opportunity because I certainly would have never traveled here on my own.
Reflections so far:
1. Color- I don’t think I have changed much but I will say my
wardrobe certainly has. I was wearing
new shirt I had made from some black and white cloth one of my friends brought
me from India and one of my students commented that it was “just not me.” She
said I was more colorful than that. If a
person would ever peek in my closet back home, they would see black, white and
a couple lime green shirts (maybe one red one).
Black is slimming (so they say) so I wore a lot of it. The stores that manufacture clothes in my
size either use muumuu-like bright prints or black/white/brown patterns. Or it could be that I just gravitated to
those colors. Whatever, I certainly have
added color to my wardrobe. Life is too short- see it in color!
2. Only in Asia! My brother
gave me some Christmas money before he left (yes- I am 52 and still get great
gifts from my siblings!). Last weekend I
went to the market and bought a painting.
Although I spent his money on groceries to finish out the month after
spending my money on the October trip, in my mind I still have to buy myself a
Christmas gift. So I bought a
painting. I asked the owner to hold it
for me until January and he said “Take it; you can pay me later.” No down
payment, no signature... and they delivered it straight to my house. It will
help me remember this place. I can’t wait to hang it up back home.
3. Trips to come. I am
canceling the trip to India to see a traditional wedding to save money for
Christmas in Singapore and Bali. Being responsible is a bitch.
4. Foreign exchange students-What an awesome opportunity to give
students. I’m so glad I had two in my
house as my kids were growing up. I am
also glad I am meeting Irene in Singapore. She is from The Netherlands and is teaching
in Laos. The travel bug never left her.
5. Ed Sheeran nuff said. New download from one of my students. He
is so talented. Music makes my heart happy and at times- sad. I needed to turn off Carol King today when I
was making the stuffing- It made me think of my sister and my best friend too
much. Indeed a double-edged sword.
6. It’s a dog eat dog world/ The street dog mentality. I watched my neighbor bring out food for the
street dogs (remember- the most generous nation in the world) and one of them
went over, smelled it and then peed on it. I guess he was not hungry, but also wanted
to make sure that no one else benefitted from her generosity. Sure enough,
another dog- a hungry dog- went over excited for the meal, smelled it and went
on. I know there are people like that in this world. I am so blessed that my circle does not include
them. As we get older and know that quality is better than quantity it is easy
to weed out those who do not share the same mindset.
7. Angela is coming! I am
excited my friend Angela is meeting me in Bali.
I am a little apprehensive because my new idea of travel is to bypass
the exclusive resorts and try to take in more of the local color. We will spend three days on a pink beach
called Komono Island. It is deserted and we will stay in our own open air
bungelos (which is a fancy way of saying no air conditioning. Hopefully the pink sand and the awesome snorkeling
will be worth it. Hopefully it will be a good decision. I have heard many tales
of dirty beaches and drunk Australians. Not really my cup of tea.
That’s all for now- Love ya- Trish
Recipe: I am sure you have had this by now; it has
been around for several years, but if you haven’t make sure you make it for
Christmas:
Pumpkin
Dessert
3 eggs
1 cup Evaporated milk (not condensed!)
1-16 oz can of pumpkin
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 yellow or white cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted (I do not melt but
rather, I cut up and do it in dots on the cake)
1 cup chopped pecans (I usually do half the
cake with and half without in case I am with people who do not like nuts)
Beat eggs. Add evaporated milk and beat well.
Blend in pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle
dry cake mix on top of pumpkin mixture- DO NOT MIX. Drizzle melted butter over
cake mix. Top with pecans. Bake in 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes. Serve
with Cool Whip or whipped cream.
Pictures! I have not been taking my camera out much, so not much to show.
This is Tate. He is such a cutie and has a wonderful personality. Every once in a while, I get to go over to his house to play.
That's all folks. I will try to do better but as the school photographer- I am getting a little burned out always having my camera eye out.
