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| Feast |
GABBY - We woke up really early for a Lesotho pack-out
session with Lulu. As I walked into the
kitchen, I found a distraught Mexican woman who looked seriously burnt out. She
told me that she needed to talk to me about something. Lulu and Steve had gone into Pietermaritzberg
yesterday to sort out her flight home to Mexico. She was supposed to be leaving in
mid-December, but she found out that there was about a 1000 USD difference if
she left in late November. Obviously she
could not pass that up, but she was emotional and clearly stressed. Both of us teared up and groaned about how
awful the situation was. Ben and I were
going to be left alone again by someone who knows how things run around
here. Come November 28
th, we
are here with Steve. Tash is also
leaving after the 30
th of November, which only provides Ben and me
with more responsibility. I know that we
are starting to really get the hang of it here, but it is nice to know that you
always have someone to call if things get stressful. When Lulu leaves, Ben and I will be doing all
of the cooking, grocery shopping, bookings, and pack-outs. Woah, talk about experience.
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| Our eclectic international Thanksgiving |
Anyway, back to the Lesotho trip. Lulu ran through the Do’s and Don’ts of how
to start the morning of a pack-out, which also includes breakfast. She went through her pack-out routine, while
Ben and I wandered around like worker bees collecting frozen food items from
different fridges. Breakfast is also
included on the morning of a Lesotho trip, so we cooked up some French Toast
and got the guests packing. Each person
takes a saddle bag balanced on both sides with food and clothes for the
trip. We hurried them along a bit so
they could get out around 8:30 am. It
was a mad rush between 6:45 and 8:30 serving breakfast, packing out, making
sandwiches for their lunch, and loading the truck with horses, saddle bags and
people. After we got everyone on their
way, Ben and I relaxed for awhile. I was
feeling pretty homesick knowing that I wasn’t going to be with my family on
Thanksgiving. Ben is now becoming my
family, which is great, but different. I
was longing for turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, salad with bacon dressing
and the company of my family. Ben and I
decided to make Thanksgiving here, despite the fact that it is not
celebrated. We made up a list and gave
Tash our requested ingredients, which consisted of turkey, cranberry sauce, and
potatoes. Tash came back with a gammon
(ham) and cranberry jelly. Not quite what
we had in mind, but it shall suffice.
Ben and I started preparing Thanksgiving dinner around 4:00. We made a big Thanksgiving feast for 10
people. We cooked up mashed potatoes,
gammon with a sweet baked bean sauce, peas, corn, and bread stuffing. I put the cranberry jelly out for good
measure, which Gabriele used on his mashed potatoes. Hmmm, interesting. I gave an explanation of what Thanksgiving
means to me, said a quiet grace with Ben and chowed down on the feast set
before us. It was definitely different
from our traditional Thanksgivings at home, but it was our own and it was
special. It was a difficult day not
being with our families for sure. I
think we’ve both decided that being away during the holidays isn’t the best and
probably won’t ever happen again.
Although, I think we did do a pretty great job bringing Thanksgiving to
South Africa.
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