Nastilicious: Happy Thanksgiving

This is my first Thanksgiving post out of four ( I still have three other years to be here at Wartburg College, the plan of going to a grad school and working here are not yet included). I woke up today at 11.30, it was pretty late for a Thanksgiving lunch at 12. But I made it tho.

The weather was really nice too. It was breezy but sunny. Heidi and Lee picked us up to the Peace United Church, somewhere in Waverly, ten minutes from the campus. When everybody had arrived, Heidi's husband, Jonathan, said a grace and his father said prayer. Jonathan said he is thankful of getting to know us, the international students and having us here. I can't remember the last time when I prayed communally before eating with my family, probably my last farewell before heading to the America.

Lee said Thanksgiving is an American culture when family always gets together. His son who is in marine in North Carolina wished that he could be home, but he is on duty.

As an Indonesian, I know Thanksgiving from American movies or TV series. Everybody wants to be home for Thanksgiving, just like Christmas and New Year's Eve. I watched in Eat, Pray and Love that before the dinner, they usually say what they are thankful for. from the Gossip Girl, it is a moment when the busiest New Yorkers get together, even just to eat french fries together around the table.

After the lunch, we headed by to the campus. It was already 3pm, still sunny. I decided to enjoy the sun and had a bike-riding around Waverly. At the back of the Nestle factory, there is a long bike rail. Something that I always wished we had a kind of one in Jakarta. To the right and to the left, there are trees, empty green field. Once, I saw a beautiful small red bird. The rail's length is 7 miles. I touched down until Prairie Run, I had to go back because it started to get dark. I took a lot of picture of myself. Since it's Thanksgiving, my first Thanksgiving, I want to make it memorable.

So, let me saying grace what I have been thankful for.
I am thankful for my my beautiful famliy, my mother, my father, my brother and my grandparents.
I am thankful for making it this year to the United States, my parents were really worried I would just be in the waiting list of all the colleges that I applied to.
I am thankful for getting B+ in Math class, what an improvement!
I am thankful for today when I called my relative in Chicago, she offered us a place to stay for the rest of the three weeks and Sherika's uncle would drive us to Chicago!
I am thankful for my first article in In My Opinion Blog The Jakarta post received really good responses from many people. Thirteen people liked and share it on Facebook.
I am thankful for my new life I am twenty now, and my birthday party was a blast.
I am thankful for every breathe I take, for all friends I have, for Mother Earth.