Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope that you each have a wonderful day that is full of good food, good company, lots of laughter and lots of thankfulness.

It has been a bit of a rough day here in the Republic of Korea. Everyone is still unsettled by the North Korean bombing. I have a couple of students from Cambodia, and they are upset by the stampede that happened a few days ago. There is just a lot going on. A lot of pain and confusion for a lot of people.

It was especially nice to be able to take a step away from all of that stuff going on and talk to my students about thankfulness. It was nice to remember that there are so many wonderful things happening in each of our lives.

There were lots of things I missed about Thanksgiving in America. I missed seeing my family, and having a long weekend. I miss having an official kickoff to the Christmas season. But in some ways, it was really nice. I have really been able to stop and think about all of the things that make this day special that don't revolve around the NFL and cranberry sauce and stuffing. Those kinds of things, the things that are really important, transcend all sorts of language and culture barriers.

I hope that you enjoy your NFL and turkey today! But I also hope that you have the chance to really stop and think about all of the things in your life to be thankful for -- big things AND small things.