The tradition started about seven years ago. A group of WMU students in Burgos for the fall semester were wondering where they could have a dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving. When they couldn’t find a restaurant that would host their party for a decent price, one of the students, Tim, who was living with my host mom Mari-Sol at the time, asked her for a huge favor: could they have Thanksgiving at her house?

Mari-Sol has a huge house, with a big room that’s perfect for a large group gathering. (In fact, many times when people visit the house they refer to it as a palace or a mansion.) Mari-Sol told Tim that yes, the students could have their Thanksgiving dinner at her house, but only if it was THEIR party. She would provide the room, the fireplace, plates/silverware, and coffee, but they would have to do the rest.

Ever since that year, the group from Western has celebrated Thanksgiving with a big fiesta in Mari-Sol’s house. And every year, students have fond memories of the meal, their friends, and a very special time together. Since I’m fortunate enough to be living with Mari-Sol this year (I couldn’t ask for a better host mom!), it was my job to help plan and organize the party! Everyone agreed to bring a dish or a beverage, and many of us invited Spanish friends as our guests.

When we began to plan the party she told me that she had a friend from her tango classes who had never been invited to the American Thanksgiving celebration and who really wanted to come. (He is also single and significantly younger than her – my guess is that he’s in his late thirties.) Anyway, Mari-Sol gave me Curro’s phone number and told me I would be calling him to invite him, even though I had only met him once before! She also told me it would be a good idea to invite our favorite professor, Pilar, the coordinator of our study abroad program, who had come in previous years. In addition to those guests, my friend Patty and I invited our good friends Carlos and Samuel from church. Other American students invited Spanish friends or members of their host families.

Earlier in the week we went to a special supermarket in a different part of town to buy two turkeys, which were not only huge, but also very expensive! Mari-Sol had learned how to cook the turkey during the first celebration a few years ago, so we prepared it together. Before this, I had never prepared a turkey for Thanksgiving – my grandma always did that! For a couple days before the celebration, we worked on locating tables and chairs for the party, bringing them into the room, and setting the table. I made place cards for all of our guests, too.

I felt a little flustered and overwhelmed in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and especially as everyone was arriving, since it seemed like I had to organize everything and that everyone was asking me questions all at once! The celebration didn’t start until 9, which is normal dinner time in Spain. Everyone came, brought the food that they had prepared, and came together at the table. As the hostess, I started the night with a little welcome speech in Spanish and a prayer thanking God for all of our amazing friends and experiences here. There were between 25 and 30 of us all together, and we spent the night talking a lot in both languages, laughing with each other, and counting our blessings.

All of the food was delicious, and the quantity was overwhelming, especially for the Spanish guests who had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. As of right now, I think there are enough leftovers in my fridge to feed me until the time I leave for the U.S.! I made a dessert that included ice cream, chocolate, and peanut butter (I used up the last of the peanut butter I brought from home, since they don’t really have that here in Spain!), and my friends Hannah and Patty, after tasting the dessert, told me that I’ll make a very good wife someday.

After dinner and dessert, Mari-Sol decided that we were going to start dancing. For a woman who is 69 years old, she has an incredible amount of energy! She proceeded to turn on tango music and dance with about half of the people in the room (mostly the guys), even though we had no idea what we were doing! All of my friends thought my host mom was entertaining and hilarious. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Life is never boring around my house, that’s for sure.

It’s amazing how this group of people that I’ve come to Spain with has become like a family to me. It’s incredible to think that four months ago I didn’t know some of my closest friends. As I’ve been reflecting on Thanksgiving this year and what I’m thankful for, I think the thing that stands out the most is the friendships that I’ve developed over the past three and a half months. I have so many quality new friends, both Americans and Spaniards, that I would never have met if I hadn’t come on this amazing adventure. I’m SO thankful for this experience in Spain, my incredible friends here, and the God who has made it all possible.

A few weeks ago, Mari-Sol, my host mom, informed me that we were going to take a trip to Valencia. She also informed me that I would be skipping class to come with her. Mari-Sol’s son, daughter-in-law, and two grandkids live in the city of Sagunto, in the province of Valencia (on the east coast of Spain). We left last Thursday morning, so I missed class on Thursday, and we arrived home on Monday just in time for my classes in the afternoon.

