When we're recording this, actually, we're here on
Labor Day weekend
in The United States which is held
in the first
Monday in September.
And for that reason, I've laid in a
little bit of a sound effect of people
mowing lawns here for us
to,
to make us feel like in at least
in The United States, we'll understand that that
that is sort of a thing you do
at this time of year and it has
to get done. So I thought I'd do
just do a little, what they call in
the audio biz,
a bed
underneath us of, of lawn mowing for a
little bit.
Now
That's my soundtrack.
I see. And Dean Foster, what were you
being there? That's a barbecue.
Oh, that was a barbecue. Very nice. Okay.
Okay. I thought my TV was on the
fritz.
Because
because Labor Day is also celebrated by barbecues
and people being outside and getting together. The
last the last
hurrah for the summer. Right. That it's yes.
All the official end of summer. It is
the unofficial end of but many people believe
it's the official one, but that doesn't happen
for another few weeks. Yeah.
But anyway, yeah, sure.
It's sort of in Again, in The U.
S, it's a time when those who go
to summer resorts,
beaches,
whatever they happen to go to, usually that
wraps up
on this first
weekend in September. Right. You know, and it's
quite bizarre because
most schools in The US actually start well
before Labor Day. There's only a handful that
start down the middle of the day. More
now than it ever was before. Yeah. And
and I, you know, I people are going
back to school in mid August and and
even earlier. So it's very it's it's very
odd. There really doesn't seem to be any
reason to have Labor Day. If it never
was from a cultural perspective.
I mean, The US actually Wait, hold on.
There's a there's a there's a cultural There's
a cultural piece to this. There really is.
Really? I'm trademarked.
Yep.
Because TM or TM. Not yet, but it
should be. Patent pending. And I think we
should talk about this because
Yes.
Oops.
Your culture showing.
And you're Tom Peterson. I am, and you're
Dean Foster. And here's the cultural piece. Oh.
Oh. Here's the cultural piece. Here it is.
Hold on. Hold on.
Can I get a drum roll? No? Okay.
The rest of the world, if they celebrate
Labor Day, and many countries do, don't celebrate
it now. The US is the only country
that celebrates Labor Day on this crazy day
that the schools are still are actually open.
I'm I'm wondering if we have any idea
why that would be. Most of countries that
celebrate Labor Day do so on May 1.
Okay. Why and why would that May 1
is is the celebration
of
the socialist
revolution originally.
Mhmm. Now not necessarily the communist revolution, but
the socialist revolution Wait. Hold on. Which is
tied politically to the workers' rights and workers'
revolution. Right. Which are basically the idea of
socialism
in in that sense. Exactly. Socialism
as as a
as a concept.
Right. Not not as it's been politically reinterpreted
in America today. Because as I was going
to say, you're you're you're telling me socialism
and communism are not the same thing?
Very different actually. Yes. Well, communism a little
offshoot of a version of socialism.
It it it was something unique to the
Russian experiment. Absolutely. Right. Yes. And is not
there. So there is this tinge of red
and pink to
to to to Labor Day. It's been viewed,
certainly,
in The United States
as something that we can't participate in if
it's if it's May 1 because that lends
credence
to the workers' revolution and to socialism. Uh-huh.
So we had to find an alternate date
in The US. Right. I actually do not
know how they chose the first Monday in
Sydney. Behind that. I don't know that either.
As long as it wasn't the first the
the first Monday in in May Mayday? Or
Mayday, the first day in May, then, then
I guess everything was okay. Well, also Mayday
for for many, many years.
Aside from that, Mayday was celebrated for other
reasons just because of the beginning of spring
and and
the warmer weather and there was the May
poll that that people would dance around with
long streamers and things like that that people
would do. So it was already kind of
a May I guess, May Day in that
sense was came before
the application of Labor Day to it? Yeah.
I mean, we could it'll be interesting to
find out why why May 1 was chosen
as a day of celebrating workers and workers'
rights. You know what date? Workers struggle.
