'Tis the Season to be Thankful

Just one day after returning from my week down south, I did an about face and left town again, this time heading to Vanduzi, a town just outside of Chimoio where my friend Haleigh lives. Haleigh and I spent all day cooking and baking to prepare for Thanksgiving -- we made stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted squash, and apple crisp. YUM. I snacked a lot all day long, and was really not hungry for dinner -- but then when Haleigh made some bomb noodles with pesto sauce, I ate more anyway.

Haleigh is a cooking fiend.

 I really enjoyed spending a quiet day with Haleigh. Since everyone left, she's my closest PCV neighbor (only 6 hours away...!) and it was nice to hang out with her and chat. A lot of our volunteer events are these huge gatherings of people, which is fun but very tiring. Chilling out in lovely Vanduzi with a good friend and a cold Manica was just the thing to re-energize me.

 The next morning, Haleigh and I packed up our food and hitchhiked to Messica, another town in the "suburbs" or Chimoio just 20 km away. There, we met up with the Central crowd (those of us that are left, anyway!) and we celebrated Thanksgiving together. We had tons of food, including my personal favorite, mashed potatoes.

A thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey!

A perfect Thanksgiving meal.

Since the Moz 17 cohort left a few weeks ago, the people at our Thanksgiving were almost all from Moz 19, my training cohort. We had a chance to reconnect, see each other before most leave for Christmas back home in America, and have a "just us" hangout before Moz 21 gets here.

Moz 19 hangout time.

Very soon -- almost too soon, in fact -- the new Moz 21 Central crew will arrive in Chimoio. We have seven new volunteers coming to Tete and six new volunteers going to Manica. Things are sure going to get shaken up around here! On Saturday, I will get my new roommate, Laura!

I'm very, very excited for Laura to move in. I can't wait to share Mavudzi-Ponte with someone. I'm also excited about having so many other new faces and friends in Tete. This day came so fast though -- there are so many things I wanted to do before Laura moves in -- like hang curtains, paint the walls, reorganize the living room -- but with her move-in day coming up so fast, I've had to revise my to do list. Priority #1 now is: Get current roommate to move out, clean enough so Laura doesn't judge me a slob when she sees the place, and, if I have time, hang some Christmas decorations.

Sunday was the first Advent, and thus it is now Time To Play Christmas Music and also Time to Decorate the House. I've always tried to wait until the first Advent to start getting into the Christmas mood, but this year I jumped the gun a little. Last week, I spent a night in Tete City with my Canadian missionary friends Karmen,  Eric, and Odin. Karmen, Odin and I spent the afternoon baking and decorating Christmas cookies.

Apparently Canadian cookies are not noticeably different from American ones.

Odin masterfully places cookies on the sheet.

The finished product.

Now, its time for me to start thinking about my own christmas cookies! My parents are coming to visit, and I'm meeting them in Johannesburg in just over two weeks. It's an African Christmas for us this year!

I am wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving and happy holidays from sunny, hot Tete!