So thankful

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from ther 5th floor of Jin Cai International School.  Yes, I brought my laptop to work because blogspot/facebook/commucication with the outside world is not ordinarily allowed in China.

So I got to spend my first period on Thanksgiving Day being observed by my Professor from Concordia and guess what, he actually said it went great!  There were two minor setbacks: 1) I normally teach them second or third period which both end at 5 after and today, we met first period which ends at 9:15 and I almost let them out 10 minutes early. oops.  2) Only two students did thier hw (after I begged them to do it!). They were suppose to compare answers with classmates during the first 5 minutes of class and when no one had thier homework, instead of kicking everyone out or complaining, I told them quietly, "keep talking about math".  It actually worked and my professor said "It seems that unlike the ESL students these students actually do their hw'. HAHAHAHA

Tonight teacher Brian is inviting all of the teachers to  his apartment where he will generously be providing a Thanksgiving dinner.  Tomorrow night, the school is taking us to Malones, a good American style restaurant, for dinner and LOTS of wine.  Last faculty dinner everyone was encouraged to get wrecked on wine so it is gaurenteed to be a good time.

In keeping with the holdiday, I am reflecting upon things I am thankful for.  Being in China for three months has really made me appeciate my many blessings. Here is my short list where I removed the less serious items such as my VPN which gives me unrestricted internet access, dishwashers, cotton socks, chapstick, and bubble tea.

In all seriousness I am thankful for:

1. Moms and pops. They love me.  I love them :) They make everything else on this list possible.  I kinda like Carl too but he should talk to me more.  I love Mickey; he's the best damn dog ever and I actually talk to him more than I talk to my brother. Even with my two Thanksgiving dinners chances are the dog will eat more turkey than I will.  Of course I love grandma, gramps and the whole Carbonaro crew as well!
2. My friends.  There are two ways to find out if you have a connection with someone: travel with them or travel without them.  My bestest friends all mostly in America (basically just New York, Chicago, and Miami) and I miss them soooo much.  Its been amazing how we've kept in touch and they've offered the relief that has kept me from packing my bags so many times.
3. Being born American.  This has nothing to do with American being the best country blah blah whatever flag waving jingoists want to say; it has to do with me be a native english speaker.  As much as I try to learn foreign languages I am not too great at it and I couldn't imagine traveling in Asia without knowing English! I met a french couple who could barely speak english and couldnt work an ATM! How do you travel without speaking and without access to money! I would also tolerate being born in the UK but that involves a bit of pretentiousness that is beyond me.
4. My education. WOW. Attending Jin Cai makes me appreciate Emma Willard 12987593486998456983456988696 times more, if that is even possible.  Except for those four dodgey years at Catholic Central, I had it pretty good.  Actually even Catholic Central Junior High was a good place, I remember some junior high teachers really well but I can only think of the name of one good teacher I had in highschool.
5. Having the opportunity to travel (so much that I fill a passport!).  This isn't something a lot of people get to do and I am thankful for having so many great stories and lessons learned.

If I were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner I would probably just say "I am thankful for my family" and then eat so although this list is not complete, it shows some thought.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Don't tell me how delicious it was or I will slaughter your like the colonists did.