Thanksgiving and Equality

Talk about a difference in holidays!

I know Thanksgiving is a very distinctly American Holiday, but it surprises me how no one I talked to here in Cape Town knew about it. Not one person had even heard of it. Very surprising.

We got the weekend off because of the holiday (Thursday-Sunday), so Wednesday was the end of our work week. It so such a relief to have a few days to ourselves. It's great to think I'll have a few days to myself to react.

Before we left for the break, my Service Placement held a "Equality and Equity" round table discussion, which was supposed to be facilitated by the four of us from BW. In theory, it sounds cool, but none of us knew what we were supposed to be doing. We don't know the laws here that well, and no amount of reading about them is going to give us enough experience and knowledge to talk about them.

Luckily, it turned out to be more of a USA/International  and South Africa discussion headed by one of Nombulelo's friends (Actually, the guy who taught us some isisXhosa). It was interesting to see South African views on certain things and to be able to give an outside "fresh" perspective on issues here. Very cool experience.

We ended up doing Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night instead of Thursday just so that we would have Thursday night to ourselves. For most people on the trip, it was the first major holiday they spent away from their family. From a sociological perspective, it was interesting to see how everyone dealt with that, and who broke their "I'm not calling home" promise.

During dinner, we all went around and said what we were/are thankful for (you know, the whole point of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for what your thankful for), and I realized that I have so much to be thankful for but I don't appreciate it or show my thanks nearly enough.

If this trip has taught me anything (which is a whole different conversation), it's definitely to appreciate what I have and to appreciate the little things more. Sometimes, the simplicity is the best part.

To use one of my favorite song lyrics:

"If you're too busy talking, 

you're not busy listening, 

So quiet your mind"

Sometimes, all you need to do is appreciate what you have right in front of you. Nothing else.

P.S.: I tried explaining the Thanksgiving Holiday to Lungisa, the SHAWCO guy who set up our service placements. He was very surprised to find that we teach Thanksgiving in schools (you know, the whole mass murder aspect).