I can I can yeah? I can take
a look. Wait. Torren. Torren's here. Oh. Torren's
here. Hi. Hi. Hi. I can see him
over there in the corner. Him. Oh. And
I should also note that Were you mowing
the lawn? Is that
okay? It was not, which is why we
need the the sound in the back of
the zipper your bed. Yes. Very comfortable bed.
A bed. I should note too that
this episode is coming out on Thanksgiving Day
in The US. And so Right. Folks are
wondering why are we talking about Labor Day,
and we mentioned that's when we're recording this.
But we're also we thought we'd talk holidays
because it is it is a How about
that? Holiday in The US. But, you know,
that And and don't be jealous because it
is still warm while we're recording. I know
it may not be depending where you are.
It may be nice and warm where you
are. Right. But if you're in the New
England where we are, it's, it's gonna be
a little cold. Moment and this is getting
very bizarre now. I mean, we're doing time
travel. You're in there. We're asking our listeners
to to time travel the numbers. They can
do it.
I'm having trouble doing this. I mean, so
it really is you. It's US Labor Day.
It's not it's not May 1 Labor Day
in
elsewhere. Right? Okay. Alright. Well, it is it
is elsewhere, but it's not that day. But
it could be that day because you don't
have to actually listen to it when it's
released. So you could be listening to it
after the fact, which could be May 1.
Oh my goodness. Oh, now I'm really, really
Ew. My brain. But it's really around Thanksgiving
time, we think. Is that wordplay?
No. No. No. No. Is that,
Okay. Never mind.
Here's
another cultural thing that I'm observing about. I'm
overloading on cultural things. Well,
that's the whole purpose of the story. Oh,
never mind. I'm okay then.
I'm I'm recalling many times when I have
been
abroad. That means from my country's perspective, away
from The US. When I have been abroad
on a US holiday.
Uh-huh.
And like Thanksgiving,
Thanksgiving for some reason,
I've spent many Thanksgivings elsewhere outside of The
US. And it's a very strange experience. Is
it? How come?
Because, first of all, you get perspectives on
on on yourself
when you're outside of your first country. I
mean, I never feel more
in some ways, not always, but in some
ways, I never feel more US American than
I do when I'm outside of my country,
for whatever reason at any time because you're
exposed you're you're being who you are in
a culture that is different, and so you
really begin to get perspective on on what
that means, on what it means to be
a US American. Right? Okay. Now it for
me, that goes on to steroids
when I'm abroad on a on a US
American holiday. You're admitting to something then here.
Like
Well, sure. You're on the juice is what
you're telling me.
Okay. So, I mean, I I can remember
one time being in,
in Bratislava,
which is the capital of Slovakia Right.
On on Thanksgiving.
And this was
many years ago just after the change, after
after the Russians left,
after the Soviets left. Mhmm. And the the
country was struggling as many Eastern European countries
were at the time to really figure out
their their new path. Right.
They were freed from the Soviet yoke, but
they didn't really know how to how to
make themselves a whole
functioning nation.
And I was there doing training programs for
these folks,
and
and and learning more about their struggle than
I think they were learning about
how to deal with foreign cultures. But they
needed to because
they hadn't in such a long time. Mhmm.
They were truly just opening up. Right. And
so
so this was Thanksgiving Day,
which meant nothing to any of the folks
there. Sure. Yeah. Just nothing. Did you have
any other Americans,
along with you, or were you basically on
your own? No. I was basically on my
own. Okay. There was a fellow with me
who was Slovakian who had spent some time
in The US. Mhmm. But he understood that
this was a US holiday, but it didn't
mean anything to him being being Slovakian and
and being back home. Sure.
And so
I I had a great sense of being
very far away and a great sense of
loneliness and didn't realize how much the holiday
meant to me,
not being able to celebrate it and not
being with my family.
Right. Okay. And I remember rushing down downtown,
taking a tram downtown to a telephone kiosk,
which was the only way I could make
a phone call back home. Mhmm. There were
no,
cell phone services between this country and the
rest of the world Yeah. At the time.
