To anyone living in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay – Happy Día del Amigo! If I had any friends, I’d be down there celebrating it with you; but I don’t, so that’s why I am writing on the internet instead.
The origin of Friend’s Day goes back to an Argentine teacher, who wanted to turn Apollo 11’s successful moon landing into an international day of friendship; as he argued that on this particular day, the whole world had become friends with the three astronauts. If you don’t believe in conspiracy theories, then this all sounds rather nice. Speaking of nice (but not really), the International Friendship Exhibition, a museum in North Korea, displays the collection of gifts presented to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il from various foreign dignitaries. In over 150 rooms, there are somewhere between 60,000 and 220,000 gifts. Supposedly, if you spent one minute looking at each gift, it would take you one year to visit the entire museum. Even though the ceremonial exchange of gifts is part of diplomatic protocol, the museum acts as a propaganda tool of the North Korean government where visitors believe the numerous gifts are “proof of the endless love” for their leader. So what are these communist-approved gifts, you ask?
Well, here’s a few highlights: CNN logo paperweights from Ted Turner, a gold cigarette box from late Yugoslav leader Josip Tito, an autographed Michael Jordan basketball from former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a crocodile skin suitcase from Fidel Castro and a bear’s head that had been killed by late Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu (who, ironically was hunted by his own people in the December 1989 Revolution). You’ll be happy to know that the United States is the worst gift giver of the 155 total countries with only nine gifts. The former Soviet Union not only sent a rail car, but three black sedans. And of course, there’s the stuffed alligator, a gift from the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
