A Simple Thanksgiving in China

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Here's the scene of my Thanksgiving dinner that I just experienced: I went with my Chinese friend to her "apartment" near the back gate. The temperature was about 40 degrees. We winded through back alleys to get to her apartment, which is just one little room. She shares the tiny room and tiny bed with another girl. There is no heat, and the wind came in through the newspaper-covered windows. She poured some pork dumplings she bought for 40 cents into a miniature rice cooker perched on an ancient desk in the corner. There was one tin bowl and one plastic bowl from which we ate the steamed dumplings. I sat on a little plastic stool while she stood. Both of our noses were dripping from the cold. Afterwards she carefully washed the bowls with a little rag in cold water, but there wasn't any soap to be had.

My Thanksgiving dinner of 2008 was so simple and my host was so gracious. She offered me her best and I could have cried from all the thankfulness in my heart. We didn't have a big meal and there wasn't any table to sit at, but it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever. My Chinese friends don't have much in the way of material things, but they offer so much in their friendship and generosity...

As for earlier today and the past couple of days, I've been teaching my classes about Thanksgiving. I had them draw turkeys by tracing around their hands and listing things they are thankful for. One student drew a turkey with four legs! It was so entertaining.

For some reason they have taken this opportunity of an American holiday to give me tons of presents. And it's all candy. I mentioned that I like candy one day, so all of my students want to give me candy. One boy in my class remarked, "Miss Laura, you like candy so much, but you aren't fat!"

My students have also taken the time to text message me endearing messages on the occasion of Thanksgiving. Here's a sampling:

"I open my wallet, find no money; I open my pocket, find no coin; I open my life, find you, then I know how rich I am! Forever, my friend Laura. Happy Thanks-Giving Day!"

"I really appreciate for you teaching us so exciting class and thank you for remember my name! Finally, wish you have a nice day!"

"Use honesty to love, use perseverance to work, use thanks to your friends love gone with heart. Happy thanksgiving day!"

"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day! Thank you for teaching me English! And also wish you happy and have a good healthy!"

After class this afternoon (yes, we still had to teach on Thanksgiving), we had English corner like every Thursday. I love my students, because they come out to cluster around me and protect me from aggressive and overly eager kids who aren't my students. Today we stood by the lake, with the wind and cold nearly numbing us. The students had the thinnest clothes on and some were shivering so much, yet they stayed until the end. I guess the teachers said that last year after they returned from the winter holiday, some of their students had frostbite because they couldn't afford gloves or warm clothes. I think I know what I'm buying people for Christmas...

Every week we talk about a million things under the sun and now I enjoy English corner more than most anything else, because we can talk so freely. I just want to hug all of them and be their best friends forever.

In other news, the 30th anniversary of China's "Reform and Opening" is this week, apparently. Thirty years ago, China opened up its doors to the rest of the world and worked to reform its economy. It was pretty successful, and so on the anniversary the students must perform and sing about it for two days straight.

In closing here is a Thanksgiving "poem" one of Jodi's students wrote. I laughed about it for a long time:

"I really appreciate my dog
it can give me a hug
I always bring it in my bag
it doesn't like a pig
because the pig is so big
but my dog is just like an egg"

The Chinese students have the craziest creativity ever. And I'm so thankful for all 190 of my students! Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you'll have a blessed day!