Planes, trains... Thanksgiving 2015

There are tons of movies about Christmas, about Santa and elves and coming home for the holidays. There is only one real movie about Thanksgiving: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's important to watch this film if you are not traveling for Thanksgiving (to be glad you aren't) and especially important if you are an American trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in a foreign country (as I am). It's also important in our house because it's one of Brian's favorites. I guess I love it too - when Steve Martin makes it home for Thanksgiving dinner, I cry every time.

Like all classic movies, you can find its characters somewhere in your life. This year I found a couple of Del Griffiths of my own. In case you are not familiar, Del is a traveling shower curtain ring salesman who has nowhere to go for Thanksgiving. The pair of Dels at our dinner were not shower curtain ring salesmen, but teachers, American teachers at that. When you know that an American is going to be alone on Thanksgiving - even in a place where no one celebrates it - you'd have to be even meaner than Neal Page to not take them in.

Thanksgiving celebrates all that is good and idealistic about America. Sure, the Indians and Pilgrims may not have been as peaceful as the story says, and I know they didn't eat Buterball turkey. But the idea that we celebrate together despite all the things that can drive us apart is more important than green bean casserole. And truly, consciously, being thankful for all the great things in life means more than whether your pumpkin pie is any good. There are a lot of aspects about the United States that I'm not proud of, but I am proud of this holiday. I like to explain to people that we - Americans of all religions and cultures - celebrate gratitude and unity on Thanksgiving. I know you don't see it lived out in the news every day, but we still can hope.

Neal Page would not have made it to suburban Chicago without the help of Del Griffith, a burned up rental car, a bus, a broken train, a cancelled flight and a meat truck. So bringing a couple of Dels into our Thanksgiving party helped Brian and I to make it a little closer to home too.

The attack that wasn't

Until last week, I could hardly imagine Hannover as the center of a terrorism scare. Hannoverians take an odd pleasure in lamenting how boring and unremarkable their town is (that's the subject of an upcoming post). But our sleepy little city made international news on Tuesday night. The German and Dutch national soccer teams were scheduled to play at the Hannover stadium, and Angela Merkel was coming to watch. Given the attack on Paris just a few days earlier, security was tight and people were nervous. And with good reason - an ambulance filled with explosives was found nearby and police received a threat of a bomb somewhere in the stadium. Players and fans were evacuated. No game was played. Another tip pointed to a bomb on a train at the main station. Police shut down part of the station and found a suspicious package.

No one was hurt, and no game was played. I don't know who won in this situation. Was it the good guys, because no bombs exploded and everyone went safely home to bed? Or the terrorists, or would-be terrorists, because they disrupted our peaceful, boring, lives? Because they shook up our town and got in our heads? Terrorists seem to have super power capabilities to be everywhere and nowhere. They have no territory and their enemies can be anyone.

The stadium is just a block from our school. Understandably the kids, families and staff were worried. But there was no reason to stay home - you're not safe there either. The only way to react is to do all the little things you usually would in your sleepy city - to go to school, play soccer, take a train somewhere. That's all you can do.

I was actually in a few airports on Tuesday night. I flew to Edinburgh for a school counselor's conference and didn't know about the developments in Hannover until I landed. I don't know anyone who was evacuated from the stadium or whose train never left the station. And so the news about Hannover is something that could have happened, but didn't. Even though the events of Tuesday night happened right where I live, I feel distant from them. I wish the same sort of distance to people around the world.

Missing and being missed

Hello again, dear readers, how I've missed you.

Since we last spoke I've been in Texas, Kansas City, Baltimore, Washington DC and back to Hannover. It was a strangely relaxing trip the US that was not actually a trip home. It made me appreciate the value of just sitting around with people who are family and people whose connection is harder to pin down but are just as much a part of our lives. Several of them are very tiny people.

I also received an imaginary cardboard check, visited the state department rubbed a few elbows on behalf of Play Global.

So, back in town and over the jet lag, today was my last day teaching grade 6-8 Spanish. I've learned a lot over the last couple of months, but I do not call myself a teacher by any means. Much like living in Germany doesn't prepare you to go anywhere less organized or safe, teaching at the international school does not prepare you to work anywhere where the kids are difficult or unpleasant or rebellious. But I will miss the little goofballs.
And, judging by the homemade cake and the sweaty pre-teen hugs I got today, they will miss me too.