Gratitude.

There are numerous studies that conclude with gratitude as being one notch in the key to happiness. I am so grateful for this past year and everyone that I had the honor of forming/continuing friendships with. Naturally, being in China and all, I am taking lots of pictures. Whenever my camera makes that annoying beep and the screen turns black with illuminated red writing reading, “Memory Card Full,” there are a few pictures/videos that I skip over before deleting others.

I’ve saved the pictures onto my computer and external hard drive. I know this. I’ve checked and double checked several times. My irrational, sentimental side kicks in and I am debilitated. For two seconds, my thumbs inexplicably lose the ability to press the delete button. Yes, I’m blaming my thumbs.

What are these pictures, you ask? Well, péngyǒu, take a peek:

Each of these has more than meets the eye, as pictures normally do. They remind me of so much more than is in the picture. If you want, you can ask me someday and I’ll be happy to share the stories with you.

This Thanksgiving, I sure have a lot to be thankful for. The hospitality and kindness that has been shown to me in China is incredible. I’ll tell you about my Thanksgiving and you’ll see why.

About two weeks ago, my friends from the speech club I attend on Wednesdays asked me my plans for Thanksgiving. After telling them that I had none, they asked if they would like a little cultural exchange and they could cook for me and I could cook for them. Needless to say, I was stoked. I was pretty darn excited for Thanksgiving.

I even bought silverware.

On Thanksgiving, before we got to the store, my friends told me that they had a surprise for me. They took me to a music store. I'll tell you more about what happened at the music store in my Christmas post.

After my wonderful surprise, we left for the supermarket. We bumped into another foreign teacher named John. He invited us to a restaurant for Thanksgiving with some of his friends. My friends were so excited to meet another foreigner that we unanimously agreed to join John.

A little Thanksgiving hot pot.

Unexpected kindness and friendships have been a big part of my life this past year. Welcome to the season of gratitude and unconditional kindness, my friends.

I also wanted to include a picture of what I did in class this week. For most of class we did an exercise in gratitude. We wrote thank you letters to people in our lives who we don't normally thank. In addition to making more women cry at one time than The Notebook, we drew Turkey Hands with what we are thankful for. Here are some of my favorites:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Naturally, this time of year we reflect on the past year. I found out that I would be moving to China about this time last year. So, it has been an exciting year!

I have now been in China for 6 months. I can already tell that time is going to fly by. I’m settled in my city. Here is a video of a tour of my apartment. It’s like MTV’s cribs. Except I don’t live in a mansion. And I forgot to show you what’s in my refrigerator. It’s mostly a bunch of vegetables and some precious butter that I got the last time I made the trek into the big city. I live in a very small community, relatively speaking, so you can watch the video and see how “small” you think it is.

It has been a long time since I have sent any updates of my adventures in China. I've only done two exciting things since my last blog update so I’ll fill you in on those. 

Megan might be as tall as his fingers.

A friend from another province came to celebrate my birthday with me. We visited an ancient village with the 2^nd biggest Buddha in China. I was just proud that we used public transportation and were able to successfully navigate rural China with our level of Chinese.

 

The temple in the village

We also explored the neighboring villages.

Are those tomatoes on my cake?
Why yes, they are.

The other big change in my life has been that I have started to learn the Guzheng. This was my Thanksgiving surprise from my friends and it has been the best and most unexpected gift to my life here. The guzheng a Chinese harp. Not only has it been a way to learn traditional Chinese folk tunes, but I feel like I’m learning even more about Chinese culture. Maybe someday I’ll record a song and send it out so you all can hear.

There are also 2 golden retrievers who live at this music shop.
Added bonus.

Of course, I don’t have Christmas off. It’s alright because this is my last week of classes before the long winter holiday. During the upcoming holiday I will be visiting the Chinese equivalent to Hawaii, Sanya. I will also be visiting my host family in Chengdu for the Chinese New Year. Who knows, maybe I’ll even venture into another province. I’ve had my eye on Yunnan for quite some time. I might even have time to slip some work in.

I hope you’re finding time to relax and enjoy this season. I’m thinking of all of you. I hope you’re safe, and happy, and healthy. I wish you a fantastic holiday and an adventure-filled new year! 

Don't be too jealous.

 I almost forgot to show you my Christmas present to myself! For months I have seen people walking around with different colors of cloth on their sleeves and I finally asked a student what it’s for. Since there’s not indoor heating, people wear their jackets at all times. So, the sleeves of jackets tend to get very dirty. Since it takes so long to dry things, it’s impossible to wash jackets, so people protect their sleeves and wash the sleeve covers instead. When in Rome…