Thankful

I thought I'd be really sad today, but I'm not.  I think it's due in large part to the fact that it barely even feels like fall here, let alone early winter.  It's still in the mid 60s during the day, dipping into the (very) high 40s at night.  It's also missing that Thanksgiving feeling because I'm not bombarded every where I go by ads for Black Friday and Christmas decorations.  And I'm okay with that.  The result is that I'm able to feel thankful instead.  So instead of an update on how things are (short version:  very, very busy; speaking Spanish as much as I can, Basque is almost impossibly hard, also very busy), I thought I'd say some things I'm thankful for.  I'm trying to focus on those things I'm thankful for here this year, so here goes:

- I am thankful for a really great job that pays actual money to get to do something that I love to do and would probably do for free.  In this world economy, having such a job is not a given and in my field it is increasingly rare.

- I am thankful for good, smart, funny and kind friends here who take care of me and are great to me even when I'm a pain in the ass to be around and can only talk about looking for jobs and going to visit my husband.  I'm especially thankful that they agreed to come with me to a restaurant for "Thanksgiving Dinner" tonight.  We're also trying to hold a more traditional dinner on Saturday at a friends house. In a country that doesn't really use turkey as a food item, it will definitely be a challenge.

- I'm thankful for a truly beautiful city.  Every day, I pause on my way to the bus to look at the view and realize how incredible it is.

- I'm thankful for good food here (though I have only had ONE pintxo since returning from the US.  This has to be remedied immediately).

- I'm thankful for my friends and family back in the US who support me.  I could not be luckier.

- Except that I am because I also have a husband who could probably win the competition for World's Best Husband.

So, I have a lot to be thankful for.  Even though Thanksgiving Day is a confusing thing for a lot of Spanish people (I've had to tell the story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving new fewer than 4 times), the word for it in Spanish is pretty great:  El Dia de Acción de Gracias - Literally "the day of actions of thanks."