Thanksgiving at the End of the World

#fulbrightspain #elhierro

Happy Thanksgiving from El Hierro!

Last week, we had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration at school, the first Valverde has ever had! I spent the month of November teaching different classes about the history of Thanksgiving, both the legend and the reality, talking about modern celebrations, like parades and going to grandma's house, and, of course, the food!

Last month, I talked to my principal and she, some teachers, and the cafeteria staff helped me organize our fabulous Thanksgiving feast! I was so grateful for everyone's support in my mission to bring Thanksgiving to this tiny island.

The kids at school also spent the month decorating turkeys (after having the shock of their lives after seeing just how big a real turkey is thanks to Turkey Pardoning videos on YouTube) and talking about what there is to be thankful for. The littlest ones made these adorable pumpkin cards with orange paint handprints! All the art made for great decorations to make it really feel like fall in the cafeteria, even with the sun shining off the palm trees just outside.

We ordered pumpkin pie in bulk from a bakery, complete with adorable little flags to stick in each piece. They mostly had normal Thanksgiving quotes on them, like "Happy Thanksgiving", "Always Be Thankful", and "Happy Fall", but check out my favorite if you can find it: "Gobble Till You Wobble!". The true Thanksgiving motto.

The cafeteria also roasted a small and beautiful turkey to show off and baked lots more, had some delicious mashed potatoes and batata (a type of sweet potato), and tied it all together with some good Spanish bread. Not a low carb meal but certainly a yummy one!

Thanksgiving Feast for the Preschoolers

Check out some of our yummy food below! Thanksgiving food was a huge hit.

I was so happy with how well our little Thanksgiving bash turned out. :D The kids all loved the pumpkin pie (and went home with a serious sugar rush). Also, many of them didn't quite understand the idea of "saying what you are grateful for" so just ran up to me and hugged me, crying, "THANK YOU!" It sure was adorable!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!