And you weren't jumping on Zoom. And there
was no Zoom. And and there was no
telephone connection from the hotel that I was
staying in. Sure. Wow. And they couldn't make
it for me. So you go to this
tell you went to basically the telephone company's
offices. Mhmm. And I went in, and I
said I needed to place a call to
The US.
And they told me to take a seat,
and they'd call my name, and they took
my name and number. And then twenty minutes
later,
they called me and said write down the
phone number you want us to call.
And I gave it to them, and then
they said take a seat, and I had
to wait another twenty minutes.
Well, this was the Soviet system. Yeah. And
and,
and then about forty five minutes later after
I had arrived,
they called me in and sent me to
one of several different
telephone booths that were lined up on the
wall.
And I went in, and this other this
woman behind my desk says, I'm going to
connect you now.
And I'm waiting, and I'm hearing all sorts
of clicks and sounds and things. And then
suddenly I hear a phone ring,
and
my wife answers the phone.
And she happened at the time to be
in Washington, DC. I I knew the number
to call there, and she was with her
family.
And I felt like I was calling from
the moon. Right. Exactly. Right. Yeah. It and
it was that I was so far away.
And, you know, Thanksgiving is a day when
US Americans, like,
you eat a lot. Right? I mean, you
you Right. Not only do you go through
self reflection of gratitude and and and family
and friends and And football. And football and
all of the traditions that are associated with
it, but but the fundamental fact is that
you're supposed to eat a lot.
And I'm now in this country where people
have nothing. Right. At that time, they had
nothing. And in the hotel,
they did have a dining room,
but they had one menu, and it was
what they had. Right.
There was really no selections to choose from.
And so for the I remember, like, the
fifth night in a row because I was
there for about a week and a half.
For the fifth night in a row, we
had the same thing,
which was very much
pork and potatoes
Mhmm. And not too many greens.
Right. But because
I think
it was because I was there and they
saw me as an honored guest being a
foreigner,
they went through the trouble of trying to
honor my holiday, and they brought out a
huge bowl of oranges
at the end of the meal.
And we were sitting around. It was myself
plus some of my colleagues and some of
the people who I was there doing work
with.
And these oranges
were treated with such respect.
Oh, yeah. They were such a treat. They
were fresh. They obviously had not grown in
Slovakia. Right. They had to have been imported.
How they managed to how anybody managed to
do that in this particular time and place
Yeah. Was remarkable.
And this was this was special. Yeah. This
was a
a hushed moment when the oranges came out.
That's really interesting.
I may be off on this, but I
believe that oranges actually hold
a place
in other holiday celebrations too.
Especially
around, let's say, the Christmas holidays and those
types of holidays
in that time. I think because
again of the rarity of having it in
that time of year. It's special, so The
specialness is the key. Right. Yeah. Let me
just ask you. You mentioned
they had a recognition of the holiday.
Did they did you mention it to them?
No. I'm assuming somebody did because these oranges
came out and they were treated as as
gold I see. Okay. By everybody. And then
as soon as they landed on the table,
they were
they they disappeared.
Got it. Right. They just disappear.
It's like you couldn't get your orange fast
enough.
Well, that's that was my other question was,
well, how do you respond to that if
if I was in that circumstance?
Do I reach over and grab my orange?
Absolutely. Okay. Alright.
Speaking of fairness.
It it was like an Italian
saga, which which is which is another experience
I had. I was in Italy,
on Christmas week Uh-huh. And there was this
and it was a beautiful little town
and,
in in in Tuscany. Mhmm. And they were
celebrating, and they had a saga. It was
the weather was warm.
The saga was a communal feast. Uh-huh. And
they put out tables in the square. Okay.
