Purim in Cambodia

How bout this one for a Purim story.... another in a long line of weird things that have happened during that holiday. (I've got some tales). This Swedish girl was wanting to help her friend get off work early, so she told a 'little white lie' that it was her birthday and could her friend leave work early and help her celebrate. Before she knew it, all these people were wishing her happy birthday... a cake appeared, everyone was buying her drinks, it was a big party (and it wasn't her birthday). She said that she got so drunk she actually thought it was her birthday. She told her friend, 'This is the best birthday I've ever had', and she meant it. It wasn't her birthday, but it was Purim, when the Jews are commanded to get so drunk they don't know the difference between good and evil. Afterward she said that she felt guilty for making it up and having it get so large and crazy. But when I told her about Purim, and the fact that her story is a perfect Purim metaphor, she was very pleased. Felt much better about her deception. Cosmic forces, people....

And another Swedish vignette... this one with the two twenty year old girls who are staying in the room next to mine at the barracks, er guest house. (it looks like a barracks). Two blonde Swedes, but they have dyed their hair and eyebrows black. I said, 'So in other words, everyone wants to be blonde and they bleach their hair, but you two who are truly blonde, you dye your hair in the opposite direction. That's funny'. The one I was talking to pointed to the other one and said, 'No that's funny'. I turned to her and said, 'You're funny?' She said, yes I'm funny. Her name was Fannie (pronounced 'fonny'). THAT was funny.

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