Words + Pictures

Happy Men's Day

Forgive me for missing my chance to report on Women's Day, only a brief week and a half ago. Women's Day was a legal holiday, and not only was school closed, but so were most stores and other businesses. So if you spent Thursday afternoon helping to shop for the pre-women's day celebration for teachers at school, (as I did,) you would be surprised by the need to serve leftovers (practically all food stalls at the market are, well, manned by women) to the honored woman of your life the next day, unless you were fortunate enough to get an invitation to dinner somewhere else, as we did.

Men's Day was another matter. Just as Judy and I were sitting down after a long day, there was a knock at the door, and in came six teachers from my department, some with their children, carrying the platter shown here—smoked fish, several salads, fruit, tomatoes, hard cooked eggs, and a small bottle of fruity liqueur.

That was the appetizer. The main course was the song they sang, and then translated for us, and which is recorded in this audio. It is so complimentary and totally lacking in irony that it has no equivalent in our culture.

So that it doesn't seem that it is just the women who are worshiping the men, I also offer you this piece of video, from Women's Day at our office.