On Friday morning Mari-Sol’s daughter-in-law, Nunzia, took us into the city of Sagunto to show us around. My favorite part by FAR was the castle, which was on a mountain overlooking the city. It was built by the Arabic people who once occupied that part of Spain. I spent a long time exploring the castle – the construction was very interesting, and there were beautiful views of the city and the surrounding area from almost every side.

On Friday night I visited the city of Valencia. My friend Lilian, whom I met when she spent a couple weeks in Burgos in September, lives there, so she showed me around the city. It was after dark, and I saw a lot of stuff very quickly, but I was able to spend some quality time talking with her and see most of the city. It was so great to see her again!

One of the things I enjoyed most about the weekend was the chance to be with a FAMILY, a mom and dad and their kids, again. I especially had a great time spending time with Mari-Sol’s grandkids, Melania (15) and Giovanni (7). They were a lot of fun and accepted me right away, even though I had never met them before. Being around a family like that really made me miss mine, and I’m glad I get to see them again in just a few weeks!

Translation: “This girl never stops.” That’s what Marisol, my host mom said about me last week, and it’s true - I’ve been pretty busy lately! Between my classes, teaching high school English, giving English lessons to two kids, various church activities, and time with friends, my days fill up quickly.

On Friday I had the opportunity to travel to Bilbao, a city located about 2 hours from Burgos, with my good friend Hannah. We had a great time on the bus there,  spending time with a friend who lives in Bilbao, visiting the Guggenheim art museum, and exploring the city with friends.

After thinking about what Marisol said (and also because I had been feeling VERY tired in the last couple weeks), I decided that I probably have been doing too much. I’m trying to learn how to rest and fully, completely enjoy each moment I have here in Spain.

It’s incredible to think that I have less than a month left in Burgos. While I’m so looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, I will REALLY miss this beautiful city and the people I’ve gotten to know here. In the past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about this and trying to make the most of every opportunity I have here. I’ve been going for long walks around the city, hanging out with my Spanish friends, and trying to cross off as many things as possible from my list of things to do before I leave. Sometimes I don’t even want to think about it!

The other day as I was thinking about having to leave and how much I love this city, I was sitting up near the castle, looking out at the city (one of my favorite views), and I decided to draw a picture of the cathedral in my journal.

While it’s true that I have to leave sooner than I’d like to, I know that this city and this study abroad trip have changed my life for the better in more ways than I can imagine.

One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is the way my Spanish has improved since I arrived. My host sister told me that I speak MUCH better than I used to, one Spanish friend told me that sometimes she forgets I’m American when we’re talking, and another Spanish friend told me that if I don’t pass my language class he’s going to have to talk to the professor!!

I’m soooo glad this study abroad experience is paying off, not only in language skills but also in the amount I have learned about the world and about myself and in the quality of the friendships I have made. Every time I reflect, I can’t help but feel super blessed.

You might be tired of hearing about politics and the election right now. To tell you the truth, I am, too, and I’m not even in the US!

From afar, it seems like this election season has been pretty crazy. Here in Spain, many people are following the election, and it’s amazing to me how much they know about the United States and about what’s going on in the world. If I were in the US while Spain was having elections, I would have no clue that anything was happening.

Although I’m not a huge fan of politics in general, I did send in my absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago. I consider it a privilege to be able to vote, and since I have this right, I’m going to exercise it, even if I’m on the other side of the world during the election.

Yesterday one of my friends and I were invited to teach a class at the university about how American politics work. It was a little intimidating to get up in front of about 30 students, a couple professors, and several reporters, and explain the election process and our political system all in SPANISH. Yep, that’s right, we taught an hour and a half class on American politics in another language.

There were some questions from the audience that we didn’t completely understand, and some concepts (like the electoral college) were difficult to explain to people from another culture and in another language. However, it was a very valuable experience overall, and I’m so glad I participated.

Today we discovered we were on the front page of the paper, along with a giant photo of us! If you’d like to read the article and can read in Spanish, here’s the link:

http://www.diariodeburgos.es/noticia/Z431CEF2B-926A-0401-6DE19B7712596408/20121106/examen/casa/blanca

Happy voting!