Thanksgiving in China

Taking in my first major family holiday away from home was not exactly a sweet potato. Holidays are a time to be with family; missing out on family and being separated by 7000 miles amplified my home sickness. Prior to the holiday, my homesickness came in occasional strains, here and there, but on Thanksgiving, it was a constant emotion at the front of my mind.

 The most important feature of my Thanksgiving holiday was being able to talk to family. Seeing and hearing my mom's family bustling around the Doherty household really warmed my heart! It was great to talk to grandma and grandpa, aunt Kathleen, uncle John, and to see all my siblings. Poor Shannon, sick at Thanksgiving! Later that day, I was able to catch Aunt Reta and Uncle Howard at their home, since they were late to the party...tsk tsk    On China time, that meant: my call during the Thanksgiving party was at 1:30am my time, then my call to Aunt Reta and Uncle Howard was at 9am. Don't worry, I slept well during the interim!

 So what did I do for actual Thanksgiving festivities in China? Well, I invited all the foreign teachers from my school over to have a nice Thanksgiving meal. I baked two pizzas (homemade whole wheat crust, two types of cheese, red bell peppers, and onions), as well as some nice garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes. Everyone loved the pizza! We ate good food and then we played some poker. I still missed my family, but our foreign teacher party did help make the day more comfortable, for my first Thanksgiving so far away. It was good to be surrounded by friends.

 While there is no replacement for family, I am becoming good friends with my roommates: my foreigner family in China. Even among Chinese friends, hugs are not common practice. So I've started my own rituals: I give Paul a roommate hug in the morning, and Anthony a roommate hug at night. I like those hugs, but its no substitute for hugs from my real family! I am so looking forward to airport hugs, Sunday dinner hugs, Easter hugs, and random "just because" hugs when I get back for three weeks this spring!

The roommates: