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October 21, 2011
stuffed (adj.)
Thanks, October. I'm officially stuffed.
Yup, it's Thanksgiving season, which means pies and turkeys and well, stuffing, galore. This was the first time I didn't spend the holiday with my family and friends, and I gotta say it made me thankful for them even more because they weren't around. They were all out of town - though, admittedly, so was I.
I spent my Thanksgiving (wait for it) in Maple Ridge, at a ranch, with 150 Japanese students and 10 fellow chaperones.
We ate our fill, of turkey (which we kept referring to as "a big chicken") and gravy ("the sauce"); of bread and mashed potatoes (that did a lousy job of replacing the staple of rice). It was our "final feast" after having spent the whole week together.
The group of 13 girls I was responsible for were ridiculously cute and my heart was just so full (stuffed?!) with love for them. They ooh-ed and aww-ed at all these "Canadianisms" that, I, too once had to get used to (cranberry sauce with meat? are you kidding?!) and it reminded me of my first days as a kid in Canada. It was incredibly awesome to see that I had left a mark on them too, just as they did on me:
My girls wrote me the most adorable little letters of thanks, which they handed me as we ate our dessert together than night - along with a ridiculous amount of silly gifts (I have enough chopsticks, origami paper, and pickled plum candy to last me a lifetime).
I
t's very rewarding to learn about a new culture, meet new students, and know that I've really influenced how these kids will remember their first trip overseas, how they will approach new experiences that may scare them -like speaking English or trying stuffing for the first time (which, when they asked what it was, I unfortunately said "it's mixture cooked inside turkey." What troopers!)
Though I've done this a few times before, the whole experience still makes me beam with every new group I take under my little wing. I really think that this cultural exchange gig I do every year is something to be thankful for - I come away from it utterly exhausted, but also very satisfied.
Ah :) I guess, I'm stuffed with turkey as much as I'm stuffed with joy!
I came away so exhausted from working this round that I also found myself bed-ridden the following day + give or take 5 days on top of that... cough, fever, Kleenex, the whole gambit. I've thankfully gotten a lot better (and mustered up the energy to host a dinner for 18 people tonight!) but my nose is still stuffed.
On the bright side (really looking to be thankful here!), being a sleepy hermit for 5 days straight did give me an excuse to take a break from thinking about my thesis for over a week. I just kinda watched 30 Rock a lot and said "stuff it, 13,000 word count!" I've told myself that once my nose de-stuffs, all will be right with the world and I'll be back to thesis-ing.
and finally..My brain is stuffed!
I didn't realize how stuffed my brain was before I took this last week off because I was sick. I had literally gone into overdrive trying to work on my thesis every day (ambitious yes; efficient, no). Thinking about the same ideas all the time and working with an intimidatingly large number of words and reports and files to go through was just kind of making me crazy. The last two weeks have cleared my head and I am so so ready to take on the last two sections of my stupid thesis, (which at this point itself looks pretty stuffed with gibberish and nonsense). Oh well!
Now, off to cook so I can stuff my friends' faces tonight :)
Yup, it's Thanksgiving season, which means pies and turkeys and well, stuffing, galore. This was the first time I didn't spend the holiday with my family and friends, and I gotta say it made me thankful for them even more because they weren't around. They were all out of town - though, admittedly, so was I.
I spent my Thanksgiving (wait for it) in Maple Ridge, at a ranch, with 150 Japanese students and 10 fellow chaperones.
 |
| my stomach: stuffed. |
The group of 13 girls I was responsible for were ridiculously cute and my heart was just so full (stuffed?!) with love for them. They ooh-ed and aww-ed at all these "Canadianisms" that, I, too once had to get used to (cranberry sauce with meat? are you kidding?!) and it reminded me of my first days as a kid in Canada. It was incredibly awesome to see that I had left a mark on them too, just as they did on me:
My girls wrote me the most adorable little letters of thanks, which they handed me as we ate our dessert together than night - along with a ridiculous amount of silly gifts (I have enough chopsticks, origami paper, and pickled plum candy to last me a lifetime).
t's very rewarding to learn about a new culture, meet new students, and know that I've really influenced how these kids will remember their first trip overseas, how they will approach new experiences that may scare them -like speaking English or trying stuffing for the first time (which, when they asked what it was, I unfortunately said "it's mixture cooked inside turkey." What troopers!)
Though I've done this a few times before, the whole experience still makes me beam with every new group I take under my little wing. I really think that this cultural exchange gig I do every year is something to be thankful for - I come away from it utterly exhausted, but also very satisfied.
Ah :) I guess, I'm stuffed with turkey as much as I'm stuffed with joy!
 |
| my nose: stuffed, too. |
On the bright side (really looking to be thankful here!), being a sleepy hermit for 5 days straight did give me an excuse to take a break from thinking about my thesis for over a week. I just kinda watched 30 Rock a lot and said "stuff it, 13,000 word count!" I've told myself that once my nose de-stuffs, all will be right with the world and I'll be back to thesis-ing.
and finally..My brain is stuffed!
I didn't realize how stuffed my brain was before I took this last week off because I was sick. I had literally gone into overdrive trying to work on my thesis every day (ambitious yes; efficient, no). Thinking about the same ideas all the time and working with an intimidatingly large number of words and reports and files to go through was just kind of making me crazy. The last two weeks have cleared my head and I am so so ready to take on the last two sections of my stupid thesis, (which at this point itself looks pretty stuffed with gibberish and nonsense). Oh well!
Now, off to cook so I can stuff my friends' faces tonight :)
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