Pray for the kitchen king

I tried something new today. Jessica's friend Yvonne has started teaching a free Zumba class at the Taipei school in Phu My Hung after recently receiving her Zumba teaching qualification. Zumba is a kind of dance-fitness class based on Latin and Salsa music, and has taken off across the world in recent years. I never thought I would find myself taking part in something like this and was at first apprehensive, but I'm really glad I pushed myself to go because it was good fun, and I have been invited to another class tomorrow evening. Another reason that I'm glad I went along is that it perked up what was to be a mostly dull day. I have been struggling with a book review that I just can't get into. In the evening, as a diversion, I decided to go for a walk and thought I'd take Happy along to relieve Hanh the burden of walking her herself. But stubborn Happy sat down in the road after 25 metres and refused to continue. I handed her back to Hanh who revealed that she'd already walked Happy. "Happy poo-poo pee-pee!", she exclaimed. So, unable to encourage even the dog to accompany me I took a solitary walk.

I noticed that there was to be a party happening at the end of the street, as a long table with a white tablecloth and covered plates of food had been laid across the front yard of one of the houses. I thought nothing of it, but later learned the cause of the celebration. Yesterday Thuy had received a phone call and explained to me that it was a friend reminding her of an important event. "Tomorrow we pray to the kitchen king". She tried to explain this to me but I didn't really understand. After a little bit of research I found out that the kitchen god is worshipped in Chinese and Vietnamese households on the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the lunar year. Known in Vietnam as Táo Quân, this god is expected to return to heaven today and report on each family's behaviour over the past year. In three days we will be rewarded or punished. Households pay respect to Táo Quân in the hope of a good reference. This can be done by a modest offering or splashing out on a lavish party as the house down the road have done (could this mean they have more to repent for??).So this evening, to the background music of the karaoke a few houses down, Thuy laid out a vase of flowers and a tray of rice, candles, paper posters and burning incense on the stove in honour of the event. As for me, I hope the kitchen king will be sympathetic to our humble household and will smite the enormous cockroach who occasionally visits us.