And everybody volunteers to cook. Mhmm. And they're
all cooking fabulous Italian food. Oh, sure. And
once when the food actually comes out,
I mean, the way you behave is you
rush up to the table and take as
much as you possibly
can. And I'm waiting to, you know, get
to get some sort of signal as to
what to do. And my Italian
colleague, Cynthia, leans over and she says, you
better get up and get the food. This
is not gonna be Right. Go. Time is
limited. Munch.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, that's kinda fun. That sounds that's actually,
that sounds really nice. Yeah. So being away
on on your country's holiday is a unique
experience and and it's not always pleasant. I
I didn't expect to feel so lonely. I
didn't expect to feel so far away. Yeah.
But it was a real learning experience and
nobody else shares it, you know, with you.
It's like it's like the July
in The US. Right. And and guaranteed on
the July 4, I always get phone calls
and texts and emails from my British colleagues.
Absolutely. Right. And It's just a regular Don't
they recognize July 4? Well, they yes. They
do. They say, yes. It is the July
4. Yes. Yes. That comes in eight. Comes
between the third and the fifth. Yeah. That's
right. And yesterday was the third. It's morally
the fifth.
But I do have to say, to be
to be fair about it, I've had many
British friends admit to me that, you know,
they
they they they like to take the mickey
on the American for that because
they know that it was a holiday in
revolution against Britain.
So it does have a special place, and
they like to kind
of remind you of that. Right. Right. I
see. By virtue of not knowing why it's
so special. Right. Right.
Why aren't you texting back?
Which I think is quite cute. I I
think that's That is fun. I I I
appreciate that. Yeah.
It's interesting too though in The United States
especially and we've talked many times on The
United States' insular
attitudes quite often to the world
and so not being necessarily
aware of other
like other labor days like we're talking about
or
other independence
days or other days of Thanksgiving
that are because they do. Other countries have
days of Thanksgiving
that aren't
when we have Thanksgiving.
The Canadians are just so,
so marvelously
restrained around this issue Mhmm. Because I think
they have Thanksgiving Day,
around the same time of year,
but, not not on The US Thanksgiving Day.
And they may be earlier
earlier. I believe.
I believe. I believe, is,
in 2022, October 10. Yeah. Much earlier. Okay.
Considerably earlier. Yeah. Okay.
And is that a do we do you
know if that's a fluctuating date like like
ours is? But I can find out. Okay.
But my point is that, you you know,
they'll understand that that that US Americans just
don't don't understand that.
They've I mean, I I've been with
in Canada with US Americans who find this
out and they say, well, why don't you
do Thanksgiving day on Thanksgiving?
Right.
What
Right.
What kind of a statement is that?
Well, it's a very much an American one.
A US one. Yes. Very much a US
one. And I should clarify, it's somewhat fluctuating.
It's the second Monday in October. So the
date changes, but it's always second Monday in
October. Okay. So but ours is also that
Thursday. Monday.
And and Labor Day is the first Monday
in September. Which it was chosen just basically
because it fell roughly halfway between the July
4 and Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving,
that's why. They're like, oh, okay. Interesting. We'll
make it September.
There you go. The Knights of Labor in
1884 adopted a resolution that the first Monday
in September be considered Labor Day.
There we go. No problem. And and because
it was roughly halfway between. Okay. So there
was absolutely there was no compelling reason. There's
no It seems like a good time. It
seemed
like. This is a good one. Before it
gets too cold and Yeah.
Well, it was really hopefully
a pretty intelligent move. It was an open
area that we weren't
celebrating much of anything else. Yeah. Stick a
major holiday in there. Later in the especially
in the cooler parts of the country, it's
later in the summer
and it's you know, we're coming toward
the fall.
So, sure. So many holidays around the world
were tied to agricultural traditions or tied to
religious traditions,
which are then tied to agricultural traditions. Right.
So if it's harvest time or if it's
planting time
And and and and those things can move
a day or two. It doesn't or a
week or two. It doesn't necessarily have to
be on a particular date.
And the what what I find interesting also
is that we tend to interpret the meaning
of a of a holiday,
based on our understanding of the holiday. So
if we don't really understand
what Diwali in India, let's say, is,
we when we're told that Indians call this
holiday
the,
the the celebration of lights or the festival
of lights. Mhmm.
