Bearshorty's musings

This week was my first week of school. So I'm back at my regular job(s). It was still a partial week since only Local College started this week and for University there was just a teaching orientation. But still, I'm back in teacher mode, organizing and lecturing and reorienting my brain back.

I'm teaching "History of England" and "Global History to 1600" this semester at Local College. I'm really liking my classrooms - they so far are leading to a good dynamic. Space of the classroom is so important sometimes. "History of England" just has 9 students, which is sort of amazing. And the students are asking questions, which is great. And it is my favorite ever subject and my specialty and this week I was reminded why I love it so much. The first lecture was on the Norman Conquest and it was just pure joy for me. I was having so much fun with it. I showed them "William the Conqueror" song on YouTube from historyteachers set to "SexyBack" and the fun Battle of Hastings powerpoint.

I've taught a version of this class before - I'm ending in 1688 this time, so the last third of the class will be new. But right now, I'm in my time period and just look forward to it. On Wednesday, I just had such a good teaching day in general that it made me sad to think that I have to leave it behind at some point soon. But I need a much better paying job.

In my Global class, I have a student who is catching my geeky references - I alluded to "Doctor Who" in the intro class with "now we move from time to space" phrase and showed Gilgamesh segment from Star Trek: TNG on Wed, and he mentioned it. I need to add some more as I go.

On Thursday, as I was taking the train to University these two older gentlemen visiting from Brazil needed some traveling help and then where talking to me a little, practicing their England. They were very exuberant and so, so friendly to everyone. Normally no one talks to others on the commute in New York, that is just not done so this is unusual. But it was pretty fun to chat with them. This one guy, Paolo, had a bit of idealistic picture of America, especially comparing it to Brazil and the level of poverty there. He's been in US before and he loves it here.

I'm all set for the start of class next week at University - I worked on those syllabi today. Tomorrow I'm taking the train up to Bear's parents for the Labor Day weekend. His Mom is so keen on us celebrating our anniversary with going out despite all our protests that it is really unnecessary. Our wedding anniversary was Monday (1 year) and our started dating anniversary will be next week (15 years), but we already celebrated Monday our way. I came home to a colorful bouquet of flowers and a card. Then we drove to the bakery that did our cake and got a few slices of the chocolate cake we had at our wedding. And then Bear spent an hour and half almost burning down the apartment cooking me a delicious dinner of eggplant Parmesan. There were candles and "Princess Bride" (it's our movie). So really no need for more. But I think his Mom just wants to do something for us so we are just going to let her.

Other than that in the last couple of weeks the only other interesting things was spending a day with Yeva and going to Uzbek restaurant, spending some time with my parents last week in their house and going on double date with Yeva and her latest boyfriend to Banya and then sushi.

I finished "Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde - which was good although I really, really didn't like the main character. But the language was so lovely. I also read "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner. The writing in that book is terrible as writing. I didn't believe the character's emotions and there is literately one girl in the whole book. The plot was moving pretty fast and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen but I was guessing it before the characters got there. Then when I was done, I looked up what the other two trilogy books were about and I really, really don't want to read those. But I gave it a go. Now I'm just going to have time to read for school - I have Caesar, Christopher Columbus and my English biographies to do. First up, the biography of Empress Matilda who fought for her right to be Queen in the 12th century.

Over the last three weeks I haven’t been blogging. Mostly it was moving and setting up new internet and run down to the wedding, the wedding itself, first week of classes at Local College and figuring out transportation and the mini-honeymoon Bear and I spent in New Hope, PA for the last two days. So it has been a pretty busy three weeks. But now we’re home in our apartment and I will blog much more regularly as I settle into the new routine.

The wedding last Sunday went well – all according to plan, which was nice. I love my dress – it was so lovely and Bear looked very handsome in his suit. In the morning, Mama and I went to Brooklyn to the hair dresser and then the make-up girl came to my house. Bear and Jeremy, his best men, came around 1:30, had lunch, changed and then we all went to Fort Wadsworth, right by Verrazano Bridge to take pictures of fabulous views. (By Russian tradition, the groom needs to go to bride’s house to pick her up). Yeva met us there since as usual she was running late.

After all the pictures we drove to the restaurant. All the guests came on time and we had our ceremony at 6:30 with a priest and a rabbi. Everyone seemed to have a good time. There was a lot of alcohol and Bear’s friends were really into Belarussian champagne (we also gave alcohol as parting gifts). There was a show in the restaurant and dancing too. Bear and I danced in the private room before we did the main restaurant floor to cheesy music and green fog – it was such a fun cheesy moment. And we had our cake with wedding bears on top. We actually took the bottom half home – the chocolate layer (the top layer was walnut) – and Bear took most of it into work and we’ve been eating the rest all week. So much delicious cake. And after the restaurant, Bear and I drove a short way to our new apartment.

( wedding pictures )

After fourteen years together, getting married doesn’t actually feel all the different. It is a little weird to call him my husband but other than that even living together doesn’t feel that new, although it sort of is. Mostly, I’m just happy we could spend more time together but so far, it is not that different.

