Thanksgiving in Langfang

A Fall Scene

A Turkey Hat for Jimmy

   This was my first thanksgiving in China and it really was special!  For me, Thanksgiving was a four day celebration.  The morning started out boring enough.  I wasn’t planning on doing anything this Thanksgiving other than preparing some lesson plans.  All of a suddenly I get a text from one of my friends telling me not to do anything or go anywhere for lunch.  I had no idea what would happen next.  At around 12:30 pm I get a knock on the door.  Three of my friends (whom I like to refer to as the “Langfang Angels”) burst into the room shouting, “Happy Thanksgiving!”  They had food in hand and I quickly gathered some seats and rearranged the tables for my guest.  We ate homemade fish soup 鱼汤 (yú tāng), cola Chicken wings 可乐鸡翅 (kělè jīchì), Chinese bread 馒头 (mántou), and some fresh vegetables.  It was quite delicious.  My friends stayed for most of the afternoon chatting and playing badminton.  It was fun.

"The Langfang Angels"

 That Thanksgiving evening I had been invited by my good friend, DC, to come have Thanksgiving dinner at his apartment.  I hopped on my bike and made the trek over in his direction.  We had a traditional Chinese dish called “hot pot” 火锅 (huǒguō).  Hot pot is just as the name implies: It’s a bowling pot of soup that sits on a hot plate to keep it cooking.  There is an assortment of uncooked vegetables and meats placed around the table that the partakers get to dunk into the hot pot.  It’s a dinner where the partakers have to cook their food before they eat.  It is both fun and delicious. 

Typical Hot Pot
(However, this was not ours because I forgot to bring my camera.)

I should mention that before I trekked over to DC’s place he actually trekked over to my place.  Jaime had been away for the week in Tianjin and had arrived back in Langfang late on Thanksgiving Day with one of the other Tianjin teachers.  DC had invited them both to join us for dinner but Jaime and Beth were just too tired after their trip.  That’s when DC made a surprise visit to our apartments to give Jaime and Beth a freshly cooked chicken so that they could have something to eat for dinner.

Thanksgiving Day was fantastic.  But, the holiday was not over just with Thursday.  As the weekend rolled on the other IECS teachers rolled into Langfang.  We had nineteen total people dispersed in our four tiny apartments but it worked out well.  The guys stayed with me, the girls with Jamie, and the couples stayed in Luke and Shannon’s place.  We turned the empty forth apartment into a meeting room and dining hall.  It was cramped but we made it work.  Each of us had our responsibilities to fulfill and our captains of the kitchen set us to the task.  The cooks got busy in the kitchen and the grunts got busy preparing the place.  The cooks prepared quite the feast.  We had mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits, pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, apple pie, ice cream, cookies, muffins, and deep fried chicken.  The chicken was my contribution to the meal.  I went down to the local bazaar and ordered up 13 deep fried Cornish hens from a local vendor.  Everything was absolutely delicious!

Thanksgiving Dinner in Langfang

 We even honored the American Thanksgiving tradition of playing football!  All of the IECS teachers gather on school’s soccer field for a “serious” game.  We even had a few Chinese friends come join the game but mostly the students just stood at the sidelines at watched the crazy Americans.  I can’t really say who one because I’m not sure we ever really did keep score but I do know that both side did well.  We had eleven players for both teams and it was constantly a mad dash of confusion!  There were a couple of nice pass that resulted in some much sought after earned yardage.  However, the play of the game was when Katie Mac and Lacy tackled Josh to the ground.  I was pretty sure we were playing touch football and not tackle but I wasn’t saying anything… They might tackle me next! Ha, ha. 

"Are you ready for some football?!"

Team Photo Time!

 This Thanksgiving was one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever had.  The only thing that was missing was my family.  It’s just not Thanksgiving without family.  However, I’m very thankful this year knowing that they are back in the USA sending me all their love and support.  I love you all and miss you all.  Happy Thanksgiving!! ^_^ 

Jaime is singing into her chicken leg... ;)

Okay, at least one of those cheerleaders is a faker.