Gah, busy last several days, and I am beat. A quick recap of where I have been and what I have been doing that has interrupted my normal stream of self-involved ramblings, larp-related babbling, and occasional cooking reports. Posted in bursts due to length and variety of subject.
Thursday I went with Bernie to the wedding of one of his cousins in New York. Their respective parts of the family are not very close, and he wanted me to come along as somebody to talk to. It was an Orthodox Jewish wedding, which meant Phoebe had to put her midriff away and study up a little on the customs so as to not appear quite as much the ignorant heathen she is. As a matter of fact, I was a lot more comfortable than I expected to be-- between my research and the knowledge I absorbed through living at Brandeis, I could more or less follow everything that was happening around me. It was actually pretty interesting and fun. Honestly due to the mechitza I probably spent less time with Bernie than with his mother, but as I said their family didn't really know anyone else, so I was glad I could be a friend for her. I even danced the hora. :-) That was fun, though the bride didn't go up in the chair. Also, I saw some of the ugliest dresses I've ever seen in my life. Picture nineteenth century gowns crossed with prom dresses. There's Orthodox modesty gone formal for you. I felt like a stylish panther lurking among dowdy sheep. ;-) Oh! I almost forgot the best part. A lady at the table at the reception struck up a conversation with me, asking me about the Jewish community back in my hometown. I knew the answers, so I told her-- Allentown has quite a few Jews, but most of them are more cultural than religious. Chabad is somewhere, but not all that much of a presence. She said, "Oh, so you didn't grow up with much religion, then?" I smiled and told her, "Actually, I'm Catholic." She was taken slightly aback. "Oh!" she said. "You don't look Catholic." Heehee. Was it the lack of stigmata that fooled her? Maybe that I put my plaid miniskirt away. Or perhaps she would have expected a Roman among the Chosen to be an ignorant shiksa. I'm sure what she meant is "You don't sound Catholic," but I am delighted to have disabused that notion, if that's the case. I am quite proud of myself for passing, seeing as typically they know me on sight. I am still not sure what gave me away at the kosher butcher shop, where the older Jewish lady snappishly told her husband to "Ask the shiksa to move!" I really did not want to be the screamingly obvious ignorant outsider, and I'm proud to say mission accomplished.
After we got back after a long drive through the rain, we rushed to the freshmen orientation event where Hold Thy Peace had been asked to perform some scenes and monologues. I was really proud of Jared, Elana, and Steph for getting it all together, and all the acts that went up looked and sounded great. It was too loud and unstructured a venue for this sort of thing, but they made the best of things and I was very impressed. Jared is so talented, I hope he gets a little more confidence in himself soon. He has a tendency to assume the worst in a lot of situations, but he always comes through in the end-- his performance was everything I hoped it would be.
Next-- a dinner, a party, and auditions for Romeo and Juliet.
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