Thanksgiving and Black Friday... Which is the Bigger Holiday?

           First off its has been eons since I have written, largely due to my lack of time from school. My basic day consists of getting up going to work and then coming home and doing school work until I go to sleep and start all over. Thus I really don't have a social life right now, but on the good side I got through my first 9 weeks with an A- and a B. Since I have to have a 3.0 at the end of my first semester or I am booted out of the program I am working like crazy to keep my grades up. This is not always so easy. Every 9 weeks I have a new teacher with a new set of standards and rules I have to adapt to in a minimal of 1.5 to 2 weeks. By week 3 they expect the best from you (seeing as this is graduate school they should) needless to say there are times I get a wee bit stressed out.
      I have so much school work to do in the next 6 weeks ( we get 2 weeks off for Christmas break, but I will be working straight through them). We have so many papers and lesson plans due back to back that I can't really afford to take a break. Maybe summer vacation I can relax a little, for now I am content with my hour and a half of fun reading before bedtime to unwind. It's not much but it works for me right now. I feel so bad that I have not been more diligent with my blog, I didn't realize how much time grad school was going to take up. I am enjoying my studies and learning so much about how we learn language, it's amazing at least to me.

            So yesterday was Thanksgiving and I enjoyed being home with my mom and relaxing (ok so yesterday I did take a break). I found myself grateful for so much and at the same time I find myself with a different attitude about my culture. All week it has been about shopping and getting the best deal, not spending time with family just obtaining more things. I had a co-working sharing with us at our lunch break that instead of celebrating Thanksgiving because they are so 'poor' they are sending the kids with a sitter and shopping for all the cheap deals. I cringed so hard on the inside I was afraid it was coming across my face. I saw real poverty last year in China, most of them make very little and yet are happier then most of the people I see here who have so much. I made a total of $3 a day and I remember living on very little and I was content, that is a lesson that I pray to never forget. Every time my clothes come out of the dryer and are soft from the fabric softener I find myself surrounded by luxury. My view of the world around me as changed and there are times it even surprises me by the ways it has changed.  I still haven't gotten over sticker shock over here everything is so expensive.

         I am sad to say that the true meaning of Thanksgiving is dying and fading away in the mainstream of my culture, instead let's accumulate more things because that's what will make you happy. The only problem is it leaves you more empty and broke. This is something I am studying right now in my grad classes, 'reality' is not the same worldwide. Every culture has a different 'reality' in no way is it relative. We have been talking about how your 'reality' changed after you went abroad to a different culture and then returned to your own. There are few people around me who understand this (there are those who try, don't get me wrong). I find there are times I don't really fit in with the culture I was born and raised in, that's ok because in the end this isn't my real home.

         This Thanksgiving I am grateful for a Father who loves me and will never abandon me. No matter what comes He is with me cheering me on. I am grateful He never let's go and believes in me even when I don't believe in myself (this comes in handy when I feel like I want to quit school). This holiday I am counting my blessing from a roof over my head to fabric softener in my clothes.