I know for some Jewish friends, they go,
oh, it's like Hanukkah.
Right? Sure. Absolutely. Which is basically the festival
of lights. Because that's what it is in
the Jewish tradition. Right. But in India, it
has nothing to do with Hanukkah. Right. But
it is the festival of lights. Right. But
when does it occur? Well, it occurs sometime
around, usually,
in the fall around Thanksgiving,
often around The US Thanksgiving. Okay. So then
I've had US Americans say, oh, so it's
like the Indian Thanksgiving. Right?
No. Well, in a way it is. I
mean, it is
that kind of a celebration. There's thanks being
given for
but there's many times thanks are giving for
other things.
Right. Giving, given, giving, giving.
Word playing. That's
word playing. I think the moral of the
story is that we really have to be
very cautious
when we're abroad,
in not interpreting
the celebration
of the holiday that we're experiencing locally
as some sort
of holiday
like something we may have.
Right.
Although I can see I can see an
innocence to it as well as
the other aspects,
Only in the sense of trying to define
it.
Trying to figure it out for themselves. Although
in that case, when you say
it's the Indian Thanksgiving, you're defining it incorrectly.
Incorrectly.
Right. Exactly.
That's never stopped us in The United States
before.
No.
And by the way, if you really wanna
have a fabulous time, be in India during
Holi,
h o l I. No. H o l
I. It has nothing to do with h
o l y. Okay. Yep. Yep.
The I think this may be a Sanskrit
word, but it's a it's a fun celebration.
This is the time when you go out
in the streets and don't wear good clothes.
And this is usually, I think, in the
spring, if I remember correctly. Okay. Take a
look. And this is when you go out
in the street, and what you're supposed to
do is throw balloons full of colored water
at people. Okay. That's fine. And and the
kids do it. You know, the kids love
it. And so you got all these different
colored water
and made with these fabulous spices. Right? Sure.
And you walk down the street and you
get hit.
Right. Hit with these balloons at birth. Love
it. And and, oh, you're soaked. You're soaking
wet and your your and color sprayed all
over the it's like it's like a fabulous
time. It's wonderful.
And every you can just you don't have
to worry about things because nobody does. Right.
That's great. The whole idea is And you're
probably gonna be fairly warm there. So you're
you're gonna worry about it being too cold
or anything like that. No. I will do
exactly what I said you shouldn't do, and
I'll say it's like the Indian Purim. Oh,
okay. And if anybody
if we have Jewish listeners here, you'll know
what I mean.
It's, it's
going to be in March on March 8
in 2023. Oh, March. Okay. Well, b in
In March. Z in India during Holi.
Okay. Do you have why it why it
varies? Does it do you have that? Is
that maybe lunar? It's it's it's lunar based
on a lunar calendar. Well, you know, speaking
of throwing things and I'm going to plead
really, really ignorant on this,
but I know that I just saw the
other day that a country who had to
hold back on this has now come back
to where they throw overripe
tomatoes
at each other and they drive down the
street in massive wagons
of overripe tomatoes which will splatter wonderfully. I
think this is in Spain?
I believe you're correct. Yes. And maybe we
can check that out. But I think it's
just a town. I think it's their It
may be. This is just their local thing.
Sure. And and And I think they have
so many tomatoes that they have. Obviously.
They can afford to do this and it's
like
a it's just happened
again
since the pandemic.
It just happened again, I believe for the
first time, maybe a week or two ago.
So they haven't been able to do it
in two and a half, three years. So
now that
they
Yeah. And there it is talk about not
wearing your good clothes. Yeah, right.
I mean, it's just they're smothered in it,
and I don't I don't know if it's
just a celebration. It could be an agricultural
celebration like you're talking about. It's a festival.
It's a festival. This is, I believe, from
four days ago. Thousands of revelers hurled some
130
tons of or overripe tomatoes at each other
today in the eastern Spanish town of Bunol.
