This tiny bird may look/taste like chicken, but everyone knows that turkeys are much dumber, and turkey farmers who export to Japan are much smarter since they can charge 10 times the price. For Nicole's and my first turkey attempt, she did all the work of defrosting and cleaning and pulling out the guts, while I was the salt shaker and oven supervisor. It smelled just like being home (without the inevitable burning phase... um... I mean...sorry Mom...), and the scent of it cooking lured Kim-Long from a completely different floor of the aparto, which proves that the way to a man's heart really IS through his stomach. Or at least through the olfactory glands, but that's not as catchy. This time of year, I especially miss my Tofurkey and Quorn. One of those might have been more appropriate in support of those little Thai orphans who don't eat meat, but not as American.

On this national holiday there was also something called "Ai Festa" at the International Center, which I assumed meant "Love Festival". Funny, the guy holding the sign was wearing sunglasses indoors. And then someone came in with a seeing-eye dog. And then another came... and another. It was a conference/event for the blind, using a rare PUN! A bit of black humour perhaps? Yvonne, who is fully-sighted, (pictured to the left of Jon and Ume) claims she *accidentally* tripped some dude (fully unsighted!) in the elevator line. Love Festival indeed, Ms. Yvonne!