For our mini-moon, we went to New Hope for a few days (we want to go to Grand Canyon in January for the actual honeymoon). I needed to go into work on Thursday for my Writing Program orientation but that was on the way to the vacation. We stayed in a very nice B&B and we actually got a lot done in two and a half days. We walked around the town and shopped a bit (I love a magnet that says “A monkey can do my job but he would demand better pay”), went canoeing, had a giant milkshake, watched fireworks, went on a 1920s style train ride and went to all three Washington Crossing National Park sights. And had nice food too.

We almost done setting up the apartment – we still need a couch and different bar stools but it is coming together. Bear bought an exercise bike – so now I have no excuse but to work out at home. I will try to get into a more productive routine now that I have to set a new routine. And teaching has started and I will need to figure out a new commute too. But it is good – I do like the change.

I haven’t been reading that much actual books this summer but I did finish “Infidel” by Aayan Hirsi Ali – which I liked but found a bit problematic at times since I do believe in multiculturalism more than the author does. Now I’m reading “Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy” by John le Carre (I want to see the movie and I know practically nothing about it.

As for TV, I’m loving the second season of “Grimm” and I watched Season 1 of “Teen Wolf” on Netflix, which I enjoyed. I will catch up with second season online too. I can’t watch SYTYCD here since I don’t have cable, just the internet but I do catch up on dances the next day, so there is that. This Fall TV Season I have the least number of TV shows to watch in the longest time and I’m really OK with that.

It was hot again today so I didn’t leave the house much. I did go to the bank since I need to start preparing envelopes to pay people for the wedding. The rest of the day wasn’t really eventful.

My throat feels a bit scratchy. I hope it doesn’t develop into anything major although I’d rather be sick this week than in the end of the month.

The Mars landing of Curiosity is super awesome. I wish I followed it more last night.

Olympics:

I watched some synchronized swimming, some track and field like hurdles and pole vault, and gymnastics today. Grenada’s winning first gold was so emotional – Kirani James was crying. Damn you, NBC promotional segments meant to elicit tears and drama! For gymnastics, I watched men’s rings – one of my favorite apparatuses, men’s vault and women’s high bar. The rings do impress me most. And I really don’t know how those women do all that synchronized swimming – it is hard enough to hold yourself above water. I liked the Russian routine a lot – it was so much fun.

I did like the Longitude segment of NBC broadcast – one of my favorite memories of study abroad in London in 2000 was standing on the Prime Meridian line. I still have the picture of being both in the East and West Hemisphere at the same time. I wanted to do that since I was a kid and actually getting there was just amazing.

After such a long day on my feet yesterday, and two days ahead of me with a lot to do, today was a bit of a rest day. At least I didn’t go for my usual walk. I did go to my second dress fitting – and they only need to fix the shoulder strap – and to the Russian store for bread. And I stopped by the salon there and arranged for wedding make-up person to come to the house. Yeva was going to do it – but there were just too many logistics involved as she wanted to do at her house, and that is just too much driving around.

Other than that I was pretty much home.

I did wake up at 7 to make a very cranky Bear’s breakfast (lack of sleep is not his friend) and then he went to the apartment. They fixed the windows and the IKEA guys came even earlier than scheduled. So that’s done. Now I need to really clean it and put the kitchen in order. Mama and I took out the gigantic box of kitchen stuff and put them in manageable bags – I did miss all my plates and glasses. I’m looking forward to this part.

Olympics – I caught that really close swim from yesterday online and some of men’s gymnastics. I’m going to try to catch up on the whole thing later. The online main feed shows so many varied performances that it is much better than live coverage, it seems. And I watched the women’s gymnastics and some swimming today. Gabby Douglas’ mom was so happy there.

My Mom wanted to watch the equestrian jumps this morning so I set it up on her computer. I only caught a few jumping turns and the medal ceremony – I love ribbons on horses.

I also watched the swimming racing live – that was really awesome -such a close finish in the butterfly and a great relay. And in the evening I watched the diving and the gymnastics – I knew that US would win but seeing the looks of the faces of those girls that just makes you emotional. They were so happy. Well, not the Russian girls and I feel for them, but US team did earn it. That last vault was amazing in the first rotation.

We have guests tonight – my Mom’s friend Galya and her daughter Olya. So after dinner we all went to the beach where I could rollerblade. I cleaned the bathroom too since they will be using mine, which I normally don’t like. And for the first time in a very long time I will have to share a bathroom once I move in with Bear at the end of the month. But he is not a stranger, so that should be alright. I’ll adjust at least.

We are getting the keys to our apartment tomorrow. We then will have a month to set it up before we move at the end of August. Tomorrow we will also go buy all the furniture. (I sold all my furniture five years ago when I moved to my parents’ house).

