Thanksgiving, and Katherine's father

The PC Country Director had all 70+ PCVs and whomever wanted to come from the embassy to his house for Thanksgiving. It was really fun to see all of our group, find out about their sites and work, and madly trade media. (“So great to see ya – didja bring your hard drive? Got Parks & Rec, Seasons 3 & 4? Ah, any Mozart or Beethoven?” Much better luck with the former than the latter.) It was also good to be on a closer to equal footing with the group who have been here a year; we've now finished “Integration Period” so we can travel and stay anywhere in the country for 2 nights or less and it doesn't count as vacation, and no prior approval required, as would be the case if we left the country. This is one of the few contexts in which I regret the small size of this country, but there are still many interesting and beautiful places we want to visit here. And plenty to show any visitors who choose to come through!

I was immediately volunteered to assist the Country Director in surgery on 7 turkeys cooked at the local grocery chain's kitchens – interesting how certain age/gender role stereotypes linger.

He addressed the group on his lawn, his house in the background. You can't see, but there's a 10' wall all around his property.

And then we plowed into a terrific Thanksgiving feast.

When we got back our Babe (the father in the homestead, pronounced bâbē) was shaking something from the tree to the ground and gathering them for his Make (the mom in the homestead, Babe's wife, pronounced mâgē) and Gogo (the grandmother in the homestead, actually his brother's widow, but here roles are more important than actual relationships; bosisi and bobhuti (sisters and brothers) can have 1 or even 2 different parents). Yumm, caterpillers. I think you roast them. We told them we already had dinner plans.

The next morning Babe and 3 neighbor boys who were helping him poured milk out of a gourd, where it had been sitting for 3 days, ladled out the more solid part (curd?), filtered that, and set it aside to be eaten – emasi = sour milk. A delicacy!

Katherine learned 2 weeks ago that her father's cancer has come back and was all through his body, and that he did not have long. She quickly arranged with the PC to fly out yesterday to see him one last time, but he died Monday; she was able to talk with him briefly 2 days before he died, and she had been talking with him about weekly all this spring. His loss is hard for her under any circumstances; being so far away, with the erratic communications, compounds the pain and has been stressful as plans have had to be quickly revised.

Fred Upton was, in his time, the preeminent lawyer in New Hampshire, doing it the old-fashioned way: a bank charter this morning, estate plan this afternoon, securities offering tomorrow, and a jury trial next week. And tops at all of them. Vigorous, witty, widely read and full of wry humor, he's been fighting various cancers for 10 years now, not to mention 3 joint replacements. He was loved and respected in the legal community, and was brought in, even in his retirement, when they had a tough problem.

He'd have been 95 Dec. 21. We should all have such a full life.

Katherine's family have been extremely loving, understanding and supportive to her, letting us know of developments, and scheduling a memorial service when she would have been in NH and then re-scheduling for January 11, in Concord NH, when Katherine will now go back. And the PC has also been responsive and supportive, swiftly making and then canceling travel plans this week and then reaching out to get Katherine “emergency” personal leave for the trip back in January. Like everyone in SZ, the PC management loves Katherine and wanted to help her all they could, and our fellow PCVs have, in their inimitable ways, shown their support and sorrow – one lovely letter in particular, and then a play list of appropriate songs on a flashdrive. We were really touched.

Katherine will go back for the January 11 service, and Mark – I'll be just fine; I'm learning to cook beans - you have to wash them a whole lot to get the gravel out, and then boil them and let them soak for a day. Some other stuff too. No barbecue or pizza joints within walking distance.