Thanksgiving in the Basque Country

This weekend our Txat Project hosted a weekend in english at a farm house. The theme for the weekend was "Giving Thanks". We had a semi-traditional meal with a brief history of thanksgiving and all of the Americans that were there with us shared with our Basque friends our individual thanksgiving traditions. Our Basque friends are very into differences in cultures so they were very open to trying to new foods and hearing about our family traditions. I think they were amazed at the amount of food and the number of desserts. We also used the leftovers today for lunch and shared with them about how we eat the left overs for DAYS and some of the creative things that people do with the meat. I think they appreciated that we didn't waste what they perceive as an unnecessary amount of food. I think that the weekend was a success and that our Basque friends Ana, JoseMari, Miguel, Ainoah, Asier, Maider, Josetxo and Corro had a great time improving their english and getting a taste of all the good food we have to offer at Thanksgiving. Thanks to our friends at Keller BC in Texas for coming to help and bringing some special items so that we could have some of our favorites this Thanksgiving.

This is what we ate (some substitutions were made b/c of what is available:

Roasted Chicken, Baked Ham, Cornbread Dressing, Green Bean Roll Ups, Macaroni & Cheese, Creamed Spinach, Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower, Rolls with honey butter, cranberry sauce, Carrot Cake, Pumpkin Cheesecake, and Chocolate Pecan Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Long time....no update.

Hello friends and supporters! We have just been horrible at updating, but it is only because we have been really busy. Everyone is doing really well. We have had parent meetings with both of the girls teachers and we got great reports from both. The twins teacher, Amaia, told us that they are both very caring and not quite as selfish as many of the other kids their age. That is always nice to hear. Bianca´s teacher, Maite, said that she was really enjoying her friends and doing great in her studes. Both teachers said the girls were doing great learning their Euskera and picking up some Spanish as well. They have their first field trip this Friday so they are really looking forward to riding on the big bus- they use huge charter buses for school buses here so to a preschooler it looks like a carnival ride.
Ian and I are also progressing in our studies. We could both use more opportunities to speak but we do alright when we need to. Everyone keeps telling us that it will get better with time. We have started working some at our Txat Room and getting a chance to meet with clients. It is a lot of fun and we just want more opportunities- as soon as we get out of lang. school we will be working there more and be more valuable to our team. We are getting ready for a weekend event with a volunteer team from Texas this month as well as a team retreat.
I have invited one of my friends over for Thanksgiving. Her mother was an American and I thought she might like to experience this holiday with her American friends. My friend, Cristina, says she remembers how hard it was for her mother when she first came here and so she wants to be my friend and help me- I love that! Ian's mom is coming for Christmas so we are looking forward to having our first visitors. It is the rainy season right now so I hope it all stops before she gets here and we can get out without getting soaked.
Ian will be testing for his Spanish drivers license this week so you can think of him as he finishes studying and taking the exam on the 10th. I am also hoping for some changes in my learning situation so you can remember that also. I will let you know the specifics once I know something definite.
Thanks again for all your support-sorry the updates are so infrequent, but while we are busy, the days are fairly predictable and their isn't much new going on. Love you all!