Edits, Corrections, Forgiveness?

So this will probably be the shortest and also most random blog I have ever posted. In my last post about Thanksgiving and be happy and blah blah blah, I made a comment something along the lines of:

"and Brad brought oreos (yes, I did just call you out for bringing oreos)"

This here is my public plea for forgiveness for ever so brazenly calling you out on my blog.

I in fact told Brad to "just bring oreos".

In my defense, I said that because I knew he would just bring oreos.

But nonetheless, my sincerest apology for calling you out.

Please refer to the rest of the blog though in which I give glowing reviews of all my wonderful friends and how so much of my happiness is due to them.

ahem.

That is all.

Gratitude = Happiness

So at the beginning of the semester, I taught my students about the saying "the best ever" and I've kind of realized in the last few days I have been saying that phrase...a lot. I mean, how often do we call a day "the best day ever"? Or say that we couldn't possibly picture feeling happier or more alive? Well, I gonna say it again and I'm sure it won't be the last time, but I'm pretty sure I just had the best two days of my life. And I firmly believe that my happiness is directly linked to the spirit of Thanksgiving. You can't have true happiness unless you fully appreciate and be grateful for the things you've been blessed with. And man have I been truly blessed. 

For starters, I'm in China. Never in a million years did I think I would even go to China for vacation. I always thought my life would lead me to one grand traveling adventure and that adventure was always going to take me to Europe. But then life threw me a curve ball and said "hey Ashley, why don't you check out China?" and so I did. And I fell in love. And then I got to see parts of the world I didn't even think to dream about seeing. Windows and doors and gates and heck, alleys have opened up to me that I just honestly couldn't even imagined to be part of my life. And here I am, living out this adventure, and I really can't even aptly name it an adventure because it is just my life. I am so incredibly grateful that China has become a part of my story. And I don't even know how to express how blessed I feel to be here, doing what I'm doing, meeting the people I'm meeting. 

And to back it up a little bit, I absolutely love Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite food. It just screams to me family and food and football. I mean, those are the three most important F's I guess...oh I forgot friends. Friends are important too. The four most important F's, and that's way more appropriate since four also starts with F. But I was kinda dreading Thanksgiving because I was sure it would bring on an incurable bout of homesickness. And I'm not gonna sit here and say that I didn't miss home on Thursday because I did. I felt like I should have been peeling potatoes at the table while my dad smothered a naked turkey with butter and we blasted classic rock. Or I should have been sitting on the couch with my sister and aunts and uncles and cousins watching football and stealing deviled eggs from the fridge in the garage while Nanny wasn't looking. 

But instead, I taught 6 classes and ate a rather mediocre school lunch and a not so thrilling dinner. That may sound gloomy, but it wasn't. I love my students. I love seeing their enthusiasm and excitement planning a skit that they really shouldn't be excited about. I love introducing my elective course students to country music and seeing them bop their heads up and down while doing their homework and listening to a Tim McGraw song. And my anticipation for the next two days didn't really allow me to feel sad anyway. Sure, again I wish I could have been home to celebrate with my family and stuff my face with delicious food. But I probably wouldn't have fully realized what all I'm grateful for if that was what my day had been. I wouldn't have been able to reflect on all the past years and realize how good I've had it and how good my life will likely continue to be. And just knowing I have people back home loving me and missing me (and let's face it, missing my cooking) was enough. I just hope they all realize how much I love and miss them too. 

But as I said, I was anxiously anticipating the next two days. I managed to rope myself into planning a Thanksgiving type dinner for a group of Chinese friends. And I mean I definitely don't exactly know what I was thinking when I offered it, really I wasn't thinking. I just love to cook and hated knowing that they wouldn't be able to participate in the Thanksgiving meal we would be having on Saturday and I wanted a chance to give something to my friends that I could. Was I able to truly prepare a Thanksgiving meal? No. But the food you eat doesn't really matter when it comes to Thanksgiving. Its the people you're with and the friendship and love you share with those people. Its the gratitude you feel for getting to have those people be part of your life. And that is what I constantly reminded myself as I endlessly stressed about this dinner I planned.

When I plan a dinner party, I usually don't think about the logistics, I just feel the need to outdo whatever it was I did last. I always have to be better than myself. I also am somewhat a freak about planning. I think I usually hide that side of myself pretty well, but if you saw my notebook in the days leading up to this dinner, it would have made your head spin. It had various menus planned out, potential bedroom rearrangement to accommodate guests, budgets, time tables...I had it all mapped out and planned out and for once, things actually mostly followed my plan.  So anyway, I decided I would make BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, a veggie salad, and rosemary bread. And I managed to successfully pull that all off on two hot plates and a rice cooker. Not gonna lie, I was pretty impressed with myself. My only short coming (because of course I have to criticize myself) is that I decided I wouldn't make a dessert and left that up to Brad and he brought Oreos (yes, I did just call you out, but I mean it in the nicest way possible). And I discovered that mango flavored oreos are actually good. So there you go. 