Not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Can
you spell it? B U N O L,
at the Tomatina Festival celebrate Bunol? As the
Tomatina Festival celebrated its seventy fifth edition after
two year lapse due to the pandemic.
Well, I now I'm sorry I missed it.
I mean I didn't know what's happening. Nobody
let me know. The Tamatina is said to
have originated from a spontaneous bust up amongst
the villagers in 1945.
So they were having an an some sort
of argument and threw tomatoes at each other.
Now this is why we should do this
every year. Why not? I think this is
a great to be kinda fun. And this
is the way to solve problems. It really
is. It really is. If you can't negotiate
it, don't pick up a gun, you know.
Pick up a tomato. Just throw a tomato.
Hold out that tomato. Everyone's happy.
Oh. And let's just have some fun. Yeah.
Yeah. I love it. Sounds good to me.
Lower the temperature and maybe we can sit
down and talk the day after. Absolutely. There's
got to be some towns in the in
in this in The United States where that
would be a very,
very easy thing to do, you know, to
to get the tomatoes out and throw them
around. Mhmm.
Well, you know, the again, agriculture, the strawberry
festivals, the Yeah. The the the walnut festivals.
I don't think I wanna be pummeled by
walnuts, but That could be that could that
could that could be that could be hard.
And I'm thinking now also of one time
when I was in again
outside of The US on Thanksgiving, and this
time I was in
Israel.
And
while there was an acknowledgment
that
especially when people found out I was US
American, that
there was a knowledge of Thanksgiving. Knowledge and
more knowledge. The fact that I was
not there, we discussed that.
And I was in Israel doing work,
But I was there doing work because we
don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Israel.
Is there a Thanksgiving though in Israel at
another time? The holidays that are celebrated
are usually,
I think there's Independence Day and there and
then there's all the depending on on your,
your religion, you celebrate different religious holidays.
Sure. Well, sure. If you're Jewish,
you celebrate a lot of Jewish holidays. If
you're Muslim, you celebrate the Muslim holiday. Of
course. Christian, etcetera. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So that's
where people do their celebrations.
And I I would and probably the Thanksgiving
of any kind would go within that. But
I'm just wondering if because there are Thanksgiving
holidays in several countries
and Canada being one that we were talking
about in October.
But
I know that other countries do that
and I'll tell you
here's my depth of knowledge.
Only because I have a calendar on my
phone that pops up with those things
and so I do see them.
I know. That's it. That was my research
right there. Kind of pathetic,
but there you go. There you go.
Holidays of gratitude. I think it's a lovely
idea. Sure.
And I think it's nice that once a
year
we're reminded of that idea
of the need for that or the benefits
of that? I would say it's very much
telltale of the American culture, The U. S.
Culture
that we
take a holiday
supposedly at least
designed and I know a lot of there's
been a lot of, alterations of the realities
of what really took place on the first
Thanksgiving, but I think we're looking at that
a little more carefully now. Nevertheless,
we've taken it and co opted it into
a
unbelievable numbers of football games, incredible amounts of
stuffing our face like you were talking about
before with food
and drink
and
probably
not getting along with our family.
We basically have turned it into that holiday.
Also,
in this Well, that's a lot to be
grateful for, isn't
it? Yeah.
I mean, if I had to make a
list of what I'm grateful for Yeah. All
of those things would be right on the
top. Right. Right? Especially that football thing.
And and and having to sit next to
uncle Louie and listen to him.
I mean, I am so grateful for that.
Listening to him snore through something because he's
had too much to eat. Snore through his
cranberry sauce. Yes. Which is good because he
was talking way too much at dinner table.
Yes.
But it's also turned into another
really, really U.
S.
Based
process, which is the beginning
of
the Christmas
season of buying and shopping. Oh, you mean
it became commoditized?
Oh, a little bit. Yeah, a little bit.
Besides that we also do parades. We also
love doing parades at Thanksgiving.
