thanksgiving.

Stephen reminded me this morning that it was Thanksgiving. I think he only remembered because of the reminder he put on our calendar and saw when he opened the computer!

To be honest, I’m not sure how to celebrate here. I feel like Thanksgiving is full with delicious food, watching television or movies (parades!), and family. Lots of family. And in my family, there are usually games somewhere in the middle of that.

None of those things are here: we will have food, yes, and they always give us their best. And it will be delicious in its own way, but not of the usual turkey, bread, potatoes, and pumpkin sort of delicious.

We won’t have a television to watch, and movie night isn’t until tomorrow. Card games are culturally disrespectful.

And as wonderful as these students are, and as much as I have grown to love Yim, my sweet coworker here with us–they are not family.

I suppose we can share things we are thankful for this evening. I’m sure the list will include the warm, sweet cup of hot chocolate this afternoon after teaching; the beautiful mountains around us covered in more variations of plants than I could begin to name; our warm clothes drying in the sun for a cool night tonight.

And the surprise French fries that Yim made us for dinner! Perhaps not a typical Thanksgiving meal, but typical Western food at least.

A different list of thankfulness, but thankful all the same!