Thanksgiving, Dia de Minero Dinners and Christmas Baking

We celebrated our third Thanksgiving here in Chile.  Thanksgiving 2010 (celebrated the Saturday after Thanksgiving) was spent for the second year in a row, at the home of Josh and Tracey Olmsted.  We were joined by the new expat arrivals: Cory and Tammy Stevens and their two children, Jack and Alex, and Casey and Michelle Clayton.  The three instructors for the international school joined us again (they are learning to enjoy the strange foods we serve at Thanksgiving) as did Elana.  Elana is Chilean, speaks excellent English and assists the expat children in their transition into the Chilean classroom. 

Although three of us baked a turkey and all of us brought side dishes, Tracey and Norma spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

I grabbed a photo before we all dug in....

Following this Thanksgiving feast, several of us tried to nap because that night was the first of the three Dia de Minero (Miner's Day) dinners.  They started at 8:30 p.m. with the mine managers and spouses standing in a line to greet each person attending.  Anticipated attendance for each dinner was 250 people -- that is a lot of cheek kissing let me tell you!  We headed to our table at 10 p.m. and the festivities began.  We were served appetizers, a before dinner drink (or two), raffles were conducted, and then dinner was served, followed by the crowning of the queen for each mine area (think back to the days of prom.)

I grabbed a photo before the attendees arrived.

On the left are Cory and Tammy Stevens and on the right are Johnny and Susan Blizzard, our new expat arrivals.  Susan is pretty darn incredible.  She arrived on Thur. and attended the third (and final!) dinner that Saturday -- imagine moving to a new country, don't know the language or customs (remember the part about having to kiss a bunch of people you don't know on the cheek) and listening to a comedian who must have gone on for at least 45 minutes (and you don't understand a word.)











This young lady was at each dinner as well.  Her job was to collect the raffle tickets. 

We had a famous Chilean recording artist (Mario Guerrero) that all of the Chilean women (and some men) wanted their pictures taken with.  (FYI: didn't and haven't bought any of his music...)









Michelle and Casey

And, there were a few glasses on the table

Odessa, my expat buddy when I first arrived in Calama (she moved away in January -- gosh I miss her!) started the tradition of baking Christmas goodies for the people that do so much for us here in the compound where we live.  So, between Tammy, Michelle, Susan and me -- the tradition lives on!

After we loaded up the plates and delivered them, we returned to the patio for a cup of tea (yes! tea...).

Today is Thursday, December 16.  Larry and I leave Calama on the evening of Tuesday, December 21 -- destination -- Easter Island.  What a way to spend my birthday (#55 - ouch!) and Christmas.  We return to Calama on the 27th with plans of hosting a New Year's gathering of some sort at our home on New Year's Day.  Until then ...Merry Christmas to all and do believe my next post will be in 2011!