Before Thanksgiving dinner, my friends, I was hungry. My home here in Sunny Naryn had been absent responsible, adult supervision for nearly three weeks. Between the eating habits of my 14, 13 and 6 year old host sisters, food was thin and Kyrgy Carl was getting grumpy.
Come ol’ Turkey Day, however, that all changed. In a feat of organizational prowess, 15 of us descended on the village home of just one volunteer. This boy, Travis, with his legendary humor, gained notoriety as being the first volunteer to have to explain to his host family that his need for a toilet had trumped his ability to reach one (if you catch my drift.)
Travis arranged not only for accomodations for this tribe of hungry Americans, but also for an event far more fun than football: he bought three turkeys, and we took turns in the slaughter.
My friends, it is surprising how hard one needs to swing in order to completely sever the neck of a turkey with one swing of an ax. It is amazing how easily those feathers come off in hot water. And it was a real wonder how bad the inside smells, even when you’ve spilled no poop. But, between the girl named Yoder, who grew up on a chicken farm, and some other volunteers well versed in the art of cooking, we turned those birds into real, live, food.
Saturday night turned into a feast like none other. All 15 of us sat around a table, we made toasts, told stories, and ate lots of food. We had stuffing and mashed potatoes with lots of gravy. We had salads and soups, and topped everything off with apple and pumpkin pie. Needless to say, by the end of the weekend, my hunger had abated.
But that wasn’t all. When I got home on Sunday, I found my host-mom. “Carl,” she said, “I’m sorry we’ve been gone for so long. We were in Bishkek. We bought an apartment.” It is a small place, but I can’t help feel like my years of rent helped foot the bill. It is an investment. “the girls will stay there when they go to college,” she said, and I beamed.
Everyone got their dues, it seems, and everyone made it home happy. Wishing a happy Thanksgiving, to all of you, and all of yours.
#1 by RSA Now on December 8, 2010 - 8:59 am
Sounds like a lot of work but I think it would be fun to try to make a Turkey Day dinner completely from the beginning (just once though, I don’t think I could manage more than that!)