November 25, 2009
Posted by Sam Jackson
Dispatches from China: Happy Thankgiving from Beijing
Photo from Flickr user Dexell1827
It's Thanksgiving time of year, and I'm not sure that exactly that will mean here in Beijing. This is the first time that I have been away from home for Thanksgiving (!) and I certainly am missing all the proper accoutrements of Thanksgiving. What matters most about Thanksgiving to me, of course, is not the food or any particular thing -- what matters is, of course, the company. While my peers here at the Yale-PKU program are very nice, it's not the same as being at home with my family. I miss cooking all day and then having a nice dinner, loyal dog at my feet to dispose of extra brisket and turkey and make sure nothing that falls to the floor goes to waste.
Of course, Thanksgiving in real life is never as rosy as its made out to be in certain movies - conflicts among relatives, problems with turkeys, canned cranberry sauce, and who knows what else can go wrong. But the essential tradition remains, and it's a good one. It is interesting here in China to try to explain Thanksgiving - or as one roommate called it, "The Thanksgiving Festival" - to people who have no connection to it. The modern construction of Thanksgiving is closely tied to efforts to form a collective national American identity and so Thanksgiving definitely has a resonance to it beyond any single home.
Aside from the football games and tacky decorations, Thanksgiving has remained (to me) remarkable immune from the marketing and rubbish that spoils so many otherwise perfectly good holidays. Some people in some places do go overboard - deep fried turducken, anyone (chicken stuffed into a duck into a turkey)? As someone from Massachusetts (birthplace of Thanksgiving!) I am happy to tell people more about the history of Thanksgiving, and I try to explain matters without ruining things. Obviously, the original story of Thanksgiving has a lot of myth associated with it which was invented much later, and much is unknown. Not everything about the image of the Pilgrims as plucky pioneers out to build a new world is perfectly accurate; for example, few remember the fact that Plymouth was built on top of an original Native American site which was only just recently before their arrival wiped out by European-originated plague. Still, that shouldn't stop us from appreciating the history.
This afternoon we are going to go to some hotel in Beijing, alongside Stanford and no doubt many other expats here from Beida and other places in the city. The food should be pretty good, but I can only hope to capture some of the sense of home and community that I would have back in Boston at this time of year. I'm thankful for the chance to be here in Beijing, but I wish most of all I could be back at home right now to be with my family on Thanksgiving, perhaps the best family-related holiday in the American pantheon. To celebrate, last night I made some very delicious banana bread in our toaster oven here. I might not be well positioned to bake a pumpkin pie (oh but that I was!) but I'll do what I can to try to capture the holiday spirit.
I wish I could be at home, making spiced apple cider and sitting by the fire with my dog while my family and relatives cook up a storm, but since I can't I'll have to settle for sending warm wishes to everyone celebrating back in North America or wherever else they may be.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sam
- - - - - - - -
Photo from Flickr user Dexell1827 - check out the page for more great golden retriever photos!
I'm currently a rising senior at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale.
4 Comments
November 28, 2009
Dear Sam:
We really did miss you on Thanksgiving. In your memory, we had turkey and beef with lot of veggies and many baked items, pies etc. Christmas is just around the corner, we can make up for lost happiness at that time,
Love,
Biko and Tutu
November 28, 2009
Sam, We certainly miss you. Our Thanksgiving dinner was a success. Dorothy ate wings and I had drumsticks. The highlight of the day was hearing and speaking to you. I tell the foreign students to tell me how to say phrases that I may use frequently, otherwise I'll forget them. Have as much fun as possible and remember my motto "Don't weaken!
Lots of love,
Dorothy, Clifton and Ralph
November 29, 2009
Dear Sam,
Tell your grandmother and aunt to send me some of those leftovers. I am sure you had a great day and Christmas is on the way.
Ed and Euclid
December 10, 2009
很漂亮的Blog!!!
Leave a comment