1st Thanksgiving

Not our first thanksgiving. But I shared with Tori's classmates about Thanksgiving. Or 感恩节 (gan en jie) as it is called in Chinese. They got to learn about the first Thanksgiving and how we celebrate it today. For many of them this was the first time they had heard of thanksgiving  [感恩节]. Just as an aside the second character [恩] is actually part of T's Chinese name. Anyway my brain digresses. . .

To start off I told them a brief history of the holiday. There was a bit of a challenging moment as the teachers were translating for me. Apparently I was using either too complex words or speaking too fast. Or a combination of both. I slowed it down. Still a little confusion. Got even slower. Still some gaps. So finally, I just translated the basics into Chinese and then said the words that I did not know using English. And then the teachers and I were on the same page. Can I just say to the teachers, welcome to my life? I feel your pain! Communicating in another language is hard. At one point one of the teachers grasped her head as if in pain and looked at the other teacher with wide eyes after I had said something. And I wanted to stand up and say, I know how you feel. I feel that way Every. Single. Day. But ok, moving on.

I then shared how today in the US many people remember on this day all the things and people for which we are thankful. The kids went around and shared some of the people for which they are thankful. It was sweet to hear them share about all the people that are important in their lives.

I then showed them the pumpkin pie. Since they had never seen a pumpkin pie before, I asked what they thought it was. Their guesses were great:

蛋糕 (cake)?

很大饼干 (a big cookie)?

And they were really surprised when I told them that it was pumpkin pie. Their only experience with pie is the pies that McDonalds and KFC sell. They were quite surprised that this was a normal American pie. I cut the pie into small squares and everyone got a taste.

And it was a hit!

Afterwards we made turkeys. While I know they do some projects at school, they are different than what we are used to seeing in an American preschool or kindergarten. So the kids were super excited to make the turkeys and get to take them home.

A successful Thanksgiving. So successful that the teachers asked if I could come back and teach about Christmas in a couple weeks. ;-)

Here is my ride. I have been meaning to post a picture. 

Clearly when you don't drive, this is the best way to get a pumpkin pie somewhere. While I transport things this way daily (think: grocery store), the pie was warm, in a glass container, and it just seemed like a recipe for disaster. But we made it there safely with the pie intact.

Just imagine me on this with a kid in front and kid behind. Going local!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!