Thanksgiving
My mom came up to Dallas around noon. She took me to a restaurant on a 27 floor that overlooked Downtown Dallas. It was a four-course meal with complimentary bottomless mimosas. Absolutely fantastic. After, we drove around Dallas and I showed her some of the residences I am working on at work. Then we went to a movie. She drove home around 8pm.
Now that thanksgiving has come and gone, I have satisfied my yearly requirement to be thankful and can go back to taking things for granted.
That is a bit cynical, isn't? But that represents what I am most thankful for this year. I am thankful for the fact that I can tell that is cynical. It seams that everyone is thankful for things -- family, friends, bosses, homes, technology, presents, so on -- tangible items.
What about the intangible things? The invisible things? I have always looked at life as a cup. You know the saying, "is it half full or half empty?" For me it's neither -- it's half with water and half with air -- always full. This year I am truly thankful for all the intangible things in my life (the invisible things, like air). My intelligence, feelings, personality, character, talent, creativity, health, memory and experiences. The things that make me who I am.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful or the typical things most people are thankful for around these days (especially family and friends), but I am truly thankful for the opportunities presented in my life.
Oh, and I am thankful you are reading my blog. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving & Bonn Christmas Market
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Being here in Germany on Thanksgiving is kind of hard. They do not celebrate it here and I really miss family. To help the "pain," the program I am here with gives all the students a Thanksgiving party; with turkey and all. I think I said that AIB has students from Texas A&M University and from LMU from California. The party was a joint Thanksgiving, so it was nice to have more Americans around to help celebrate and create the Thanksgiving mood. It was a nice dinner. We had pounds of mashed potatoes, 6 turkeys, stuffing, salad, fruit salad, green beans, souffles, cobblers, pies, and more.
After the two hour dinner, the Texas students went to Bonn Christmas Market-- and the Glühwein was flowing. The markets take over the plazas in the city. They set up little quaint themepark villages. It is such a cool experience. The shops, lights, food, smells, sights, merchants, so on. All that was missing was caroling; which supposedly starts in December. The cup system here is neat. You go up and order your drink. Included in the price is a deposit on your cup/mug. If you like the cup/mug you just keep it and your deposit is the cost of the cup/mug; or you can go up and give it back and receive your deposit back. The Christmas mugs this year is a hand painted strong mug with scenes from around Bonn, so I kept mine as a souvenir. Oh yeah, I also did the same in Vienna.
In other news, today also marks the last day of my semester classes! Whoop! No more classes. Now I have 9 days of traveling, roaming, relaxing, and packing. I am going to Barcelona, Spain, November 29th till December 2nd. Then, home to Texas on December 8th at 9am (German time). It really is bitter-sweet. I want to stay, but I really want to go home.