Happy Turkey Day!!

Thanksgiving in Molodva, my second year! Granted, it can never beat Thanksgiving at home with your family and old friends from way back when, but then there is also something to be said for being thankful for the new friends that I have come to know and appreciate over the past year. I was reminiscing about Thanksgiving last year, and how overwhelming it all seemed. I had just finished an intense two months of pre service training, and the week before Thanksgiving, I had headed off to my new village, suddenly the lone American surrounded by a sea of foreign faces, languages, and communities. Then I headed to Chisinau for the all volunteer Peace Corps Thanksgiving. I was excited to see other volunteers, to hear and speak English, and to eat Thanksgiving food just like mom used to make it!! But when I got to the hotel in Chisinau, and I was surrounded by all the excited volunteers, I suddenly felt so alone, and melancholy. Most of the volunteers, I didn't know, and the ones I did know, I had only known for eight short weeks. My family and old friends, the ones that really knew me and loved me in spite of me, were a continent away, celebrating Thanksgiving without me. I remember during one of my withdrawn, self-pitying moments, wondering what life would look like a year from then. What would Thanksgiving in Moldova look like after I had been in it for a year? Fast forward a year: My second Thanksgiving in Moldova, over a year after I arrived. What a difference a year makes! I knew almost everybody there (well, at least of the volunteers and staff), and many had become good friends, the kind you'll want to keep in touch with for a lifetime and spend future Thanksgivings with. I felt a confidence in what used to seem such a foreign language, culture, and country, and the food, if possible, tasted even better due to a year of American food deprivation. This year's Thanksgiving, I felt I had so much to be thankful for, not just for the wonderful friends and family back home, but also for the new ones that I have come to know over the past year. Host families, and Moldovan and American friends, wonderful people that I would have missed out on meeting had I not come, have enriched my life and added to the many blessings that I have to count. It inspires me to continue to look for and embrace new opportunities, as foreign as they may seem, because each experience adds a new dimension to life that only serves to make it better. It's true that had I not come to Moldova, I wouldn't have known what I was missing out on, but having come, I'm so grateful for what I have experienced, and for the wealth of blessings that I have gained by being here. I feel my life has grown richer, fuller, and more faceted through this year, than I could have imagined it would be. God only knows, what this next year will bring, or the rest of my life, for that matter, but I am more determined and inspired now, than ever before, to make the most of every experience and opportunity that comes my way, to soak it up like a sponge, to learn and grow from it, and to continue to count the many blessings that I find inside it. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Mine was full of new friends, great food, and a hillarious talent show complete with neon leotard clad volunteers dancing to old American classics, martial arts fights, hillarious homemade movies, and so much fun! And I look forward to next year's Thanksgiving, and seeing many of my family and old freinds. Love to you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!!