In light of Thanksgiving I did some baking for the boys centers. On Wednesday last week I made glazed sugar cookies for the littlies center and the teachers. I explained about Thanksgiving and how it's a day where people don't work or go to school, and it's dedicated to family and food and being thankful. I said how some families go around the table and share what they are thankful for. So I suggested we have the boys go around one by one and say something they were thankful for. I started and said I was thankful I get to live in Sudan. Algheer, one of the teachers, said he was thankful for his 4 month old daughter. I sort of expected the boys to say all the same thing, but they did have some unique responses. There were a lot of thankfuls for the center and the chance to go to school. There were two "I don't know"s. One boy said that there are a lot of dead people, but he's not. To which Algheer responded jokingly, "You're happy a lot of people are dead!?" One boy was thankful that no one was sick that day. Another that they had food. One of the new boys, Abudu, said he was thankful that I came from America to teach them to draw. At the end of every day I literally pry the pencil from this boys fingers when I need to leave. It was precious.
I made a pumpkin cake for the older boys. I didn't ask them to go around with what they were thankful for, but I did explain about Thanksgiving and that it's a day for family. I told them they are like my family in Sudan. They applauded. I'm not sure if it was for the family comment or the cake, but they were happy all the same. I made a point not to tell them up front that there was pumpkin in the cake. In general the Sudanese palate does not like to try new things. Also, I'm learning that pumpkin in sweet things seems to be a really American thing. It's not unheard of in other Western countries, but it seems to be a lot less common. One of the teachers asked me what the ingredients were. I rattled them off and when I said pumpkin he said "Pumpkin?" I said "Yeah, pumpkin." ..."Pumpkin?!" "Yeah, pumpkin." Then he sort of laughed to himself. I guess you never know what these crazy foreigners will bust out. He encouraged one of the other teachers to try it and said I was an artist with food. Yeah!
My Thanksgiving day was nice. I had language school in the morning. Made an apple cake to share. In the evening I joined about 30 other Americans (10 of them were kids) and we had a big potluck. No turkey or cranberries, but still a few of the classics--stuffing, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, a pumpkin sort of mac and cheese, pumpkin pie, apple pie, among other things. It wasn't the same as being at home of course, but it was super fun and I was so thankful to have people to share the holiday with. We played games and I went to bed with a very overfull belly...as the holidays often go. Thankful!
I made a pumpkin cake for the older boys. I didn't ask them to go around with what they were thankful for, but I did explain about Thanksgiving and that it's a day for family. I told them they are like my family in Sudan. They applauded. I'm not sure if it was for the family comment or the cake, but they were happy all the same. I made a point not to tell them up front that there was pumpkin in the cake. In general the Sudanese palate does not like to try new things. Also, I'm learning that pumpkin in sweet things seems to be a really American thing. It's not unheard of in other Western countries, but it seems to be a lot less common. One of the teachers asked me what the ingredients were. I rattled them off and when I said pumpkin he said "Pumpkin?" I said "Yeah, pumpkin." ..."Pumpkin?!" "Yeah, pumpkin." Then he sort of laughed to himself. I guess you never know what these crazy foreigners will bust out. He encouraged one of the other teachers to try it and said I was an artist with food. Yeah!
My Thanksgiving day was nice. I had language school in the morning. Made an apple cake to share. In the evening I joined about 30 other Americans (10 of them were kids) and we had a big potluck. No turkey or cranberries, but still a few of the classics--stuffing, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, a pumpkin sort of mac and cheese, pumpkin pie, apple pie, among other things. It wasn't the same as being at home of course, but it was super fun and I was so thankful to have people to share the holiday with. We played games and I went to bed with a very overfull belly...as the holidays often go. Thankful!
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