Although Thanksgiving is not a holiday in the Philippines, we invited our Ilokano teachers and some other friends to join us in a special Thanksgiving meal. We had to be a little creative, because some things are not available here. Our menu consisted of: turkey, cornbread dressing, green beans, fried okra, "sweet potato" casserole (made from orange komote - pictured above), stuffed eggs and two pumpkin pies (made from the karabasa - that's the big squash in the picture).
A few of the big supermarkets in Manila had a small selection of turkeys available. We had to purchase the smallest one we could find, because our only cooking equipment right now consists of a toaster oven and one gas burner. Needless to say, we had to do some serious juggling to get everything cooked and hot before serving. Somehow Sarah was able to make it happen.
One lady was especially intrigued with the stuffed eggs. She said it looked like they had eyes! :-)
A United Methodist deaconess who lives down the street from us opened her home to us for the meal. She and some other residents there are also Ilokano-speakers, and so the meal also served as an opportunity for us to practice hearing and speaking the language a little.
R.G. attempted to bless the food in Ilokano. He made it through the first half of the prayer, and then had to finish in English. Afterward, the hostess spoke up and said (sympathetically), "He's trying his best." We all laughed. To R.G.'s encouragement, another Ilokano lady told one of the teachers that his pronunciation was good and did not have a "foreign" sound to it.
It was also enjoyable to tell a little about the story behind Thanksgiving Day, and why we celebrate it.
Of course, we greatly missed being with our family back home. But we thank God for His faithfulness to us, and for giving us many new friends who have blessed our lives. We are truly thankful!