Weekend Report

 Another exhausting but fun weekend.

On Saturday, in addition to 2 soccer games, we went to a Civil War battle re-enactment. It was… interesting. Can’t say I am a huge fan – but it was a beautiful day and there is something to be said for being outside, in a beautiful park, even if there are a bunch of dudes dressed up in 19th century garb pretending to do battle. I am just not big on war stuff, I guess. But the kids liked it! Our son’s friends came along, too.

Also, remember how I mentioned that our son was super-busy with a myriad of different activities? So, for the Young Musician Orchestra, he was unexpectedly promoted to 1st violins section (he auditioned for 2nd violin). Which means the music is more complex and requires a lot more work. So, there was lots of violin practice this past weekend (not all of it super-enthusiastic). He likes the music they are playing, he is just not loving the having to work hard part. 

On Sunday, we went to the Russian store with my parents. The “Russian” part of town is about an hour drive, and it’s really out of the way for us, so we hardly ever go there. Last time was before our youngest was born – so almost 8 years ago. My parents went there about 3 years ago.

So, we bought about half the store. Pickled herring, 3 types of pickles, pickled cabbage, pickled mushrooms. (I did not get pickled apples or pickled water melon – but both were available!) Lunch meat. Lots of sweets. Lots of jams. A Georgian-style yogurt (no idea what that is, but I wanted to try it). I was hoping to get some cow or veal tongues, but they weren’t looking so great – all freezer burned. I almost got a huge pack of chicken feet (they are great in soups) – I kind of regret that I didn’t. We got bread, and cakes, and an odd honey-and-nut jar that my husband became completely enthralled by. We got Russian candy. 

The kids had a blast – because many things were so exotic-looking. For example, you could get horse yogurt!!! (Or was it buttermilk? I can’t remember now. For the record, that's not really a Russian thing - maybe just some regions). There were lots of packages in foreign languages. Oh, we also got Halva.

After coming home, we settled down to watch Laurence of Arabia. And then we realized that the movie was almost 4 hours long. So of course we had to take a break from the movie to have dinner. And then the DVD player broke down (and we seem to be unable to get the library DVD out of it without taking the thing apart).

So, we ended up sitting around the wood stove outside, reading aloud (“Unplugged” by Gordon Korman, fittingly enough).

What about you, dear readers? Any new adventures? Exotic foods? In any case, hope your weekend was wonderful!

Activity Overload

I am feeling a bit frazzled because this fall is turning out to be busier than I anticipated. 

Everyone has school and homework.

Our youngest has soccer and piano. Soccer is twice a week – a game and a “skills night”. Piano lesson is once a week but requires daily practice (and she wants a parent sitting next to her and helping while she is practicing).

Our older daughter has piano and gymnastics. Same deal with the piano – a weekly lesson plus daily practice. Gymnastics is once a week. Unfortunately, the first gymnastics practice was a total disappointment – too easy. The gym is not bulging on moving her to a higher level. 

I need to figure out a new plan for her – either gymnastics at a different gym (there may be a few options nearby but research is needed) or maybe something else entirely (she would love rock climbing, but the closest place is 30 min away). 

Our son may be totally overloaded this fall. He has weekly violin lessons (and needs to practice every day), he auditioned for and got into a local youth orchestra (weekly 1.5 h rehearsals and daily practice), he has soccer once a week. He also decided to join the school cross country team. Most of his friends are doing it and I think it is great for him, but now he has practices after school until 5 pm 4 days a week. He also wants to join an engineering club and the school strings club. Those haven’t started yet, but, honestly, I am not sure how he will be able to fit it all in. Oh, and he is also getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah – so there are weekly lessons and daily practice. I worry it’s all too much… (It would have been way too much for me when I was that age… At least cross country should be done in late October and then, hopefully, he can have a bit of breathing room).

Weekend Report

We had the kind of weekend that requires a vacation afterwards. 

We celebrated our son’s 13th birthday. We cleaned, we cooked, we entertained guests. I put together a treasure hunt for kids with 13 clues (it was challenging and there was some visible frustration, but they figured it out). 

We went for a brief walk. One of our kids threw a temper tantrum because we did not walk the way they wanted.

Two of our kids had soccer games.

We made two carrot cakes (they both turned out delicious). Our older daughter decorated the first one and I decorated the second one. I think hers was nicer-looking.

We all watched “Jurassic World”. Meh (kids agreed it was meh even though it was entertaining).

Our son had “buyer’s remorse” of sorts after watching the movie – he said next time on his birthday, he will spend more time with family and friends instead of watching a movie. Works for me.

Existential Dread

 I live with an expectation that something terrible can happen at any moment. One of us could be terminally ill, could die unexpectedly, could become the target of bullying, and/or could be murdered by some crazies. OK, maybe “murdered by some crazies” is not too high on my “to-fear” list, but, well, history tends to repeat itself and hate crimes are on the rise…  Shoah wasn’t so long ago. My grandparents were lucky to survive the last time around, and our family luck is bound to run out sooner or later. 

It wasn’t just luck, I suppose. It was the access to education in the USSR (my entire family is from Belarus). Basically, in my family, everyone who wanted to go to a university went to a university (big change from the Tsarist times, when the only thing my family had access to was Yeshiva for boys). So, when the war started, my grandparents (and some of their siblings) were away at universities, away from the small Belorussian towns and villages that were occupied by the German army.

