Choosing Adventure Over Security: Thanksgiving!

First off... I'd like to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING! to everyone at home! I will not be back online again until Saturday night so I won't see anyone before then to say it. Hope everyone eats lots of food and has an awesome Thanksgiving. I will be spending my Thanksgiving in the jungle going to Angel Falls, quite different then usual, but super exciting.

Now, I have gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving despite the fact that Venezuelans obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving. The school does a big Thanksgiving dinner for all the expat teachers and I did lots of Thanksgiving stuff with my kids throughout November. To begin with in school my class and Heather's class (kindergarten) put on a Thanksgiving show. We learned four different songs and preformed them for the school this morning. These are the songs we learned:

Hello Mr. Turkey

Sung to: "If you're happy and you know it"

Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?

With a gobble gobble here

And a wobble wobble there

Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?

The Turkey Song

Sung to: I'm a Little Teapot

I'm a little turkey

Short and fat,

Thanksgiving day is coming

Now what do you think of that?

I had better run as fast as I can

Or your mom will roast me in a pan.

Turkey, Turkey

Sung to "Twinkle Twinkle"

Turkey turkey look at you,

Please be careful what you do

Thanksgiving day will soon be here

We eat turkey every year.

Go and hide out in the woods

We'll eat pizza like we should

Did You Ever See A Turkey?

Sung to: "Did you ever see a Lassie?"

Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,

Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

Go this way and that way and this way and that way,

Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

Our kids all had costumes and Heather played the piano. The rest of the school came to watch and a lot of the parents watched as well. Here is some of our Thanksgiving stuff:

Painting our Native American vests. We did it outside because it was such a mess.

Some serious art work going on.

Pre-K 4 kindergarten all lined up and ready to preform.

Singing I'm a little turkey

Some of the group together

Again, some of the kids

Thanksgiving wasn't just for preschool. After school the PTA organized this huge Thanksgiving dinner for the teachers and the school community. It was in the gym and everyone cooked something. They supplied people with 20 turkeys, needless to say there was PLENTY of food for everyone. They try and make it like an American Thanksgiving, but there is still yuca, cassava, and various other Venezuelan food that just can't seem to be left out. They did a great job decorating, the tables looked like they were from a wedding, and almost all my kids were there. After dinner the kids mostly all went outside and played soccer. I went back home and almost every student in the school was still outside playing. They like being here since it's a safe place with lots of grass to play in. Here's some of my Venezuelan Thanksgiving Dinner pictures.