Thanksgiving at H2O

We celebrated Thanksgiving here at the orphanage. It is most likely the first Thanksgiving ever celebrated in Umphang! We not only celebrated with the kids and workers, but with other foreigners living in town, some who have never celebrated Thanksgiving either. There were about 45 people here in all. We had some locals, both Burmese and Thai, New Yorkers, Brits, and a Kiwi come to join us! The goal or should I say challenge was to cook American food. At first it seemed impossible, they don't sell turkey, they don't have ovens and we cannot find many ingredients that we would need to cook. However, as we spoke to other foreigners that have lived here for years, it started coming together. You can find most of what you need in major cities.... we are 4 hours away form the nearest one, but we have connections! Our menu consisted of steamed chicken (remember, no ovens!), macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, rice, an asian noodle dish, eggplant and green beans. For desert we had cake and cookies. Our day was almost like a Thanksgiving at home, with our share of drama and arguments, people walking off and various other misunderstandings! Overall it went well. The people got to try new food and we had a good time. Doris told the Thanksgiving story and played some games with the kids, they had a blast! The mac and cheese was a hit with some and a miss with others. the sweet potatoes were received well, a bit too sweet for some though. Now I do not feel as intimidated to cook here, we can make do with what we have. Enjoy the pictures of the day!