Last week, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. It's always been one of my favorite holidays, and not just because I love stuffing myself with mashed potatoes and pie. I also love spending time with family (a little tricky when you live across the world) and the chance to reflect on the things in my life I am grateful for. It's a common practice for Americans to make lists of these things. In the past, my lists usually looked something like this: I’m grateful for my parents, my friends, my job, God, my life, delicious food, etc. When I moved to China a year ago, I added “living abroad” to the list but for the most part it remained the same.

This year, however, as I reflected on the things that I am thankful for, I discovered that living in China for over a year has given me a very different perspective on gratitude. I’ve taken so many things for granted my entire life and it took moving to China to make me realize how thankful I am for them. This changed perspective has made me grateful for a myriad of little things that usually get glossed over when I make the ritual “gratitude list” during this time of year.

Here are 10 things I NEVER thought I’d be grateful for until I moved to China.'

1. I’m grateful for bathrooms that are equipped with toilet paper.
Even though I am now used to the BYOT (Bring Your Own Tissue) rule, I know it will be nice to go back home to the States and not worry about always bringing a purse pack of tissues with me. And when you actually discover a public restroom here in China that provides toilet paper...ah! It's a miracle. Better keep note of it for future reference.

2. I’m grateful for the freedom of speech.
We memorize the 10 amendments in school but don’t give them much thought. After all, that’s just the way things are, right? Living here has made me grateful that I am very free to express my thoughts in America. While my initial perspective of China has changed since coming here (I now know there is no Big Brother peeking into everyone’s living rooms), the truth remains that there are certain topics I am not allowed to discuss. I’ve been in conversations where one person brought up a “taboo” topic and every other Chinese person in the conversation immediately shut down because they didn’t want to risk someone hearing them discussing it. While I think some people take their freedom of speech a little too far, it definitely is nice to have it.

3. I’m grateful for stop signs.
Who actually likes stop signs? A year ago I would have been confused to see this on a “gratitude” list. But having lived in a land where stop signs are basically non-existent and there are literally no rules governing who goes in a 4-way intersection…I have a great love for those red octagons now.

4. I’m grateful that I got to choose my own college major.
I’ll admit there were some moments where I wished someone else would just choose for me. I didn’t go through as many switches as some of my friends–I started in music and later ended in psychology–but it was still a difficult decision. There were days when I secretly wished someone else would pick for me…but honestly, I would not have been pleased if my university had assigned my major. Can you imagine getting a letter the month before you started university that said, “Congratulations, you are an Arabic major!” or “You will be studying food science”? Many of my English majors had little to no say in what they studied. I have some students who can barely even speak English and clearly have no plans to use it once they graduate. While I know this isn’t the case for all Chinese students, many of mine chose to attend a more prestigious university in return for sacrificing their ability to choose their own major.

5. I’m grateful to have a shower in my apartment.
Bless my students’ hearts. They don’t have showers in their dorms and they have to walk outside to a separate building, sometimes a couple blocks away, in order to take a shower. Sure, that’s great in the summer…but when it’s 10 degree Celsius or colder here? Not so pleasant to be wandering around with wet hair. Let’s be real, if I had to walk ouside to take a shower in winter it would just not happen. I’d be dousing on the perfume instead.

6. I’m grateful for American breakfasts.
Give me waffles, French toast, muffins, coffee cake, smoothies, bacon, and cold cereal for any meal and I will be a happy woman. I’m a huge breakfast lover. I never realized what a glorious breakfast tradition we have in America until I moved overseas. Sorry China; as much as I love your food I just can’t do dumplings and noodles at 8 am.

7. I’m grateful for uncensored internet.
This one's self-explanatory. I know you're all right there with me.

8. I’m grateful for the Chinese value of collectivism.
Being raised as an American, the value of independence was drilled into my head from before I could walk. I’m a huge advocate of independence (after all, I live alone in a foreign country…) but one problem with growing up in an individualistic culture is that I’m not very good at asking for or accepting help. I feel like I should be able to accomplish everything by myself. Chinese children are raised with a more collectivist mindset, which to me translates to mean “we all work together to take care of each other.” Any time I find myself lost or otherwise unable to communicate what I want, I can be certain that within five minutes I will have a whole crowd of well-meaning Chinese people surrounding me and trying to decipher my subpar Mandarin. If I need help of any sort, I know I have a phone full of contacts who would willingly drop what they are doing to assist me. I’ve been the recipient of so much selfless service here!

9. I’m grateful to have a sense of purpose in my life.
One of the things that shocked me most about my students was how few of them seem to have long-term goals. Very few of them have a sense of purpose or any idea of what they’re working towards. From what I’ve observed, what drives many of them is their desire to make money so that they can buy more things. In my time here, I’ve tried to help them see that there is a lot more to life than buying things.

10. I’m grateful for clean air.
My body has never been so happy as it was when I went home for the summer and got to soak in some pure Washington air. Having a cough for 9 months straight because the air you breathe is so polluted? Not pleasant. Luckily I seem to be doing a bit better this time around...

Alduous Huxley said, "Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted." Living in China has made me realize just how many things I DID take for granted! I hope for the rest of my life that every time I show up to a public restroom and find it stocked with TP it reminds me just how much I have to be grateful for.

--Kelli 凯丽