JISHOU, HUNAN — Thanksgiving Day has already ended over here. ‘Round about this time, you folks in the US of A will be preparing the turkey, or driving someplace where someone else is preparing the turkey. Eat well, and drive carefully, please.
Today was the first time I have celebrated Thanksgiving without my family since I was 22 and living in Wyoming. Then, as now, I had friends who were substitute family, so I was not forlorn. In fact, I had a pretty good day today.
I can’t say whether it’s common in China, but the College of International Exchange seems to have adopted Thanksgiving in a uniquely Chinese way. Outside our fourth-floor wing of classrooms was a large poster made up of sticky-notes in the shape of a heart. Each note carried a message from a student to his or her parents, thanking them for sending them to university, or to their friends, giving their best wishes for the day.
Several students also sent me emails and text messages wishing me a “Happy Thanks Giving.” After morning classes, one group of freshmen treated me and David, the other foreign teacher (who’s from the UK, but it’s cool), to lunch off campus. Afterward, one group went with David to the bank, and the rest accompanied me to my apartment.
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