Thursday, November 27, 2003
Happy Thanksgiving!
If I stop and think about, I remember. Considering I had an exam this morning, and an afternoon of microfilm, and its warm out, and only dark late, and schools one paper away from being done, and there certainly wasn`t an X-Files marathon on TV- it didn`t quite have the thanksgiving vibe. and no fall leaves. Thanksgiving never was a holiday I felt attached to when I was little- we had the turkey, wild rice, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, CRANBERRY SAUCE, pumpkin pie....but never any relatives to share it with, though sometimes a few friends. More than any other time of year (maybe Superbowl Sunday? Occasionally I wanted a family that was "american" enough to make that a bonding experience. like in the books. whatever) I felt in cultural limbo, and an extended family orphan. It really was what I read in books- football games and cousins and dysfunction. But its also a holiday I`ve never spent away from my parents. This week I`ve realized all the other associations Thanksgiving has come to have for me: watching the parade (even if in recent years I`ve slept through most of it), the deliciously subversive feeling of taking a break from work (coupled with the lingering indignation of having work assigned at all), the family photo, the food food food....I fried potato slices for lunch today, but my host dad came in the kitchen before I could sneak some corn out of the freezer, figuring that potatos the way my dad makes them and corn, plus the biscotti my mom made and sent via dan`s parents, was as close as it was going to get.
I spent "Thanksgiving dinner" with Dan`s family, who was in town. we went to a fusion restaurant called Agua in Vitacura. And look what was on the menu- "Pumpkin gnocci al dente with a tasty duck ragout". Scott`s family`s thanksgiving tradition is a chinese feat cmoplete with Peking Duck. So, it only seemed fitting to order it- with a fusion version of apple crisp for dessert.
The place also had the most postmodern bathroom ever.
In other news, the Jehovah`s Witnesses are in town. When I got the the Ritz to meet the Howells, and got in the elevator, this guy asked me what floor? in English. He didn´t think about, I didn`t think about it when I answered- he must have a assumed I was a Witness. The teleton last week didn`t do nearly as well as the city had hoped (see previous entry), and one of the criticisms that surfaced was that it was held the week before paychecks are handed out, so people had less money available to give. The organizers had tried to reserve the national stadium for this weekend but it had already been reserved- for the Jehovah`s Witnesses convention. There are THAT many of them in town.
In other news, there is the best exhibit ever at the Biblioteca Nacional- childrens book illustrations. Magical. and I went fromo there to a free Joan Miro exhibit at the Telefonica building. and if I write my 15 page paper I can go to La Serena....a 15 page paper between me and an entirely dizzying TWO MONTHS of traveling....I don´t think I comprehended how much time that was until now. and yet, yet...I don´t have "time" enough to go to Torres del Paine and the south, which makes me sad. or rather, I do have the time, but since I know nothing about camping, and had no one to go with....weep. next time, and next time.
off to the parliamentary elections of 1894 I go.
If I stop and think about, I remember. Considering I had an exam this morning, and an afternoon of microfilm, and its warm out, and only dark late, and schools one paper away from being done, and there certainly wasn`t an X-Files marathon on TV- it didn`t quite have the thanksgiving vibe. and no fall leaves. Thanksgiving never was a holiday I felt attached to when I was little- we had the turkey, wild rice, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, CRANBERRY SAUCE, pumpkin pie....but never any relatives to share it with, though sometimes a few friends. More than any other time of year (maybe Superbowl Sunday? Occasionally I wanted a family that was "american" enough to make that a bonding experience. like in the books. whatever) I felt in cultural limbo, and an extended family orphan. It really was what I read in books- football games and cousins and dysfunction. But its also a holiday I`ve never spent away from my parents. This week I`ve realized all the other associations Thanksgiving has come to have for me: watching the parade (even if in recent years I`ve slept through most of it), the deliciously subversive feeling of taking a break from work (coupled with the lingering indignation of having work assigned at all), the family photo, the food food food....I fried potato slices for lunch today, but my host dad came in the kitchen before I could sneak some corn out of the freezer, figuring that potatos the way my dad makes them and corn, plus the biscotti my mom made and sent via dan`s parents, was as close as it was going to get.
I spent "Thanksgiving dinner" with Dan`s family, who was in town. we went to a fusion restaurant called Agua in Vitacura. And look what was on the menu- "Pumpkin gnocci al dente with a tasty duck ragout". Scott`s family`s thanksgiving tradition is a chinese feat cmoplete with Peking Duck. So, it only seemed fitting to order it- with a fusion version of apple crisp for dessert.
The place also had the most postmodern bathroom ever.
In other news, the Jehovah`s Witnesses are in town. When I got the the Ritz to meet the Howells, and got in the elevator, this guy asked me what floor? in English. He didn´t think about, I didn`t think about it when I answered- he must have a assumed I was a Witness. The teleton last week didn`t do nearly as well as the city had hoped (see previous entry), and one of the criticisms that surfaced was that it was held the week before paychecks are handed out, so people had less money available to give. The organizers had tried to reserve the national stadium for this weekend but it had already been reserved- for the Jehovah`s Witnesses convention. There are THAT many of them in town.
In other news, there is the best exhibit ever at the Biblioteca Nacional- childrens book illustrations. Magical. and I went fromo there to a free Joan Miro exhibit at the Telefonica building. and if I write my 15 page paper I can go to La Serena....a 15 page paper between me and an entirely dizzying TWO MONTHS of traveling....I don´t think I comprehended how much time that was until now. and yet, yet...I don´t have "time" enough to go to Torres del Paine and the south, which makes me sad. or rather, I do have the time, but since I know nothing about camping, and had no one to go with....weep. next time, and next time.
off to the parliamentary elections of 1894 I go.
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