We are also going to get the marriage license tomorrow and I have to decide if I’m going to change my last name. I don’t think I will. I’m 32. It’s my name. And it is a hassle to change all the documents. But there has to be some consideration because Bear’s last name is easier – what I mean is my name is very Russian and many Americans can’t just pronounce the name how it sounds and there are many syllables. Bear’s last name is a much easier name to pronounce – it is a name of English origin. So it would be easier to have his name. But a bigger part of me wants to keep my last name. It is a name my maternal grandfather made up when he got new paperwork after escaping the ghetto after WWII. He wanted to sound Russian, not Jewish. When my mother married my father, with his very Jewish (and easy for America) last name, she kept her last name because of Anti-Semitism and when I was born, my parents gave me my mother’s last name. (Which is unusual in the Western world and some people look very puzzled when they find out that my father and I have a different last names. It is seriously hard for some people to get – I had to deal with that at times). So my name, no matter how hard to pronounce here, has a history too.

Today Bear and I spent the afternoon riding around Brooklyn in his car looking at neighborhoods for our apartment hunting. We are thinking of getting something for August, so it is still a little early but we wanted to get a general picture. It is a little overwhelming but exciting too. But, yes, we won’t have much money left over after all the rent and food.

We also printed out the contract for the priest and wrote that deposit check.

On the way back home, we stopped by my grandparents where I got a nice birthday check. So now I can order my Ketubah and put the rest toward the rabbi payment. It was nice to visit them; I couldn’t make it yesterday when my uncle from Chicago was visiting (my Dad’s cousin) but at least I made it today.

And in the evening we had time to go rollerblading too. Yay. After dinner, I finally got Bear to go on Pottermore so he could be sorted. He was never sure what house he would be on – he kept thinking Hufflepuff because loyalty is important to him but he wanted Gryffindor too. And to my delight and his surprise he was sorted into Ravenclaw – like me. He does like books too but I think it was his artistic sense and value for individual quirkiness. It was interesting to see that many of his sorting questions were different from mine.

Ketubah sample came and we certainly can order the smaller version since the print is visible.

Yesterday, I emailed one of the rabbis from the list that Interfaith Family website sent me. Rabbi Frank emailed me back and asked me to call him. (I get anxious calling strange people on the phone so I needed to psych myself up a bit). I called him today and he seemed very nice. He also knows a few priests, so I passed the information to Bear for him to handle that aspect. Rabbi’s fee will be $600 plus I want to get a Ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract that looks like art you can hang on the wall). I think I’ll use my birthday money for Ketubah because I do really want one. We need to get a chuppah too but I’m thinking we could make it ourselves or go without – I’m certainly not paying $400 for it.

Honest Trailer for Twilight. I could not stop laughing.

I took a bus to Brooklyn this afternoon to meet with Bear and stop by bakeries to pick our cake. I wondered around Bay Ridge for a while waiting for him, scouting lunch possibilities – there are some cute stores. By the time he got there it was time for lunch and I really wanted a burger, so we went to a pub type place and we both got really tasty and delicious burgers. The bar was a bit crowded after a while since all the hockey fans were coming in for a game, but still the food was good.

I made a list of bakeries and we were pretty much walking around. In one bakery, there was a creating ‘cupcake’ cake but the baker is going on vacation in August. But while we were there looking at cake pictures we decided on the white/red/black colors for our cake.

In the next bakery, the baker was out and in the third one the guy was going out of the door to deliver one but he gave us his card and basically told us what kind of cake we would need – only two tier since there are about 35 people and his reasonable pricing. We were going to come back after making an appointment but I wanted to stop by a Russian bakery on 86th street too, so we drove over there.

And we ended up picking out a cake. It was more expensive than in the other bakery but we could just order one right there, without coming back. Both Bear and I like that – we don’t want to spend more time on this than needed. And we picked a good design and talked to the baker right there. And we got to taste delicious samples. The bottom will be chocolate and the top a walnut. So tasty. But expensive.

And in the evening, quite accidentally, we also ended up taking care of the ring for Bear. Since I had to return the Macy’s ring (oh my God the hassle there), we needed a new one. So out of curiosity we looked on Amazon and they have very cheap ones made of the same material as the Macy’s one. So since Bear is not actually planning to wear his ring all the time and he really doesn’t want to go shopping for it, he just picked one on Amazon. And since it was pretty cheap, I got him a black ring too with a batman symbol for fun in addition to the actual one. So we crossed two things from our wedding to do list today.

Mama and I went looking for a hairdresser for the wedding hair today and we tried someone close to home. It was a tactical mistake on my part of not bringing a book. So I pretty much sat there looking at magazines (and the wedding magazines are ridiculous – who actually spends 30 hours a week planning a weeding – there isn’t that much to plan). Feels like wasted hours too, since my Mom’s hair style didn’t really hold that long and she doesn’t like it – so we’ll keep shopping. I’ll call the hairdresser Yeva recommended and do a trial with her; she is supposed to be great at styling hair.

( Grimm S1E18 )

I need to pick up cross stitch again – I haven’t done it in so long but I really want to get back into it.