Thanksgiving 2019: Thankful for my Host Family

Thanksgiving this year was quite a bit different than my normal American Thanksgiving. While I actually have been out of the country for Thanksgiving in the past, this year felt especially different because I would be celebrating the day with people who don’t know much about the history of the holiday or the “normal” traditions. But as my dad made sure to remind me when I was complaining about not having my favorite foods for Thanksgiving this year, “it’s about the people you spend the day with,” and not what you eat.

This past Thursday I had a wonderful brunch with my host parents and my host aunt [I’ve never called her that but I guess technically the sister of my host mom would be my host aunt…]. My host mom made turkey, potato salad, a salad, rice, and humitas. To share with my family one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, I attempted to make sweet potatoes. I had to improvise a bit due to the usage of a different form of oven than I would usually use, but in the end they still turned out delicious! Before the meal, my host family had me say my thanks and my host mom also said a few thanks. The meal was quite nice and was a fun time to chat about Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and American traditions.

Here are some photos!

Me with Hermi, my host mom, and Sara, my host mom’s sister!
Thanksgiving with the Family!
Yummy food! Thanksgiving with a Peruvian twist this year!
Sweet potatoes are normally made in the oven but this sort of made due… Nothing can beat sweet potatoes with brown sugar, cinnamon, and marshmallows!

ANDDDD the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, I ran the Lima Night Run with my host brother, Tito. Well… I didn’t run WITH him because he’s way faster than me, but we both ran the race! It was a super fun event and a cool experience running in Lima in the dark! At one point during the race, we ran through a tunnel that they lit up with colorful lights and played music! Overall, the race was great, but there was one portion that was stairs and steep inclines and it was PAINFUL. Even Holy Cross stairs wouldn’t prepare you for 40 flights of stairs in the middle of a race!!

After the race, there were various giveaways and a concert by We the Lion, a popular Peruvian band!

Everyone got a headlamp and had them set to the green setting as we started the race!
Nothing like a free cerveza to top off a race 🙂
Thankful for Tito for daily dinner chats and inspiring me to run
Aftershow: We the Lion