Forgot to write a few lines about Thanksgiving Day which was a week ago, Thursday Nov. 22. For those who don't know, it's an American holiday celebrated in honor of the early European pilgrims, their first time in the New World, and their contact with the native Americans from whom they learned a few very useful hints about surviving in the new surroundings. People get together with their families to have a traditional dinner. Simply a nice, peaceful time with your folks - hopefully, at least.
Living in an apartment complex, our neighborhood was extremely quiet and empty. It was just us foreigners and a couple of other families here. We decided to get together with our Brazilian and German friends, and made the whole kit with turkey, mashed potatoes and apple pie. Plus some South American flavors as well as an European touch. Not to forget a respectable amount of wine and beer and groovy Brazilian music, of course.
It was also Elisa's 1st birthday! Happy first one, Cutie!!
Oh yes, early in the morning I took part in the 98th Annual Thanksgiving Day Race in downtown Cinci. More than 12.000 runners on a 10 km, beautiful path over the bridges of Ohio River. Fun but cold. I finished 8th in my category. 
//Hanna
It ain't easy being a pedestrian. Today, at noon, Maja and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. Crossing the street is a close-to-death experience, and some streets you just don't cross. Now, in the medium sized intersection close to our house there are traffic lights for both wheels and legs, which is a very good thing, although not very common. The very bad thing is that these lights are coordinated after the intensity of the car traffic; that is, if the traffic is heavy the pedestrians get to wait. And wait . And wait. I've done it a couple of times. (Dad, you know what I mean!) Maja and I did just that for almost 20 minutes today. Freezing our butts off. After some curious looks from the car drivers, one friendly soul even asking if we were ok, having seen Benke with his boss driving by (they were on their lunch), and having turned down his boss' nice offer to give us a ride, I finally gave up. Called Benke to pick me up at the intersection. After 5 minutes he was there - and it still said "Don't Walk" on the pole.