How that all happened,
no clue. But,
but they're Philadelphia, New York,
all around and throughout the country. Detroit, I
know,
has done them for many years. Well, let
me tell you. I have been a clown
in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade Well, not
only in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I'll
tell you that. For several years running.
And in fact,
if you watch
now this year, I'm not gonna be a
clown. But if you watch vid if you
can see videos, I can show you videos
of me doing this. Can you? Yes. I
can. I'm I'm getting all excited about this
now. Wow. See? Alright. I think it's time
to end this thing. And and and is
there anything cultural about this other than the
fact that I was I had been a
clown
running down
running down,
Central Park West
in a clown outfit? Yeah. Yeah. On Thanksgiving
morning was wonderful. But the best part about
this,
if if you are
if you're a clown in the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day parade Mhmm.
Which is in New York City Yes. It
is. And broadcast nationally.
Mhmm.
What you have to do is you have
to get there at about four in the
morning.
And they put you in makeup and they
put you in costume and then they send
you up in a bus
filled with other clowns.
To the Is it actually a very small
car? No. Right? It's a large bus. Oh,
okay. That's good.
To take you up to the beginning of
the parade, which is up,
on Central Park West in the 82nd Street
or something like that. Uh-huh. And
there's absolutely nothing more surreal
than being in a busload of clowns at
four in the morning Yeah. Going up to
the starting point of this parade. Yeah. It
it was quite a quite an experience. I'm
sure. And I loved it. It was great
and I'm grateful for having done it. Mhmm.
Well, there I go to grateful again.
Yes. There I am. See that? Yeah. I'll
put that at the top of my Thanksgiving
Day list. There you are. Wonderful.
Wow. There's be a lot of members of
your family that'll be very disappointed that your
clown episode is on top of your grateful.
Better than being with uncle Louie? Well, there's
Louie. You bet. We all understand Louie.
Stay asleep, uncle Louie. Yeah. Don't. Yeah. Don't
wake him up. Are there other times when
you've been abroad during holidays that Yeah. That
come to mind? Any other holidays?
Been abroad on US holidays and then been
fortunate to have been abroad during their local
holiday. Yeah. Yeah. I remember one time being
in Shanghai
during the,
Chinese
New Year. Oh, really?
And and That must be very cool. It
was it was extremely
special because this goes back, oh, a number
of years
when it was a special year in terms
of the
the animal. Mhmm. Not only was it the
year of the pig,
but it was because of the way the
year fell out and it had something to
do with with,
Chinese astrology.
It was the year of the special pig,
and and I don't recall how that was
designated. But so this became
a a really special celebration
of the annual
spring holiday, which is Chinese New Year's,
the the Lunar New Year in China. And,
walking through
all of Shanghai,
there were these huge lanterns,
of pigs.
Happy, happy face pigs. Very pleasant pigs. Cartoon
pigs. Yeah. Wonderful.
Pigs enjoying themselves.
Yeah. Being celebrated because they were all going
to be eaten. They were gonna be eaten
whether it was a holiday or not. Right.
Right. Right.
And, in Shanghai, they have a they have
a particular food.
You can get it just about everywhere all
year long. It's it's kind of a a
Shanghai
noodle dish,
a dump a dumpling. I'm sorry. More of
a dumpling than a noodle. And I remember
this became the symbol of celebrating the holiday
while I was there. And you could go
anywhere,
walk up to a stand, order these Chinese,
the the Shanghai dumplings,
and they they come with a straw. Mhmm.
So it's like in a cup, and there's
this big dumpling in a broth
and there's a straw that sticks in the
dumpling
and you suck the broth through the dumpling.
Is this a is this a
larger than than ordinary straw that we would
assume would be an ordinary sized straw or
is this more than an ordinary dumpling? Okay.
No. It was and and kind of like
a regular sized dumpling. If you were lucky,
maybe you got two or three in your
cup. Okay. Okay.
