From Grits to Chopsticks

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a special day for “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.”  In his proclamation, he invited all Americans to give thanks, including “those who are sojourning in foreign lands.”  We were privileged to travel an hour north by plane and join other sojourners around a wonderful table of thanksgiving:

It was so good to spend this time with Timothy who is finishing up his first semester of Chinese study.  Based on the fact that he was able to safely get us around town (chatting with cab drivers and restaurant staff along the way), it appears that the Chinese classes are paying off.  On Friday morning, we were surprised to see an Israeli juggler and unicyclist at Tienfu square:

He wasn’t the only “unique” rider of the weekend.  Timothy had the opportunity to try and teach this monk how to ride his cycle:

This guy could really impress his friends if he could ride smoothly down the street with unicycle hidden under his robe (like he was just hovering along).  After the obligatory photos in front of the giant Mao statue in the square, we went into the adjacent science museum.  Inside, we took the opportunity to joke about Darwinian pseudoscience, giving a more accurate view of humanity’s “actual” prehistoric ancestor:

Early the next morning, we travelled to the Chengdu panda preserve.  It was misty as we wandered through the grounds and watched the pandas eating breakfast.  They have a unique style of eating, one that was inspirational to Timothy:

In typical Chengdu fashion, we never saw the sun during our visit.  But it was certainly good to see our son!