The dinner was wonderful. The food came out better than I could have hoped for, I didn't run out of food which is always a fear when feeding 12 (...I don't actually remember how many people there were now?). People seemed to truly enjoy themselves. Old friends got to catch up. New friends were made. Skip-Bo was played. Christmas music was listened to. I mean, you can't call the combination of all that anything but a success.  So there is day one of the two days of pure awesomeness. 

Day Two was something that I had really been looking forward to for a while. I had been invited to a Thanksgiving meal with real turkey and everything. There was also the "turkey bowl" in the morning...meaning I got to play football. It was practically like being in America for Thanksgiving. And from start to finish, Saturday was purely an amazing day. It started with dragging Clara to go play football with me. And though she was hesitant as she had never played football and was convinced it would be boring and awful, I'm pretty sure she had just as much a blast as I did. Except for the fact that my team totally kicked her team's butt. And I scored a touchdown. And I did a victory dance. So ya, I was flying on cloud nine and it was only 10am. I then had to rush home and get ready for the meal that was at 2pm. I had to finish baking my cake that was my contribution to the pot luck style meal. Because I couldn't quite make an pumpkin pie in my rice cooker (and I really don't like pumpkin pie anyway) I decided to attempt a caramel apple cake (which I also don't like baked apples, but I mean I figured that was more festive than a plain ol' cake). Clara also made a German potato salad to bring and we set off for the meal. 

Of course we were running late which I absolutely hated but there was nothing I could do about it. And to be honest, I was letting that fact weigh me down and I was letting other annoyances bring me down too. And as we walked from the metro to where the meal was, I pretty much came to the conclusion that my day was shot and I'd be in a bad mood and blah blah blah. But apparently the world had something else in store for me because even if I tried to have a bad time at the meal, I don't think I could have. I was surrounded by friends and food (and I had already played football that day). Three of my F's were fulfilled. And let's face it, sometimes friends are family. Every role was being fulfilled by someone in that large room. There were the old ladies who just screamed (not literally) of being the best grandma ever. There were the dad's embarrassing teenage daughters. There were little kids running around being adorable. I was 7000 miles away form home but there at the same time. The food was stellar, the entertaining talent show was just that, entertaining. It was great. And when I left, my cake container was empty so clearly I did something right in that department as well. I have to say again though how lucky and blessed I am for all I have. If it hadn't been for my amazing friends inviting me to that dinner, I wouldn't have found another piece of home in China. Some people are just so giving and kind and accepting. I was welcomed with open arms into a group of people that didn't know me. And for that I am grateful. I'm grateful that good people still exist in this world. I grateful that I am able to surround myself with such amazing and uplifting people. 

Now, if we really want to get down to why these two days were the best two days ever, anyone who knows anything about me and my life in China has to know how those two days ended. That's right KTV. And I am beyond thrilled because I am now the proud owner of my very own KTV VIP card. A new KTV place is opening up at the end of December and they currently are having a trial period special offer.  If you purchase their VIP card for 50 rmb, you get a voucher for 2 hours of free KTV. So basically you pay 50 rmb for two hours of KTV which is incredibly awesome. Now I've been to 4 or 5 different KTV places and each place has its own perks ranging from favorable price to song selection to cleanliness etc. This place had quite a good thing going for it. I'm not sure what the real prices are going to be when it opens for real, but this trial price deal definitely gives it an A+ for the time being. Its brand new so obviously it was clean and pretty and smelled good. Another A+. The room was small and cozy for our party size, in fact it was a perfect size for us, another A+. The room also had a tambourine and two maracas and a standing microphone that had free circular motion. This got it an A+++. Finally the song selection. I didn't really go to far in the depths of the song selection because we only had two hours. But they had my one staple song, "Chiquitita" and it had a song that I have been desperately searching for at KTV since I first came to China. So again, A+. For two hours I jumped around and sang my heart out until I had the raspiest voice and a slight headache. It was more than amazing. The only feeling occupying my mind, body, and soul was pure bliss. 

So yes, I had the two best days ever. And most of that is thanks to the people I spent those two days with. I don't think I could ever fully express my gratitude to those who make this life such a beautiful thing, but I'm going to keep trying. And as I said at the beginning, my happiness is so closely tied to the fact I can recognize how grateful I am. When I take the time to remember all I have to be grateful for, I also realize just how happy I am. Saying "thank you" or recognizing gratitude really is just a reflection on what you've been given, and how can you think about what you've been given without feeling happy for receiving it?  So yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This world has made me one happy girl.