The obligatorily cheesy Thanksgiving post

When talking about Thanksgiving with my classes this week, I told them about the tradition that a lot of families have - that of, after they've sat down at the table and before they've started eating, going around in a circle and having everyone say something they're thankful for. I asked my classes what they would say, and a lot of them had trouble coming up with things, shrugging at me in that sort of teenager way that suggest that life sucks and gratefulness is cheesy, thank you very much.

Well, anyway, even through I'm not at home with my family this year (and haven't been at the last three Thanksgivings), there's a lot I'm thankful for.

I'm really thankful that I have this wonderful opportunity to spend a year in Berlin. I know I complain a lot, both on this blog and in private correspondence, but the positive aspects of life here outweigh the negative. I may sometimes be annoyed at the students and their failure to pay attention or their complaining or whatever, but I'm learning a lot about teaching - primarily that, given time and lots of practice, I think I can become a pretty good teacher. And of course the city of Berlin is terrific. I've been here for more than two months, and I'm still infatuated with it.

I'm grateful for my family - for my parents, who have been really supportive of my whole "overseas experiment," even though I know the thought that I'm on the other side of the world sort of freaks them out. And for my sister, who's coming to visit over Christmas - a big thing for her, since she doesn't really like traveling. Or Europe. But I'm really excited that she's coming.

And of course for my terrific friends - I know that when I graduated, I had this sense that I was being torn from people I'd really come to care a lot about, particularly since I was going so far away and wouldn't be back for Homecoming or be able to visit people in Boston. And I do miss people, including those I've kept in touch with - I miss griping about work, and going to dinner in the dining hall en masse, and doing all the things that belong to student life. But I really met a lot of lovely people during college, and I'm interested in seeing what sort of adults we'll all turn out to be.

And I'm grateful, of couse, for the fundamentals. For having a place to sleep, food, clean water, good health - things that I mostly take for granted, and that most of the world doesn't have.

Anyway, a happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and hope everyone has a good long weekend!