Thanksgiving!

I hope you all are enjoying a restful Thanksgiving Day/break! I am excited for my Thanksgiving-in-China festivities. Tomorrow (Thanksgiving) I will fly kites with my friend Katherine and spend some time gallivanting around Zhongshan Park, a large park close to where we live. In the evening, we have a Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, sponsored by CIEE. Yum! Then, Friday I’m going to a “traditional Southern Thanksgiving” feast at the home of my friend Judith’s cousin Dru (who lives in Shanghai). This, too, will be super yummy. Double yum! Saturday I’m heading to Suzhou, a famously picturesque city about an hour outside Shanghai by train, for the day. And then Sunday I have a super exciting activity planned which I will keep secret until after the fact—get excited, it’s going to be amazing. Hint: Boola! Boola!

This week I’ve had midterms, my one and only official evaluation while in China. I think my tests—speaking, listening, and grammar—actually went OK, except for maybe the grammar portion. We’ll see!

Since my last post I’ve gotten a bunch of questions about Obama’s visit. The reason I didn’t mention it at all on the blog is that it was literally a non-event here. People barely knew that it was happening, and if they did, it wasn’t important to them. In fact, my host family took more notice of the fact that Hillary Clinton was in Shanghai than they did that President Obama was here. Part of this lack of reaction is that the Chinese are pretty ambivalent about Obama. My three data points on direct conversations about Obama’s visit were with my host mom, my tutor, and my Chinese friend Jenny. All of them had absolutely nothing substantive to say about Obama, but they all remarked that Obama is very handsome/cool. I think a visit to China is going to be inherently different from a visit to say, Europe, because people can’t congregate in large numbers/ there isn’t a culture of gathering to cheer or protest public figures (obviously). And being involved with or interested in politics in China usually means you are super Communist and a fount of Communist ideology/propaganda (according to my tutor), so most people choose apathy (as being the opposite of “political” ie protesting isn’t really an option). Haha “choose apathy” is a funny phrase. So I’m not sure people would have seen the point in reacting strongly to Obama’s visit, even if they did (or do) feel strongly. So sorry to disappoint, but….nothing to see here. Plus I was in Hangzhou on the actual day Obama was in Shanghai, so I couldn’t have gone to hold a sign and cheer or anything, although that was my original hope. Ah, well.

It being Thanksgiving, the other thing I wanted to write about was what I’m thankful for. This seemed like a particularly appropriate topic this year, since I feel like I have so so incredibly much to be thankful for right now—I’m living the dream, right? So obviously I can’t hope to encompass everything I want to give thanks for here; there is simply too much. **Beware: if you don’t like sappy and overly earnest attempts at sincerity and thanks, skip this entire section. The cynic within me cringes as I re-read it, so I feel obligated to warn my readers.**

As a start, I am thankful for my family. I particularly want to thank my parents, for letting me take a gap year, and for making it possible. I try to remind myself every day that I am not at all entitled to be here; that I have done nothing to earn this amazing experience and education that I’m getting by being here, and that I am incredibly, incredibly indebted to the generosity of my parents. They’re amazing—I can’t believe I have such awesome parents who really do see this experience as important and valuable and are backing me so fully and generously. So thank you, Mom and Dad! I love you! I’m also thankful for my grandmother, Joan Bok. She’s been an incredible inspiration and teacher my entire life (as well as an amazing person to have a conversation with, or watch a movie with, or, say, go to Anthropologie with, hehe), and definitely both inspires and enables my love of travel. Without her, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, and I hope they enjoy their Thanksgiving up in Vermont. I will be thinking of them!

I am thankful for my education. Even though I’m not writing papers (except for this blog and the weekly journal entries I have to give CIEE) or taking tests (except for today) while in China, I’m still thankful each and every day for the amazing education I’ve received, because I feel like I know how to think the thoughts, how to make the connections and observations, that really make this experience valuable.

I am thankful for free time, and for literacy, and for reading material. I spend a good chunk of my time reading, which, while maybe not the best way to engage with China, is still incredibly satisfying (don’t worry, it’s not too excessive). I read newspaper articles (nyt.com and boston.com = my BFFLs), books (10, I think, while I’ve been here), China Daily, blogs…you name it. And it’s like a dream come true. Not since probably 6th grade have I had a Fall so saturated with the written word. And the glut will only continue over the next 10 months! And probably at an accelerated rate once I return from my adventures here!

I am thankful for the 3 kuai espresso machine in the CIEE office. For 50 cents I can get a decent cappuccino or latte. It’s delightful and has saved me a ton of money. In case you didn’t know, we’ve officially entered the sillier section of my Thanks Givings.

I am thankful for blue sky and warming temperatures—it’s been a solid 55-60 degrees for the past couple of days. Thank goodness!

I am thankful for street food. It’s yummy and cheap and filling and varied.

I am thankful for the people I’ve met here, and how friendly they’ve been. Like John, for instance, who is in my Chinese class and whose wife baked Thanksgiving cookies for all the Americans in the class. A lovely random act of Thanksgiving cheer!

I am thankful for the hospitality of my host family. I totally lucked out with them, and I’m glad to know them!

I am thankful for bubble tea! Yum!

I am thankful for the Shanghai metro system. It is beautiful and efficient and fast and wonderful.

I am thankful for the Internet. I have not been too homesick, and my bouts of missing friends/family/home have been greatly alleviated by this nifty (read: world-changing) tool.

I am thankful for wool ski socks and my sheepskin slippers.

I am thankful to be heading to Yale next year. It may sound trite, because it should be obvious, but it’s true. Plus, at home it’s sort of hard to express that sentiment without seeming self-aggrandizing/insensitive to those who were disappointed by the college process. But I think it would be stupid and wrong not to mention it: I am incredibly excited about my future university, and still can’t believe my good fortune.

And, finally, but most importantly, I am thankful for God, and for the blessings and love He constantly rains down on me, even when I don’t deserve it, even when I’m selfish and oblivious. To be honest, I think one of the toughest parts about being in China has been the feeling of being totally removed from a Judeo-Christian society. It can be really lonely to realize that everyone around you either doesn’t believe in God or has a completely and totally different concept of the divine, and, furthermore, lives according to a value system/moral code that isn’t based around the Golden Rule (or, at least, not as explicitly as Western culture, even secular Western culture). Definitely interesting, but also a little bit of a downer, at least for me, after years of being immersed in church and youth group and a society that, while certainly full of infinite definitions of divinity and morality, still has this central Judeo-Christian-based moral code/philosophy. So, a shout out to the One who is Love, to whom all of these Thanksgivings go—You are the best! It is right to give you thanks and praise (It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth...oh man do I miss the liturgy!). Thanks for always being there for me, more than I can ever imagine, more than I can ever express.
And on that note, I, thankfully, am ending this post and going to bed.