Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. I have such fond memories of various Thanksgivings. I look back at meals and recipes that were awful or poorly executed and I calculate my growth and maturity from those Thursdays.  In New York, on Wednesday nights, I went to see them blow up the floats. I love the parade and the musical numbers that are shown on t.v. I love the creation of family when you spend Thanksgiving with friends.  As if I am really molding acquaintances and colleagues into relatives. It is my favorite holiday.  There are no expectations beyond dinner.  And most people have dinner most nights.  

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Bulgaria.  But Borianka was thrilled with the idea of a day of giving thanks, so during my Russian lesson, we ate pumpkin banitzas and (in Russian) said what we were thankful for.  It was a pleasant afternoon. After various evening plans fell through, I had dinner with Julij at a really nice restaurant. I made him say what he was thankful for and  I repeated again why I was giving thanks: I am thankful that I am in Bulgaria, and having "experiences" (good or bad), and that I am ABD, and still excited about my work and quite positive about my academic/professional future, I am glad that both my parents are well and healthy, and that my family and friends are caring or simply storing my things while away: Skala is taken care of. And of course, I was super thankful that I wasn't in my apartment working all alone on my favorite holiday.  Happy Thanksgiving! If you are reading this, I really hope you had a great day!  And Saturday I go to the Socialist Art Museum!