T-givs

hey y'all,

I can honestly say that I haven't gotten homesick the whole time I've been in France. Sure, I miss my family, friends, and American things like Bud Light, college football, and my tahoe, but I haven't really gotten homesick per se. That is until this week. There's just something about Thanksgiving. As I told my students in my lessons on it, it's a time when friends and families come together to celebrate everything they have. It's a time to be grateful, and for the David Senter Sr. fam, it's a time to go to the mountains and just hang out with each other (which is becoming increasingly difficult as we three kids move in all sorts of directions...or across the ocean.) Anyways, even though I'm abroad, I've got a lot to be thankful for: a job, a paycheck that comes along with said job, a great roommate (seriously y'all, I lucked out), and a fantastic support system back home.

Emily and I, along with everyone else in France, had to work on Thanksgiving day. It wasn't too bad, because I did different lessons on Thanksgiving. It's really hard for elementary school kids to grasp what Thanksgiving is. One of the teachers told the class that it was a really special day for me and they tried to guess what it was. One kid asked if it was my wedding day. Oh dang. In another one of my classes, we all went around and said what we were thankful for. Now that was precious.

I'm just going to preface this by saying that I have the best family ever. My mom skyped me in for Thanksgiving lunch. That's an absolute first for the Senter fam. Deb propped her ipad up and let me see the whole table and I could creepily watch them eat their food. It was just my mom, dad, Stephen, and Boots (big brother David was MIA.) It was pretty fun though, to just chat with all of them. I for sure enjoyed it. Emily and I didn't do anything super special for Thanksgiving dinner. I made some pasta with marinara sauce and she made a quasi-green bean casserole. Not too bad, actually.

Last night was the best night ever though. Sarah, the English teacher at my school and the girl I stayed with for the first couple weeks in France, decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner. She invited me, Emily, and 6 other teachers from our school. It was a blast, and the food was amazing. She cooked two chickens (turkey is so rare here), sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and get this - A PUMPKIN PIE AND A PECAN PIE. I legit died. Incredible.

Anyways, I hope y'all had great Thanksgiving! 28 days until America. Whatup.

Luv,
Sarah