Groundhog Day

So... growing up in the US... I always thought that Groundhog Day was just some regionally emphasized, small national interest US thing.... but having spent my first Groundhog Day in Russia - I can tell you - this is global. Clearly, the majority of people in Russia relate Groundhog Day to the movie, but at work, we celebrated the groundhog regardless. At the plant, we marked Groundhog Day with a standard tea & cake & fruit party (this is how pretty much every holiday is celebrated in the office - and my colleagues find reason to celebrate pretty much every holiday, regardless of which country the holiday is celebrated in...
Sara was speaking with one of the workers at the compound today... Sergey speaks OK English (we give him some of the English-language magazines and papers that we receive as he is interested in improving his English, as well as helping his daughter improve her English as well). Sergey asked Sara if she knew what holiday it was... and of course he said... "Groundhog Day". They spoke a bit... and as she explained that Punxsutawney was sort-of close to where we grew up... Sergey became very interested and asked, in a very thick Russian accent - "Have you seen the groundhog?" :-)

Anyways... it looks like 6 more weeks of winter... from my view in Russia... I think that's a conservative estimate...