Snow and Thanksgiving

It is snowing. It has certainly been cold enough lately to snow, but we are next to the Gobi Desert, so it is usually not humid enough. We were in our Friday study, and during that hour, it started and a skiff was all ready covering everything. The people we were with were excited. Me, not so much. Biking in snow is OK, but not my absolute favorite.

I bet my Thanksgiving meal was different from yours. No turkey, no stuffing, no green beans, no sweet potatoes, no pumpkin pies. We did have mashed potatoes, I think. We were at a buffet with the chuch family. There were individual bowls of mashed potatoes with carrots and corn mixed in. They were not hot, but not cold either. It may have been potato salad?? We also had sesame chicken, beef and onions, mixed whole vegetables, toasted white bread and butter, rice, noodles, watermelon, tangerines, and cookies. A Chinese friend we were with said, “Oh, this is not as heavy as a Chinese meal.” I looked at the bread, rice, noodles, potatoes and asked her to clarify. Her meaning was that it was not heavily spiced. She said it looked like this was a Chinese conception of what a Western meal would be. It was good, but NOT a Western meal. We had a nice time with friends.  Yesterday, Thanksgiving, we had taught for 4-6 hours, napped a bit, called a Didi (Chinese Uber), and journeyed through rush hour to get to the buffet. I did not have time to recognize it as Thanksgiving hardly. Maybe today as I looked at postings from friends and family I did feel slightly lonely.