I'm Still Here, and So Was Thanksgiving

Hey there blogosphere...I know, you missed me. We have been separated for quite some time, and I have plenty of stories and photos to share. I apologize for not keeping you all updated; things just get busy sometimes. But to get you ready for all of my fun weekends: here is a lil' post on my Thanksgiving here in Costa Rica.

Sure, I have so many things to be thankful for this year. I'm safe, I have a great family, and I'm in Costa Rica. However, as Thanksgiving approached this year, I wasn't feeling so thankful about being Costa Rica away from family and tradition. I was worried that it would just pass me by like every other day here, but I was pretty wrong. Pura vida paused for a day, and Thanksgiving luckily found its way here.

A few weeks prior, we had all planned on gathering for Thanksgiving and bringing various traditional feast fixings. Our abroad program paid for the turkey (because it costs so much here) and we were to bring the rest. That sounds all fine and dandy, but I still wasn't convinced that the holiday would truly find us wandering gringos in Costa Rica. When they day finally came about, we all woke up and decided to have a very Costa Rican spin on a traditional facet of the holidays. Football; or in our case...the other kind. We were joined by other abroad student as well as some ticos as we enjoyed the warm sun and being outside. We even got the chance to throw around an American football as well! Later on in the day when I was hanging around the house, I got a message from my family back home to skype into some Thanksgiving good times. That might have been the best part of the day because I got to see everybody, see the food, laugh at jokes, enjoy seeing the Coryells shoved on a single couch (just another day with that great family), and showing them around my house on a tour. That conversation really got me in the mood. When I had to leave, I put on my long pants, a collared shirt, and headed off to Thanksgiving with optimistic apprehension. Lo, and behold, we get to the house that is hosting where it is filled up with my friends here dressed nicely, good traditional food, some family, and the occasional tica. For one night we weren't hustling around, we hugged eachother, enjoyed company and had a beautiful time. I don't know what I thought would happen. We all felt the same way about not being home, and that made us be one whole family for a night. I am truly blessed.

Stay tuned for updates on my past weeks. I'm so thankful for all of you who read this blog, because you act as a support for me being away from home.

Pura Vida.