But you stick it through in the dumpling
and you suck the broth up through the
dumpling and through the straw. Okay. Which is
sometimes easy, sometimes
not easy. Yeah. Yeah. And
and
it becomes a little bit of a balancing
act the way because you're eating this basically
on the on the go. You're walking through
the streets. There's a big celebration.
And
the the folks that I was with were
having difficulty
with this, and
it became quite a messy situation
Sure. With broth and dumplings,
you know,
flying about and cartoon pig lanterns
above us. Mhmm. I think we also had
some drinks beforehand too. So Wow. I'm surprised.
One more challenge. That that heightened the entire
experience.
Oh, that well
well, you know what? It's
It's kind of interesting that that was about
a special pig,
in the sense that It was the year
of the pig, the year of the special
pig. Year of the special pig.
That I see that the pig is the
twelfth
animal in the
zodiac sequence and then that's the last. The
last one. Sure. It's going
to reset again after that. And,
well, in that special pig,
we're all kind of special pigs in The
United States on Thanksgiving.
So Or so yeah. See how I brought
that back there? So we
I kind of brought it all back to
that. And and pretty much acting like a
bunch of turkeys. Well, that way That's for
sure. Without a doubt. Although, I don't know
that that's special for for Thanksgiving. Pigs acting
like turkeys though.
I'd like to see it. Would you? Well,
we could probably put that show together actually.
We're touring with that, next year. It's not
wordplay. It's mixed metaphor.
Mixed metaphor
metaphor. Also, before you were doing some semantic
satiation satiation. You've mentioned this before, Dean. Satiation.
Satiation. Satiation. Satiation. Where you say things so
many times that they lose their meaning. That's
that's what you were doing before. Yes. The
wordplay. Yes. That's Semantic satiation.
It's gotta be a fear. Semantic satiation. Semantic
satiation.
I don't know. That was that needs work.
That needs work. We'll find it. Yeah. That
needs a little work. I don't know if
I've lost the meaning of that or just
am eager to forget it. Yeah. All of
the above, I'd say. Not sure where I
stand there.
Well, look, I've
I'm I'm very thankful for this podcast.
As am I. How about that? As am
I. And Now we've been doing this now
for,
A hundred and twelve years. Six months? A
year? Two years? Oh, no. Much more than
six months. Eighteen.
I was gonna say, yeah. We we've got,
like, four years in this sucker. Wow. And
and we're very grateful to you, our listeners
Yeah. Absolutely.
For subscribing
and for listening to this nonsense. Absolutely. And
us and and tell others, please. And letting
us know, when we're on track with you
and when we're not. And we make mistakes,
let us know. We'll ignore you, but let
us know. We make mistakes? No. Reach out
anytime. But they think maybe.
Placate them. Come on, Dean.
And hopefully, everyone has a lovely thanks giving
today. Absolutely. For those of you who are
listening today, yes. Or if you're listening or
if you're listening next Labor Day,
have a nice Labor Day. Have a nice
Labor Day and and
Unless you're listening on Canadian Labor Day. Uh-huh.
Well, and then you can have that good
Labor Day there too. And look forward to
Or if you happen to be in labor
right now and are want are listening to
our podcast as part of that, which you
certainly could. Well, listen to the podcast doing
all sorts of different things. Absolutely. Sure. I'd
like to know what what what you What
do you what do you do when you
listen to to the podcast? Let us know.
We would love for you to let us
know. We'll let you know how to let
us know. Yeah. You'll hear you'll hear how
that reach out. I think that'll work. Why
is this an activity
that you like to listen to the podcast
during? Uh-huh. Yeah.
Okay. I'd like to know that. I I
maybe we'll hear from a pig who's impersonating
a turkey. Any pigs? Reach out. On Labor
Day. On Labor Day or in labor.
All of the above. You can see in
the stats, we have lots of pregnant pigs.
We do. We do. Yeah. So reach out?
Well, Dean Foster. And Tom Peterson.
Once again, it appears that,
oops,
your culture's showing.
Smell you.
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