Celebrating Holidays Abroad

Beth and I taking a break from cooking our Thanksgiving dinner in Colombia.

*Melody steps onto her soapbox*

Living abroad is a wonderful experience, and I highly support anyone who ever decides to try it. It doesn't matter where you go or what you're doing (okay, it does a little), living abroad can be highly rewarding. The numerous benefits of living abroad highly outweigh the losses of giving up time at home, but sometimes it becomes easy to forget this. Primarily around holidays.

I'm lucky this year because I am going home for Christmas, and I went home for the Fourth of July (basically my two favorite holidays) but I did spend Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Warren's birthday here, and those rank as major holidays in my life. When I lived in Denmark, I spent Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, and New Year's Eve/Day in Europe. Holidays tend to be when people get homesick because it is strange to be so far away in such a foreign and odd environment when your family or friends are at home, doing things the way you have always done them. Because of this, I'm giving you my recommendations about how to enjoy holidays abroad. Here goes...

1. Don't pretend there isn't a holiday. Stay in touch with what is going on, because feeling like you are involved is much better than feeling isolated and lonely. Call your family and friends and talk to them. I prefer to do this at crucial moments in the holiday (opening presents on Christmas, finishing or beginning the Thanksgiving meal, etc.). With the advent of Skype, everybody with a webcam on both ends of the conversation can basically be "there" if that's what they really want.

2. Don't spend holidays abroad alone. Celebrate them with friends. If you are the only person from your culture living where you do, invite the locals to share the holiday with you. Explain all the traditions and let them enjoy it with you. We did this on Halloween in Denmark (carving pumpkins, having a little trick-or-treat in our kollegium), and everyone loved it. Of course, it's always better if you have at least one other person from your culture around, because it makes it easier to share the day and make it feel special.

3. Incorporate part of the local culture into the holiday. For us, this Thanksgiving it meant giving a plate of food to our portero. In Denmark we made traditional Christmas ornaments and drank Glogg (mulled wine). Take pictures, too. This will help you create memories for the future. Although I've celebrated many Thanksgivings, the ones I've spent abroad were incredibly special, and I treasure those memories.

4. Do the best you can to recreate the holiday where you are, but don't stress out about getting every detail perfect. For example, we were able to have a pumpkin pie at our Thanksgiving in Colombia because Beth roasted a whole pumpkin and didn't stress about not having canned pumpkin. We did not have a whole roasted turkey that we carved at the table because our oven wasn't big enough and there were only 3 meat-eaters. (Besides, apparently braised turkey tastes better anyway!) Some holidays are easier to recreate than others, and some places are easier to recreate those holidays than others, and you just have to accept that you can't make it the same as home. Instead, make your alterations part of the holiday, and they will become part of that special memory.

5. If the holiday is celebrated in the local culture (albeit in slightly different ways), enjoy that part of the holiday, too. In Denmark, celebrating Christmas was fun because we got to experience a completely different set of traditions. For example, although I didn't get to witness it in person, Danish people sing and dance while circling the Christmas tree. My friend video taped his family doing this, and although I thought it was hilarious, it was a special part of his Christmas traditions. Many of the traditional foods served vary from country to country, and this is definitely something special to try. In Colombia, Natilla is a special dessert served around Christmas, and the boxed mix for it has appeared in every grocery store in Pereira. This is the sort of thing adventurous eaters should always go for.

Okay, that's all! Happy holidays to everyone, whether you are at your home, living abroad, or traveling. Keep up those cultural traditions!

Foods that Vegans Should Avoid in Colombia

If you are fluent or close in Spanish, you can probably quickly learn how to ask if something has cheese, eggs, meat, milk, or butter in it (queso, huevos, carne/pollo/cerdo, leche, mantequilla), but Colombian cuisine necessitates asking about these as well:

1. Sustancia. (It's like chicken broth.) It's in almost EVERY soup in Colombia, with lentils being the only almost always safe one.

2. Crema. (cream) It appears in everything from potatoes to corn to dessert.

3. Mayonesa (mayonaise) is a common addition to veggies and salads.

4. Grasa (fat), which is basically added to all bean dishes that are specifically prepared vegetarian. Especially pork fat. Even if there is no meat in your bowl, there is almost always meat fat in the beans!

5. Gelatin is everywhere, appearing in candy, snacks, and many other things.

6. Leche en polvo, or powdered milk, also appears in many desserts and snacks.

7. A lot of bread, especially from bakeries, has eggs, butter, or milk. Even though they look enticing, the famous Colombian bunelos are made with cheese and butter, so either avoid them or be prepared for a stomach ache.

So, what should you avoid? Well, if you don't speak much Spanish, I would say that it's best to avoid breads that you can't read an ingredient list for, all other baked goods, most candy, almost all soups, and a lot of the side dishes. Obviously, avoid meat and cheese dishes. Also, beware, a lot of the food sold on the street can make you sick, so it's best to buy it and make it yourself or buy it from/have it made by someone you know is practicing good hygiene. Rice is generally safe, and other safe foods are listed in this blog post.

Vegan Packing List & Grocery Shopping List for Colombia

Things to pack:

If you are coming to Colombia for a long time, will have access to a kitchen, and can bring food with you, these are my suggestions...

1. Ground flax seeds. Use as egg replacer.
2. Ener-G Egg replacer
3. Real Vanilla (okay, everyone should bring this...)
4. Protein bars or powder, although you can find both here
5. Vital Wheat Gluten flour. Use to make seitan, chickpea cutlets, vegan sausage, etc.
6. Peanut butter or other nut butters, and a lot of it!
7. Any of your favorite vegan "crave" foods that might be difficult to find. For me, it was dried cranberries.
8. Spices! Chili powder, fennel, red pepper flakes... these tend to be hard to find.

Grocery locations:

These places are where I find most of my groceries in Pereira...
1. Tofu-Exito, vegetarian restaurants with weird hours downtown
2. Soymilk- Silk at Exito, Ades at all other stores
3. Protein powder- Soy Plus, all well-stocked supermarkets
4. Veggies and Produce- the best variety is usually found at La 14. Carrefour is the cheapest but runs out faster.
5. Organic amazing fresh basil-Carrefour
6. Canned chickpeas-Exito, La 14
7. Fat free refried Old El Paso pinto beans: Exito
8. Spices: La 14
9. Fresh bread: bakeries at Carrefour and Exito
10. Lee Kum Kee Terriyaki Sauce: La 14 and Carrefour
11. Low sodium, high quality soy sauce: Carrefour
12. Other vegan canned beans: La 14
13. Santander chocolate: La 14, Exito, sometimes Carrefour
14. Wine: Alkosto (cheap)
15. Peanut butter--Carrefour, but it is massively and prohibitively expensive to be a regular grocery item

For good beer, only Carrefour has European brews. Warren wanted everyone to know...