Not everyone survived. My grandfather’s little sister was at a university in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). She starved during the blockade; she almost made it… she probably would have survived if there was medical care available. She died very soon after she got out of Leningrad. Their brother was in medical school and became a military doctor after the war started – he was killed. Which brings me back to luck – my other grandfather was also a military doctor, went to that same medical school, but survived the war and made it all the way to Berlin and back. 

One of my grandmothers was in college in Moscow. My other grandmother was in college in Leningrad but went to Moscow for an internship a few weeks before the war started. Her husband, my grandfather (the one with a sister who died of starvation and 2 brothers, one an army doctor [killed] and one in the tank division [killed], was at a railway engineering college in Moscow. He was sent to Siberia to build up the infrastructure during the war. Grandmother came with him. Their first baby was born and had died in Siberia. But they both survived the war and went on to have 3 more children.

So in a way, education saved my family. But luck was a big factor. 

There were people in small towns of Belarus who survived. Some of my great-grandparents. Some of my grandparents’ relatives. Some of my parents’ cousins. Some managed to get out in time and were evacuated. And some did not (I will remember them and tell our children about them). There were people in towns who tried to help – I don’t know for sure (unfortunately, those stories are now lost) – but there were villagers who would help people hide and escape. This gives me hope for the future – even during most terrible times, there are people who are willing to help others even when it means their own lives are endangered.

I digressed. This post was meant to be about the current existential dread, not the catastrophes of the past. Is it possible to detangle to present from the past? Is it possible to dissect our fears? The global pandemic is not helping, but I can’t help wonder if the root of this ever-present dread has been seeded so long ago it has become completely entangled in our existence? Was I feeling this expectation of impending disaster before the pandemic? I can’t remember.

Reading

 I have been in a bit of a reading slump for months now. I just haven’t been able to completely “get lost” in a book. It’s not necessarily a bad thing because it means that I have had time to do other things – like cleaning (meh but needs to get done), hanging out with kids, watching TV (meh but sometimes that’s all I am in the mood for at the end of a day), or catching up on work.

• I finally finished “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. 

It was a good read and it definitely made me pay more attention to where my food comes from (and I am hoping to expand our garden to plant asparagus and rhubarb). It was entertaining, too. 

• The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case by Batya Gur

This was a slow read, both in terms of pacing and because it took me a couple of months to finish. I liked it! It’s just, like I said, I haven’t been able to get into the page-turning zone where I forget about everything else. 

A couple of quotes:

“He had an answer to everything, even when he had nothing to say.” 

[Yes! I know people like that!]

“She smiled and added with great sadness that it never occurred to her that it would be their last meeting. Her eyes filled with tears as she said that it was always like that; one always felt, she said as if to herself, that one had all the time in the world.”

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

I was not a huge fan of The Martian – not exactly sure why, just wasn’t my cup of tea. Project Hail Mary – I read it after my son’s raving reviews (he absolutely loved it). It is geared toward a somewhat younger audience (young teens, probably?) There were some aspects of it I absolutely loved, like the main character using very real science, real logic, and very real calculations to solve problems in the first few chapters. Overall, the book was just OK. I liked the mostly believable science based on actual scientific facts (science fiction as it should be!). The main character was a bit… too cheerful and too naive? Attempting to be humorous a bit too much? Not sure, but something felt off.

I think I am in the mood for some solid sci-fi.

Dear Reader, do you have a favorite science fiction book that you love to re-read?

Exams

 I don't ever want to take exams again.

I had to take a "Certified Medical Publication Professional" (known as CMPP) exam today. It was awful. It was painful. It was nearly 3 hours of long, convoluted questions. I don't ever want to do it again.

I have no idea if I will pass. The exam was hard and I am absolutely sure there were questions I got wrong.

I suppose there is an option to re-take it, if needed. But I really, really don't want to.

Will I get fired from my job if I fail the CMPP exam? Probably not, but it will most likely have a negative impact on long-term career stuff.

I spent hours and hours getting ready... reading a ton of relevant literature... 

My memory is terrible. 

Ugh.

Red Shorts

Our schools don't require uniforms. Except, as it turns out, for middle school gym class: yellow school T-shirt and red shorts.

Ugh, the whole red shorts thing is annoying. Nowhere in the supply list did it say that kids needed red shorts for gym. They needed special T-shirts we had to buy from the school (and that was a pain because all those shirts were huge). The supply list then said “any brand shorts”. So I didn’t worry – because kids have plenty of sports shorts. And then one of the PTG moms said that those shorts had to be red. Really? Because my kids have blue shorts, green shorts, black shorts, but, of course, no red shorts. Ugh. I ordered some from Amazon, but those will not be here until mid-September (and there is no guarantee that the sizes will work out). 

The school store did have some red shorts in stock - about 5 sizes too big for either of my middle schoolers. 

Yeah, I know, first world problems, la-di-da. 

Last weekend, I meant to go to Kohls to look for those dratted red shorts  – that didn’t happen (mostly because I hate shopping and try to avoid it as much as possible). 

I shouldn't complain. It's just that I worked pretty hard to get all the school stuff ready weeks in advance - I didn't want to stress about looking for something last-minute when it's probably sold out because everybody else needs it, too.

I am totally stressed out about red shorts.