In México, the main meal of the day is called ‘la comida’ and is eaten over an hour’s time (perhaps ninety minutes) anytime between one and three o’clock in the afternoon. At El Centro de Ingeniería y Desarrollo Industrial (The Engineering and Industrial Development Center or ‘CIDESI’), where I serve as a Peace Corps volunteer, we usually eat this comida around 2:00 p.m. And so it went today.
Alejandro Obregón (CIDESI) Daisie Hobson (Peace Corps, to the right)
Except this was not your normal comida but a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. As the people came in and enjoyed the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, crackers, cheese, salads, pumpkin pies, etc. and as the amount of food available turned out to be sufficient, that peace-of-mind that only the fatigue of preparation can bestow finally calmed my shyness.
Instead of reciting the menu of dishes to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that today’s qualified as an adequate Thanksgiving dinner, felicitously conincidental with the far more formal family event hosted by the Purnells in Annapolis at 3 p.m. (E.S.T.), I prefer to focus on the men and women who made this day, this meal, this time one for me to remember gratefully and one I want to share with you all.
Alejandro Obregón, a senior budgetary analyst at CIDESI, cooked an eighteen pound turkey, while juggling year-end account reconciliations and a meeting yesterday (i.e., November 23rd) in Mexico City, meaning up at 5 a.m. and home at 10 p.m. Alex likes to cook and, though bedeviled for twelve hours with that steroid-stuffed bird, it showed this afternoon, deliciously. Alex proved his goodwill by cutting the turkey – and all of this the day before his fortieth birthday! That turkey went fast, let me assure you.
Alejandro Obregón (CIDESI) Daisie Hobson (Peace Corps, to the right)
Daisie Hobson, a fellow Peace Corps type serving at CIDESI, has quickly emerged as our star volunteer here with skills needed by the center to change its organizational culture from one of “knowledge is good” (thank you, Bluto) to “knowledge is change”, as in the mobilization of the inert intellectual capital. While Daisie’s virtues are many, her grace in explaining what the holiday meant – with a heartfelt tear in reminding each of us to consider something for which are grateful today – transformed the comida from a technical success to a triumph of goodwill. Besides, Daisie’s magic salad was to die for…honestly.
Sylvia Salas, part of the team that manages CIDESI’s campus in Querétaro, was a guest of honor for her recent and complete recovery from cancer. A lovely lady well loved across CIDESI, Sylvia displayed a grateful humility about her recent good news that moved me to honour her today, this day of thanks. Sylvia contributed a carrot cake, as good as I might find North of the border. Why am I convinced of its excellence? Because that cake was the last of four desserts laid out and the first to go. Each time turned around, that cake was smaller. When I was finally ready for my piece, only crumbs remained…rats.
Sylvia Salas (CIDESI, to the left) Gerry Mayer (Peace Corps)
Gerry Mayer, who completes his two-year tour tomorrow (i.e., the 25th of November), was a gracious guest of honor as well. In singling Gerry out, I want to talk about what Gerry did for CIDESI. Like me, Gerry arrived at CIDESI with little to do. Unlike me, however, the reason was because his project fell through before his arrival. Most people would have whined, pined or resigned in a huff of self-pity. But Gerry Mayer did not do that. Instead, he set about to make his tour a success some other way, which he did by tutoring in technical and colloquial English. At his peak, Gerry hosted sixteen students. Today, he attended the comida with his best pupil whom he has been sure to mentor in her business quest. Beyond his dry wit, I will miss Gerry’s example of making the best out of an inauspicious beginning.
Magda Durán (CIDESI) Lupita Baltazar (CIDESI)
Finally, Magdalena Durán and Guadalupe Baltazar, all of CIDESI, made significant contributions. Magda and Lupita did most of the support work – together with some others from the Human Resources Department – to graduate this meal from a potential comida of errors to a time worth writing home about this evening. It was this mosaic quality of many diverse hands making the dinner special that made me feel grateful enough to recite an abridged version my father’s perennial Thanksgiving grace: “God, we thank you and ask for your blessing today. For our friends are family and family are friends.”
Norman Rockwell would have been proud.
