Happy Thanksgiving

Something that I have learned is there is always some price to pay in the pursuit of your dreams. For me it's valued time with my family. While I'm young and motivated I want to travel and experience as much as I can. Almost three years ago, it was giving it a try to live in a different country: Germany. Now, it's a study abroad semester in China. I am so happy and grateful for these experiences but it has come at a price. This year marks the third year in a row where I was unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. For those non-Americans out there I will now provide you with a little Thanksgiving tale:

Once upon a time, some Pilgrims traveled to America to escape religious persecution from an evil Europe (dun dun dun!). When they came to America; however, they struggled to gain substance from the land. Fortunately, they met some Indians who taught them how to plant and grow. When the harvest came that year, both Pilgrims and Indians came together to celebrate their gratitude and thankfulness. It wasn't until President Lincoln, that Thanksgiving actually became a public holiday. Now in the States, typically every person gets Thursday and Friday off so that families can get together and have a grand meal Thursday night...there's turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, bread, and PIE! Of course, all this consumption of food (and usually alcohol) puts most Americans into a food coma which they have to recover from and thus---the Friday off!

In my first two years away from home, I was lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with some American friends in Berlin. First year it was vegetarian (to which I was highly skeptical but it turned out good!) and the second year Lauren and co. outdid themselves...I think we almost amounted to 20 people gathered together on a long table with an actual Turkey. This year, I was worried and a bit sad since I had no idea with whom or where to celebrate. But, turns out my American friend Becca had got invited to go dive bar's Thanksgiving dinner and she kindly asked me along! The bar is owned by a sweet Chinese woman who had gone through the effort to organize something authentic, of course, there was still a bit of Chinese flair. We actually had a REAL turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes. It was delicious! We were also served some Chinese vegetables and I think one of them was dragon root and the other some sort of bean? It was definitely an interesting mix-up for me. In the end, the owners said the meal was on them and we should just spend our money at the bar. I think everyone was thankful for that statement! As for as me, I'm thankful to meet great people from all over the world and still be able to celebrate those special holidays from my culture. And of course, I'm thankful that despite distances and absences, that I have a loving and supporting family whom I miss dearly but know that I will see in no time at all!