22 Aug 2001, 11:25 a.m.

Indian Matroshki, Lenin, Ask the Rabbi

At my aunt's house the other day, I saw various artifacts of various cultures and countries. The matroshka doll sort of disconcerted me. I'm not used to looking at that nested metaphor while hearing women …

Read More
21 Aug 2001, 12:09 p.m.

Notes on Neal and Jon

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is, or soon will be, an audiobook. The excerpt is worth a listen. Dan on Slashdot, when I complained that "Stopping the 56K Hate" is almost Jon Katzian but not enough:" …

Read More
20 Aug 2001, 11:37 a.m.

Terrific weekend

I had a lot of fun. I went to my sister's party with Leonard and Camille and so many of my sister's friends. There was much eating and some mall shopping, and I watched "Black …

Read More
17 Aug 2001, 5:53 a.m.

Finally

My mom and I finally lost patience with each other while I was practicing driving -- during rush hour today. I knew it had to happen sooner or later. Back to Berkeley tomorrow, the sooner …

Read More
16 Aug 2001, 3:45 a.m.

We Don't Except Checks

"Gourmet soap" and "If you open it, you buy it. Don't get caught!" and "We Don't Except Checks": seen at Food King yesterday. Drove with Mom for the first time and second time yesterday. She …

Read More
14 Aug 2001, 9:30 a.m.

Zhili Buili

Hindi film, steering, reading, writhing, and arithmetic. Title from the intro to most Russian fairy tales, "Once there was..." (mutatis mutandis for gender and number, of course). Lagaan. Today I finished watching Lagaan, also known …

Read More
13 Aug 2001, 4:03 a.m.

S-Town, B-Rown

  Er, that is to say, I'm in Stockton for a few more days, and I'm brown. Trilingual hilarity from the Harihareswara household: "What is the Russian for [Kannada for 'are you full?']?""Why would they …

Read More
12 Aug 2001, 8:56 a.m.

Wodehouse, Eco, party, transport, language, shopping

Congratulations, Windows 98, for crashing and erasing my eloquence. Funny, isn't it, that this almost never happened in Russia, and yet as soon as I have to use my father's machine....but never mind. My father …

Read More
09 Aug 2001, 9:54 a.m.

Resocialization

Reverse culture shock feels a little harder than the culture shock of going to Russia. There were no orientations for the return. All the signs are in English. Everyone speaks English. Well, almost everyone. I …

Read More
08 Aug 2001, 9:05 a.m.

Back in Berkeley

Hi there, all. I'm experiencing reverse culture shock here in the US. Everyone speaks English! (Well, not really.) The PA system folks at airports speak English as though they were native speakers! (Well, most of …

Read More