Thanksgiving at the Duncans'

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Having Thanksgiving dinner was a bonus for me this year; Mom cooked Thanksgiving dinner in August before I left so that we could celebrate together.  

The Shorts and I drove to Kisongo, a town about a forty-minute drive away (almost to Arusha) to have dinner with a missionary family there, the Duncans.  The Duncans (Philip and Bekah and their sons Micah and Nathan) work on the farm that supports the School of Preaching (ACSOP).  They arrived in Tanzania the same week I did.  If you'd like to know more about their work, here is their blog: https://havegodwillgo.com/.   Ralph and Twyla Williams, Canadians (but who lived in Memphis for thirty years) who live up in Monduli Juu (up on the mountain that Monduli is at the base of) and Margaret Thompson, who is a veterinarian who works for a Christian organization in Karatu, were also there.   

I should have taken a group photo, but it seems I have mostly pictures of the food.  I did get a couple of photos with people, but Michela would only be in them if I promised not to post them publicly. :)

Turkeys are not a native species here; the only turkeys for sale and brought in just for foreigners at holidays, but cost nearly $100 USD.  We all decided we were happy forgoing turkey, so instead, we had both chicken (roasted and barbecued) and guinea fowl.  I took broccoli salad, bacon glazed carrots, and jalapeno roll-ups.  We had plenty to eat, in true Thanksgiving fashion!  

Thanksgiving in August

Since I won’t be home for the holidays this year, my mom decided to have Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before my flight.  My brother came down from Nashville, and we made all of our favorites: besides the turkey, we had sweet potato casserole (my specialty), broccoli salad (which everyone in the family is addicted to), baked potato casserole (not something I’m particularly interested in, but my mom and brother love it), and rolls.  And one of the great thing about all of these dishes is that the leftovers are just as good.

Thanksgiving in Wuhan

Since a few people had to work on Thursday, we had our big feast today (Saturday). I got up early this morning (well, relatively, at eight...but I didn't go to bed until two, so it felt really early...) to get started cooking. Micah came over mid-morning to bake his pumpkin pie; he doesn't have an oven.  Meanwhile, I got the carrots going and mashed my sweet potatoes.  We were about twenty minutes later leaving than we meant to be, and then had trouble getting a taxi, but we still ended up being some of the first ones there.

The Myers and the Lus hosted--they live across the hall from each other, so we could use both of their kitchens and living rooms.  We split the cost of the turkey--they are quite expensive here; chinese people don't eat turkey, so it's a specialty item at Metro (a bit like Sam's club; caters to foreigners).  The side dishes we brought potluck; I took glazed carrots with bacon and sweet potato casserole.  They both turned out even better than I expected; you never know because sometimes ingredients are a bit different here.  I have a few carrots left, but the sweet potatoes were cleared out fast.  I should get some more pecans while they have them and freeze them so that I can make more later, maybe for Christmas.

There was so much good food...two or three kinds of dressing, green bean casserole, bread, turkey, ham, tacos, deviled eggs (which I'd never eaten much of before, but am starting to like), sweet potatos, and plenty of other stuff. I had a piece of Micah's pumpkin pie for dessert--I love pumpkin pie. :)  Later, I snacked on a bit of Eric's no-bake cookies.

There were probably thirty to forty people there; of course the best part of Thanksgiving is spending time with family and friends.  While I am far away from family, I did get to talk to my grandparents and to my mother over skype, and having such a big party today with friends made it truly seem like a holiday.  I got to spend quite a while catching up with Ron, who I worked with in Jingzhou, who is visiting in China this month.  I also spent time with several of the workers who live at nearby campuses; we really need to get together more often to shop or play games.

After we ate, several people started up a big game of the card game golf (ask my mom or Sue if you're curious--they're experts.  Well, you could ask Dad or Doug, too, but you're more likely to get a good explanation from the first two :) )  I didn't play this time, but I watched the game as I spent some time talking with others.

It was a wonderful day.  The only problem is that now I just want to curl up with a blanket and look at my Christmas tree--but I need to get busy writing exam questions for the final for my writing class.


Edit: Alright, sorry for the rather haphazard placement of pictures.  The internet is being cantankerous tonight, and if you only knew how long it's taken me to get them on here at all...

Week 15: Definition Paragraphs

And finally...drum roll please...the last paragraph lesson!  This final type of paragraph organization is definition.  I thought this one might be a bit boring, but, as it turns out, I found some quite good material online to supplement what the book taught; I think this is the most thorough and well-thought-out explanation of the concepts that I've done yet.  Which means, it probably was boring.  But anyways...

I won't bore you with all the details of the lesson.  The main gist is to practice writing paragraph that explain the meaning of something: a concept, a holiday, a ceremony, a type of person, an occupation or role.  Objects usually end up just being a description.

Anyhow, the fun part of class was, as usual, after the main lesson.  I made a rather weak tie-in: "I am defining the meaning of a holiday: Thanksgiving."  Really, it was more of just a description...

The students, having already studied English for about eight years now, have of course already heard of Thanksgiving and know the basic idea, so I didn't repeat the whole Pilgrim and Indian story; they heard it last year.  I focused more on what we do on the actual day.  I showed them pictures from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; they were really impressed with the humongous balloons. I also showed them how to trace your hand and make a turkey drawing, which they thought was cute.

Food is always a popular point of discussion; Thanksgiving food especially so, because they don't eat turkey here.  None of my students have ever seen or tasted a turkey.  Also, food here (since you're going to have to eat it with chopsticks) comes to the table already cut into bite-sized pieces. I think the photo I've gotten the biggest reaction out of both in Jingzhou and here is the photo of the whole roasted turkey on the table from Thanksgiving 2009.

I also explained the wishbone tradition, which they thought was just a bit gross, really--pulling on a slimy bone. Probably, I haven't done it myself in years.

Then, of course, it's always good to try to focus minds on the important things in life.  I taught them the phrase "count your blessings,"  and gave them a few minutes to think of things they were thankful for, then I had them take turns telling the things they are thankful for.  You do have to specify that you can't just say "I'm thankful for my family and friends," but intead should be specific.  What about your friend are you thankful for? What does your mother do that makes you thankful for her?  They did really well, though; my students in Jingzhou needed prodding to say more than two or three words, but my students here I more often have to try to cut off; they'll talk and talk.  One students did try to butter me up by saying he was thankful for me and for the English parties I've been organizing.

And one last picture for you...Thanksgiving 2001.  Is 2001 really eleven years ago already?

Anyways, happy Thanksgiving, everyone!