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SCMP Reporter

Turkey, football, family and sleep

Jeffrey Lu

Philip's Academy of Andover Massachusetts, USA

The time has finally come: steaming plates of turkey, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes.

Our  teachers have told us  before that Thanksgiving commemorates the day when a group of pilgrims and native Americans  sat down and shared their food  in a display of love, thanks and affection.

But,  now that we're high school students, we've also realised it's a day  when hundreds of thousands of birds are slaughtered to help us appreciate the word 'thanks'.

As with most festivals, Thanksgiving has become  commercialised.

Thanksgiving means a little more than just a 10-day break for boarding students.

For many teenagers on campus, Thanksgiving equals football. American football, that is.

Nothing fits the stereotype of a Thanksgiving dinner better than a group of young men chewing turkey and watching the Thanksgiving football game with their beer-chugging dads.

For others, Thanksgiving signifies family time.

It's not unusual for an entire family, including  second cousins you never knew about, to get together over the dinner table.

And for the foreign students in the US,  Thanksgiving is a time  to catch up on the  sleep school has deprived us of.

One way or another,  all boarding school students are thankful for Thanksgiving, and we're happy to be part of this American tradition.

A surprising birthday treat

Elita Lai

Westminster School, London

Life as a boarding student may not appeal to everyone, especially when we read about ill-treated orphans in Charles Dickens novels. But, the experience can be much better if there's a  friendly matron.

I celebrated my birthday  during the half-term break when I was back in Hong Kong.

It was a real surprise when  the matron suddenly  appeared in my room and asked me what icing I wanted on my birthday cake. Three weeks had passed since my birthday, but  she still  remembered.

Boys are not allowed inside the girls' boarding house, and it is rumoured that boys who venture  even just to the doorsteps will get detention. As I also wanted to share my cake with my male friends, I brought the cake to the street corner.

The policeman keeping an eye out for terrorists watched us suspiciously as we carried the cake, hidden inside a black tin,  to the side of the road.

But  he didn't seem to think we were dangerous as we  lit candles and  everyone sang happy birthday to me.

It is said that no one can resist  the matron's cake, and, sure enough,  within minutes all that was left was crumbs.

If only the matron  cooked all the food at school.  But all we can do now is wait for another birthday to come.



STUDY ABROAD