Thanksgiving in China

Hi To All!
After careful consideration of what the Americans should do for Thanksgiving, we came down to deciding on a restaurant that serves Beijing Duck or KFC. KFC is the only American fast food joint in Handan and it's fairly expensive. A 3-piece meal with FF (no mashed potatoes with gravy or beans or coleslaw!) is about 21 Yuan. I can usually buy a meal in a Chinese restaurant for 2 or 3 people for that price. If I buy dumpling soup or noodles, I can buy for 10 people!

The Chinese teachers came to our rescue and invited us all out to have lunch with them at the hot pot restaurant. I went there before with the Chinese teachers when Annie got some money from the principal of the school. She treated that day and the school treated for Thanksgiving day. I stopped at a store and bought some bottles of wine for the lunch since the restaurants usually overcharge for really crappy wine. Most of the Chinese folks I know prefer very sweet wine and China makes quite a few of those. The Great Wall winery makes some decent dry wine, so I brought enough for both tastes.

We filled up four large tables with all of the staff from the school. The hotpot consisted of a double chamber metal pan over a burner in the center of the table. One chamber is mild and the other is spicy. Plates of thinly sliced mutton and vegetables were brought to the tables and you can add them to either chamber as you please. The food cooks very quickly and more plates are brought to the table as you use up the food. Annie and Lena were nice enough to find a place that makes Turkey Legs! The kitchen staff sliced the meat from them so that everyone could have a taste of Americana. For desert, we had Chinese pumpkin pie! It's a bit different from the stuff we get at home. They take the pumpkin and add spices and form a patty. Then they deep fry it and coat the outside with sugar. Very tasty!

The best part of the lunch was not the food, however. It was the feeling of being with people that I care about in China. The "foreign" teachers, Tom and Alex and Lavinia and Caleb and Rick and Juma and Davis and Abu and Robert and Sean and Gina and their kids were all there. Everyone toasted a Happy Thanksgiving with the wine I had brought and cameras were flashing all over the place. The Chinese teachers made it a wonderful time for us by keeping up the spirit of being thankful for everything good in their lives and our lives. It was one of the best Thanksgiving meals I've had in a long time. Robert and Abu both kissed Jack, the principal, on the cheek. Wine does that to some people. That was probably better than kissing him on the lips, which Abu did at the school one day last month. I thought Jack was going to die of embarrassment. Robert and I took pictures with Annie and Lena and Isabella with each of us planting a kiss on their cheeks. Maybe I'll fwd those when Robert posts them.

Later that night, I went to KK dance club. Robert is dating Annie's niece, Helen, who is a college girl and it was her first time going. Annie was home with her mom and dad and son, but I talked Judy and Mary into going for an hour. We had a pretty good time and I think Judy really liked it. She's a country girl, but she really loves the city life.

I'm glad that you all liked the photos of Annie. (Sorry, Nancy. Everyone seemed to get it, I'll re-send them to you.) She really is as pretty as that and more. That day the picture was taken at KFC we were shopping for traditional Chinese clothing. I didn't buy anything, but as soon as my daughters and son send me their measurements, I'll get something for them. Also, I will answer all of my e-mails as soon as I get to a faster computer. These Internet bar computer connections are really slow!

All in all, my first Chinese Thanksgiving was wonderful. My students gave me a nice card last night and a pretty jar full of lucky paper stars. I put it on my bookshelf as a reminder of how fortunate I am.

Love to all, Jim

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