Sof Tog

Everyone hits the wall at some point, the Yunger included. Immersion courses are not for the faint of heart.

I save Saturday for normal things like decent internet, laundry etc. I watch the weddings again. The very young brides in white frou frou, and their gallant husbands. The bridesmaids wear dresses of bright matching colors; the grooms wear a tie of the same color as their dresses. Today it seemed that 50’s and 60’s American convertibles were the limos of choice to lead the large bridal parties around the Old Town so as to allow for multiple photo ops. In general the streets are filled with exuberantly tasteless fashion.

I enjoy a Lithuanian folk festival on TV. The women look like babushka dolls, twirling with their partners who wear feathered hats and felt kerchiefs. The songs sound vaguely Tibetan. Help me out, Sydney. I think the melody is minor and the harmony in 4ths. Is this even possible? Would it sound Tibetan? Three million people here, who have been subjugated for more years than not. They speak a language which is Indo European, but related only to Latvian and Sanskrit. How isolated.

I am noticing how loudly Yiddish is spoken and am sensitive to the din of languages around me, in school, in the street, on TV. I can’t help but remembering Mos Isely in Star Wars. I recall that Lucas was recreating his old childhood neighborhood.

Today we toured Trakai, lovely castle in the middle of a lake. Home of Karaites, rebel Crimean Jews who distained Rabbinic law in Turkey and ended up as castle guards in Lithuania. Don’t ask! The story is told in garbled translation. I can’t quite connect it all. I have found a guide to take me to Pilvishok – my maternal grandmother’s birthplace. It’s not that far from here. Distances aren’t what they used to be.

For that matter, technology helps people translate, communicate, record, photograph, video, etc. The very active presence of technology is quite in contrast to the past which is emphasized.

The sunsets get earlier and earlier very quickly each day. Birds and crickets clamor. Or perhaps I didn’t stay up late enough for sunset a few weeks ago. I miss the interminable lightness.