First Thanksgiving since 2011

One of the biggest drawbacks of living overseas is missing American holidays. Fortunately, we were able to catch the 4^th of July during our visit home last summer to catch up on some much-needed explosions, BBQ, and microbrew. Save for this one exception, we really haven’t celebrated any Western holidays since Christmas of 2011 just before we moved to Korea.

Now, this doesn’t mean we haven’t tried. On the topic of Thanksgiving, we once went to an expat bar on the beach in Busan that advertised a Turkey dinner special for homesick Americans on Thanksgiving. Oh, how it just wasn’t the same, though. It is hard to truly take in the essence of the holiday by only eating a modest and responsible amount of Turkey while perched atop a bar stool in a crowded pub with K-pop blaring in the background. Afterwards we would go back to our apartment and wish were back home as everyone’s Facebook photos of the beloved holiday would dominate our feed for days. For four years in a row, all holidays came and went in very much the same sad fashion…Until now… :-D

In the last few years the Peace Corps has worked with the U.S. Embassy to find embassy staff that are willing to adopt poor, starving, Ethiopian…Peace Corps volunteers for Thanksgiving. Now, there are about 260 Peace Corps volunteers serving in Ethiopia, so there really aren’t enough spots for everyone, so in order to place us they basically pull names out of a hat. Last year we weren’t able to enter since volunteers are not allowed to leave their sites within the first three months of swearing in. However, this year we were allowed to enter, and you know I wouldn’t be writing this if we hadn’t won!

We were invited to join Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Self and his wife Gaia for Thanksgiving in Addis Ababa. After battling the streets of Addis Ababa with only a picture of a map that I took with my IPod Touch, we found Patrick and Gaia’s compound in a nice little neighborhood occupied by other foreign diplomats. Immediately he welcomed us in and offered us a glass of wine, which I don’t think was ever given the chance to become empty all night long. 

Also in attendance were an Italian diplomat and his wife, and a Turkish representative for NATO.  At first we were nervous at the thought of being the only PCVs in a room full of military personnel, but we quickly found out that there was no need to worry.   We all got along fine, and they seemed very interested in Peace Corps and the lifestyle that we lead (or as one of them chose to put it, “Why do you torture yourselves this way?”).  We spent a wonderful evening eating, drinking, and being merry, and being very thankful to be where we were.

In short, the food and company were both spectacular, and it was the best holiday that we have celebrated in years.  Again, we want to thank our host and hostess for the wonderful time and for their generosity in inviting two ragged and wearied PCVs into their lovely home.  It was a Thanksgiving that lived up to its name.

-Donovan