Thanksgiving 2008: What I'm Thankful For

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, that you don’t know what you have until you don’t…and in so many senses those are both so true. Being down here in Ecuador, as truly happy as I am and as much as I am learning and growing, makes me keenly aware of what I’m missing back home in the States. This year more than most I understand pretty clearly what Thanksgiving really means, even if that’s been lost in translation over the years from its roots.

People always ask what your favorite holiday is…and it’s precisely this day, Thanksgiving. The whole family comes together and we share incredible food and most importantly our time, as so many of us are so busy all the time. I’m always grateful to be able to see everyone under one roof, laughing and catching up on lost time (sometimes debating…but that’s a whole different issue). It makes me sad to know that I won’t be there this year, exchanging stories and hugs with my family that I love.

So I’ve been thinking about it, and I decided to do a classic grade-school activity and think about just what I’m thankful for. Coming from 4,000+ miles from home, it’s pretty easy to realize to make a list…

My Family: My immediate and extended family (and, of course, all of you family friends that have been around forever) is something really incredible to me and I am extremely thankful to have grown up as a Gonsalves/Rusca. I’m thankful that I have parents that are supportive of me doing this for 8 months, who trust me as #2 to go to South America and make the most of this experience. I’m thankful that they want to visit because they understand that it’s important to me that they see where I’m living/what I’m doing. I’m thankful that all of my family is so loving and supportive all the time, especially now. Not everyone gets why I would want to do this necessarily, but at the very least they respect it and they never tell me not to follow my heart. I am so thankful for my family…their love, support, respect, and patience as I figure out just what I’m doing in life means the world to me. They are such amazingly incredible people that are so very loving, understanding and supportive and I know that I wouldn't be half the person I am today without all of that love and support through the years.

Neighbors: I have been fortunate my whole life to have lived in such a warm, safe, and loving neighborhood. I know it irritated my mom having to tell Betty & Lee or Roy & Helen to send her daughters back home when we were allegedly going to be “back in a few” after going to borrow sugar, but growing up with an extra set of “grandparents,” “aunts and uncles,” and “cousins” has undoubtedly helped shape who I am today. Not everyone is so fortunate to have neighbors that are family, though not by blood.

Friends: I am very fortunate to have some truly incredible friends that have loved and supported me through thick and thin, who respect me and urge me to follow my heart (even though in this case it means not seeing them for 8 months). I’m thankful for their honesty, for their advice, for the shared laughs and tears…I’m so fortunate and so thankful for my friends because even when I don’t get to see them very often, I know they’re there for me no matter what. I really am thankful for all of them because they are beautiful people and I learn and grow so much from them. They're pretty darn cool and I am so grateful to have them in my life.

MSID: I’m obviously thankful that the U of Minnesota has this program (I still don’t get why Berkeley doesn’t), and that Berkeley is letting me “take the year off” and get credits transferred. But, more than anything, I am so thankful for the people I have around me down here. The coordinators are genuinely interested in our well-being, and take very good care of us (even if it’s on “Ecuadorian time”). I love them dearly, and I love my 28 classmates from this semester dearly as well. They have been very welcoming to this crazy Californian, and I’ve shared some very beautiful experiences with them. I’m learning so much from them as I am from our classes and my internship. I’m also grateful for the fact that this program has home stays. I love my Quiteña family because even though I’m not living with them right now they still check up on me and I am grateful that I have them in my life. I’m also grateful for my San Clementeña family because they have been very welcoming as well. They want me to get to know the culture of the community I’m living in, and that’s been pretty great for me. I’m just really thankful for this experience because it’s priceless.

Things that seem silly, but really I am thankful for that I have in the U.S.: Being able to drink water from the tap, being able to flush toilet paper, non-electric hot water that works all the time not just sometimes when you’ve won the shower war, getting the newspaper every day, buses that aren’t horrendously full of people when you’re trying to get across the city, transit laws that are actually obeyed the majority of the time, fresh air (when I’m in Quito I miss it hardcore), not being whistled at any time I walk around the city, timeliness, cheddar cheese, Mexican food (I hardly get beans here!), the UC Berkeley campus, running water (we've lost it quite a few times now in the past two weeks), etc. I am thankful for those things in the U.S. that are missing in my life here.

I felt so silly trying to explain Halloween because I honestly don’t know why we dress up in strange costumes and go around asking for candy. I had no clue what to say that it “meant” because to me it’s just a tradition of dressing up oddly and eating sweets with no real base. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is still difficult to explain with the pilgrims and Native Americans but I can explain it’s meaning for me.

So thank you to all of you out there reading; you all are important people in my life and I appreciate all your patience, love, and support while I’m down here.