*Sniff Sniff* (Scott)

It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the sun is shining, the air outside is crisp, and I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music and feeling an extreme longing for home...but in a good way. Ashlee and I are incredibly fortunate to have so much love back home to make us so homesick. After talking to a few other volunteers this past weekend, we realized that not everyone enjoys such an amazing support network.

So tomorrow is actual Thanksgiving. In a bit of calendar luck, it is falling on the same day as Mongolian Independence Day, so we all get the day off. We will celebrate the holiday with brunch at our house and then dinner at Laura's. There will be at least 5 of us in attendance: the four of us PCVs and our friend Lauren, a Fullbright scholar from Oklahoma (?) who is here for the next 9 months studying Kazakh eagle-hunting. In addition to the feast we have planned, we also have Christmas Story and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to watch.

Also, on Friday we will get together again to celebrate an early Christmas. Ashlee leaves for UB on Saturday, I leave the following week, and both Matt and Laura leave the week after that, so this Friday will be the last day of the year that all of us will be together in Olgii. We are planning to decorate Laura's house (she has a Christmas tree) and maybe watch A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Below are some pictures of the amazing Thanksgiving package that the Riggins sent us. It arrived just in time to supplement our Turkey Day meal with wonderful yams, greenbean casserole, and cranberry sauce. It also had some of the new Starbucks instant coffee that I've been chomping at the bit waiting to try. I just had a cup and it was amazing. It'll be perfect for the two weeks that I'll be spending in UB away from my French press.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!