A little Thanksgiving, a lot of learning

Thanksgiving came and went with little attention here in Peru, but Catherine and I managed a mini celebration. We cooked for the first time in our apartment and I am pretty proud of our Peruvian Thanksgiving Dinner. We cooked chicken, carrots and peas, and made mashed potatoes. We also each had a roll and split a mini apple pie from the bakery where we work. We were most thankful to have each other, even though we missed celebrating with our families. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and for the mail. I am putting all the mail I receive on a wall in our apartment as a reminder of the great support we have. Catherine and I are both still exploring and learning about both work sites. We had found that she is most comfortable at the hogar and I really enjoy the atmosphere at the bakery. We spend four days a week at our respective sites and one day at the other to keep up the relationships that we are building. I am learning, little by little, how the make all the breads and pastries at the bakery. The guys are extremely patient with me and they tell me that by the end I'm going to be an expert baker (this has yet to be seen). I also spend a lot of time in the store, helping the tourists who don't speak Spanish. My favorite things to do, though, is to just sit and talk with everyone. I give English lessons in flour in the kitchen, talk about life in the United States to the girls, and answer lots of questions, some easy, how many siblings do I have, others more difficult, what has motivated me to come here, and, of course, the most popular question of them all, am I single. Everyone says I look much older than I really am and think that I am already married with kids. I am affectionately known to some as Mega, which is what my name can sound like with a Spanish accent. It is interesting because the supermarkets here are all called Megas so people think that we share the same name. I have to explain, many, many, times, that no, my name is Meghan, but yes is it funny how they both sound the same. Christmas celebrations are about to start up and my first event is a Christmas party with all the other lay workers from the three sites. We have secret friends and everything even though I don't have a clue what to get mine. Pretty soon it will be time to start decorating the bakery and the Christmas season will be in full swing, which I love. Catherine and I have already put up our Christmas tree, a wonderful 3D masterpiece made entirely of green construction paper. I will put up pictures soon of our decorations, they are fabulous! Hope everyone is doing well and I appreciate all the e-mails and mail, it's keeps me going on those not so easy days. Lots of love!