Running from Thanksgiving

There are things that we don't do here. We don't talk about the food that we miss. We don't reminisce over family traditions, our favorite ways to relax on a Sunday afternoon or the best place to find a wide open highway to speed down in your car. Ok...by "we," I mean "I."

It's just a mistake. You start thinking about home--and before you know it, you're crying in a McDonalds as you order a Big Mac (hasn't happened to me yet--but could). Instead, you focus on life NOW, here, in China. And life here is fabulous. It's magical. It's new. It's vibrant. It's thrilling!

And then Thanksgiving comes and smacks you in the face. Everyone at home is preparing for time with family, great food and the comfort of yearly/generational traditions. And suddenly it's a little harder to remember how much I love it here. And suddenly I feel that maybe my family needs me to be home. And suddenly I miss turkey--and my family doesn't even EAT turkey on Thanksgiving--we don't like it that much, so we grill steaks instead!

So--I'm practicing the age old avoidance tactic of denial! Fawn and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for Yangshuo, where we will spend 4 days among the stunning limestone karst peaks and rice fields along the Li River. Yangshuo is an international backpacking colony near Guilin (it's in the South of China--so it should be fairly warmish). We will live fabulous lives in China and completely forget all that we are missing at home. There are plenty of foreigners gathering in Wuhan to celebrate Thanksgiving together, but I think that since nothing can compare to real home, we might as well make use of the time off from teaching (our schools give us Tgiving and Friday off in deference to our culture).

I'll be sure to take plenty of pics to share when I return! If you want to get an idea of what we'll be seeing, type "yangshuo" into Google Image Search and feel incredibly jealous of me while you eat turkey and watch the Cowboys. I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Until my next post, here are some pics from the past month or so for your enjoyment!

A student gave me these slippers and I wear them almost everyday now--the apt floors get really cold!

"Here, feel it kick.."

Just kidding--the backpack is filled with all those sweet potatoes for the mashed sweet potatoes that Fawn and I made for our last Wuhani gathering.

Me and the D's (one of my PhD classes--we spent a Saturday afternoon touring a bunch of empty buildings--it was when I got to know many of them)

"I've got JOY like a fountain" with Adam on a Tuesday evening Celebration meeting

Ok--these pics will need an explanation! One afternoon, Adam, Jeremy and I were invited to go to a National Day Celebration with the Governor of the Hubei Province. On the way--I was informed that I'd be receiving an award! A former teacher of our university was being honored, but since she had already left the country, I accepted the award on her behalf.

I've been here 2 months and already have been honored by the Governor.

"I'd like to thank the Academy..."

From Honors to Lizards:

This darling creature was IN MY APARTMENT! I'm not even going to try to be cool about this--I freaked out. I live on the 5th floor! How did a lizard/newt/salamander get into my apartment??? I screamed when I saw it and Adam, man that he is, stomped on the thing. It was awful--his first stomp didn't do the job (man that he is)--so he had to keep stomping to put it out of its misery. Hopefully, no animal rights activists are reading right now! To be fair, I may have yelled for Adam to kill it---but seriously, a girl can't be held responsible for her shrieks when there are lizards in her apartment.