I'm grateful for being in a great country that still shows me something new every day, whether it's good or bad. And if we're talking about being somewhere, I'm glad to be in a country where I only got to see every angle of the Ron Artest--Detroit brawl once, and never had to hear a single commentator spend fifteen minutes analyzing it and/or defend Ron Artest. What I got from World Sport was just enough to see that Ron Artest did not start fighting the person who actually threw the cup at him, but instead went after every person in the crowd other than the guy who threw the cup. It also proved that Stephen Jackson is insane.
Along the same lines, I'm happy to be working for a great organization that keeps a good watch over me and never makes me forget for even a day that they're there. Proving once again that Peace Corps provides much better security than the Palace in Detroit.
I'm happy to have a cat, even if she stubbornly refuses to accept water as a place to do her business. The experiment is slowly failing. Sigh.
I love that I teach at a school that continues to show an effort in improving discipline, no matter how much the Ministry of Education keeps their hands tied. I just spent the last hour looking up American codes of conduct so they can have examples of what works. I told them that American schools aren't exactly pillars of discipline either, but they wouldn't really buy it. Basically, the answer these codes of conduct provide is detention, which the Ministry won't allow, as I understand it. But hopefully they'll find something useful in there.
I adore the idea of my students instantly connecting the idea of Thanksgiving with "POIKA!" (Bad transliteration? Well, that's how it sounds when they shout it, so work with me). American kids don't instantly draw a one word summary out of the holiday like that. I don't think I've ever heard a class in America shout "Turkey!" The eighth graders also had a lot of fun with the idea of looking for a cookable turkey. Turkeys here are (usually) only in villages and are very much alive until their owner finishes them off and brings them into the house to cook. A turkey isn't a city bird, and Bulgarians aren't quite as sold on them as lunch meat as Americans are. So they're a bit of a village delicacy.
I'm not very big on the fact that, for the second year in a row, I'll have to work on Thanksgiving, even if it is for only two hours. But I'm eternally grateful for having friends to celebrate it with in the town where I live. And hopefully one of us will figure out how the hell my oven works by tomorrow night.
Beyond all this though, I'm thankful for having friends, pets, and family back home who read the site and e-mails, send packages, and support me here more than I'd ever hope to expect. You guys keep me going.
I'll be home cooking or eating for most of tomorrow, so I won't really have time to come to the internet club and say...
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Posted by Rob at November 24, 2004 04:14 PMHappy Thanksgiving!
Just came upon your blog after doing a search for "The Terminal" and decided to drop you a line:-) You have some interesting observation about Bulgaria -- I'll have to spend some time reading your posts...