Lex Libertas

Foreigner Party

This past weekend a bunch of us decided to stay in and make Mexican food. Admittedly, authentic Mexican food is hard to come by around here, but when I went to Germany last Christmas, I brought back around 30 packets of Mexican seasoning. With that as the base, we make "tacos" out of pita bread, cut up black olives, onions, tomatoes, and random cheese. It's actually a pretty common meal, tastes decent.

On a sidenote, when I was home in June, my stepbrother came to visit with his wife and baby daughter. He's spent a long time in the restaurant business, and is an excellent cook. He taught me a neat way to cut tomatoes so they look nice and clean, without all the pulp. Tried it out for the first time last night, and it worked like a charm. They looked beautiful ... though I don't think anyone cared except for me.

Here's some pics from our little foreigner siesta:

Even in Russia, nobody likes my musical selection. Here's Tony (Alaskan) screwing around with my iRiver, trying to find the Arabic songs (though usually people are trying to turn off the Arabic songs).

Again we have another dissatisfied customer, Lucia (Austrian) reaches for the beautiful iRiver.

Lucia teaches Tony the intracicies of counting in German.

Nusret (Tabasarani, from Dagestan) looking like a Caucasian playboy, and Danielle (a recent UCLA grad who just enrolled here in a Masters).

Grunde, the Norwegian stud.

Random Pic: New Commie Condos

There is no way to convey the enormity of these apartment buildings. You have to see them in person to really understand.

As always, click on the picture for a bigger version.

Shabbat Shalom

Last Friday a friend invited me to a Jewish summer camp in a resort town on the Gulf of Finland. The camp had brought an Israeli professor over to give some lectures, and she was working as their Hebrew to Russian translator. There were about 80 kids ranging in age from 17 to 25. The Russian Jewry is one of the most secular in the world, and this camp is an attempt to get Russian Jews to know a bit more about Judaism and Israel. In the Soviet days you wanted to seem as un-Jewish as possible. In fact, most Jews didn't (don't) get circumcised or have Bar/Bat Mitzvahs (celebrating 13th birthday), and giving your child a Jewish name guaranteed he wouldn't rise in the system. Glass was never broken at a marriage, and the word "Torah" brought to mind a bull fight more than a book.

Back at UCLA, I was very involved in campus politics, especially fighting the anti-Israeli bias of academia and my fellow students. Most of the people I spent time with were Jewish. I even went to Shabbat services on occasion. Shabbat (Hebrew) or Shabbis (Yiddish) is the Sabbath (English) - it's from sundown on Friday evening to sundown Saturday. On Friday evening there is a ceremony, and depending on how religious you are the following 24 hours are spent anywhere between asetic relaxation or hedonistic partying at the discotheque.

Spending the day at the camp made me realize how much I enjoy Jewish culture - it's amazing how little it changes across country lines. For many non-Jews, it's difficult to understand how "Jewish" is at the same time a culture, an ethnicity, and a religion. It was difficult for me to comprehend until I had spent considerable time around Jews. Though in many ways, Catholicism has become the same, a culture, ethnicity, and a religion. It being quite possible to be culturally Catholic without believing the religion at all.

Shabbat was pretty much the same as back home, only in Russian/Hebrew instead of English/Hebrew. Before dinner, the kids divided up into their groups and each performed a skit. As was expected, the staples of Jewish culture were there. Plenty of circumcision and Jewish mother jokes. The two most memorable skits were:

1. Godzilla trys to ruin Shabbat: Enter a bunch of happy Jews celebrating Shabbat, along comes Godzilla trying to wreak havoc (rather well acted). One ingenious boy decides to pull Godzilla's tail between his legs and snips off the tip, then smacks a Yarmulke his head. Pacified, Godzilla join the Shabbat.

2. Jews at the Olypmics: The Jewish competitor has made it to a medal round in boxing, when he starts to get demolished by the opponent. Suddenly his mother comes out into the ring, beating on the opponent, all the while chiding him for picking on her son. Another Jew is competing in weightlifting. Originally, he's slated to lift 40 kilograms, but he bargains the referee down to 20kg.

Sitting there watching these skits, at Shabbat, or listening to lectures on Israeli art, I felt more of a cultural connection than I have with any other group here in Russia. We shared certain reference points - I got the jokes, and understood the art. I guess that makes me a Jewphile.