Happy Thanksgiving from Korea! I had a very eventful Thanksgiving filled with laughs. I had Korean class this morning followed by an afternoon of exchanges. This evening, I had Thanksgiving with a group of internationals, more on that in a bit.
I woke up a bit late, so I didn't have time to eat a real breakfast. Of course, since I was hungry, the lesson in Korean today was discussing food. Ain't it always the way!
After Korean, I joined my classmates John and Dan for lunch in the cafeteria. We had a very random discussion covering Twilight (which Dan read, very surprising to me, I can't stand the series) to Harry Potter to Star Wars. It felt like the random discussions at the family table on Thanksgiving day, my first real reminder that today was Turkey day.
After lunch, I had exchanges with Korean students. A few of them didn't show up because of all their projects. There was a group of us internationals down in the exchange room waiting for exchange partners. We had some good discussions both with the Korean students as well as internationals about Thanksgiving.
After this, I went out for a real legit Thanksgiving....well....maybe not too legit.....I joined a group of internationals (Kayla, Ben, Martin, Amanda, Chelsea, and Chester, who is Korean but we joke is more of an international than us) for dinner at Popeyes. Ok, I know what your thinking: "Popeyes, come on, you can be more creative than that." Well, we wanted a bird for Thanksgiving so this would suffice. Our table was filled with fried chicken, biscuits, and fries (they don't have mashed potatoes in Korean fried chicken places, so sad). After our feast, we went out for some ice cream for our dessert, even though it was around freezing all day. We had a pretty decent dinner: the bird, potatoes, dinner rolls, dessert, and SCH family. We spent the whole dinner laughing and discussing all the stories from Global Village.
This was my second Thanksgiving away from home. While there is no substitute for family, I feel very fortunate for my family here at SCH. We are very much like a family: while we have disagreements and sometimes just don't get along, we still care for one another as we continue this journey in Korea. Spending Thanksgiving with this wonderful group of people from around the world has been very memorable. Last year, I celebrated with a completely different group of people, yet we gave thanks for the blessings in our lives just like we did this year. It is pretty cool to give thanks with people who have different backgrounds from you, yet you all can join together to be grateful for the year as you look to the future.
On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for many things:
I am thankful to God for His faithfulness to me and especially this year for all the twists and turns He has thrown at me so far in my life.
I am thankful for my family who have loved me unconditionally and supported me all through my life and through my journey in Korea.
I am thankful for my friends, both in Korea and around the world, who challenge me and encourage me to pursue my dreams.
I am thankful for this opportunity to continue my studies in Korea for an extended period of time.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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