Minnesota Nice -- One More Time

Today's issue of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press (and the photo above was copied from there) has an article about one of its reporters taking a Bhutanese family to the Minnesota State Fair. This family is from an Nepali ethnic group that were expelled from Bhutan, lived in a refugee camp, and have been re-settled in Minnesota for only about two weeks.

At the fair they tried the rides, ate the deep-fried foods that seem to be found at every state fair these days, tried the Sweet Martha chocolate chip cookies -- maybe  unique to Minnesota, and looked at the animals.

In the cow barn the mom from the family picked up an empty soda bottle and explained she wanted to collect from calf urine for a Hindu naming festival. Everyone there said the animals were too old. So they went to the Miracle of Birth -- a special exhibit where animals are being born all the time. The vet here said this type of collection could not be done at the state fair. She, however, took information from the family and will go to a farm and collect what they want, freeze it, and get it sent to the family. Minnesota Nice usually means helping people for everything from giving directions to giving a hand to shove a car out of the snow. However, I think this vet moved it to a new dimension.