Adventures in Guangzhou!

Well they don't give a crap in China either but luckily I am surrounded by a small but dedicated contingent of Americans who are willing to go all out for the best day of the year. Last year our meal transcended my greatest expectations, especially due to the tasty morsels of Norbert, our turkey imported frozen from Utah.

For a number of reasons, I was worried that we couldn't possibly reach the same level of excitement and satisfaction as last year. Isn't that always the case? When you do something the 2nd time around, it has lost the whole novelty factor. When you do something for the first time, you have nothing to compare it to and thus it's difficult to be disappointed. In addition, we didn't have the immensely talented Diana Lin to do the turkey so it was the first time on our own.

Despite my concerns, Thanksgiving was the incredible binge night that it should be. Though missing my family and my best friend's family's feast as is traditional back in West Hartford, Thanksgiving '06 was just as great as last year, if not better. Kelly took full control of Preston, our 14 lb. turkey imported frozen from North Carolina, and roasted a very tasty bird. I know very few expats in China who can claim two Thanksgiving meals complete with roast turkey, homemade stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, various vegetables, fresh baked bread, homemade cheesecake, homemade pumpkin pie, and enough wine to drown several Chinese people. It was amazing.

Nick and I both lamented that the only thing that could have made it better (besides family) would have been American football. In a moment of pure genius, Nick contemplated trying to hire 22 Chinese people to play a game for us outside the window, but we figured it would take too much time to explain the rules. Maybe next year...

Thanksgiving also come right after my birthday which was a ton of fun. I brought in my 26th year along with most of my closest friends at a meal with tons of tasty Indian food. As fate would have it, Kelly and I actually share a birthday so it we were also celebrating her 24th. While many people have tried to convince me that I'm old or that I'm now in my late twenties, I'm not hearing a word of it. I'm loving twenty six so far and I can't really see it getting any worse. I have another eight months or so to explore China and the rest of southeast Asia before returning back to friends and family in the states. I really can't complain.

Of course there is the whole matter of what to do with my life once I return to the states. I've reached the point now where I really do have to address that issue directly as opposed to just in passing as an ethereal concept. As such, I now pose the following scenario to anybody out there in the virtual world reading-- you're 26 years old. You have two years of experience traveling around China. You have a decent handle on the Chinese language but you're still a long way from fluent. You have a masters degree in history and education but you're not sure you want to go back to teaching. You're not crazy about working for corporate America. You're a good problem solver but you get antsy sitting behind a desk for too long. What do you do?

If anyone wants to check out some pictures from birthday and Thanksgiving '06, click on the following link or click on the flickr badge to the right...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594401684508/