November: reunion month

Free balloon trumps loyalty.

The Halloween stomach bug brought by Nikita went through half the household at the beginning of November. Ivan and I were the victims, although my illness manifested as exhaustion: I ended up sleeping all day on my birthday. In retrospect, sleeping seems like a perfect way to celebrate, but I had to miss a class. Thankfully, I regained enough energy by the evening to enjoy the Napoleon, orange tulips, and free Red Sox balloon (right) brought by my family.

I was fully recovered by the weekend, which was a good thing because I went to NYC to attend my high school reunion (photos here). Twenty-five years - where did the time go? It was fun chatting with old friends and making "new" friends over the weekend; many of the conversations continued on the bus ride home (thank you, Greyhound wifi!). I learned a number of things: why it's okay to choose white males for teaching positions; how horror films are an excellent indicator of relationship longevity; the merits of eating giraffe. Most surprising, however, was discovering how many of my math-and-science HS classmates write and/or teach in the humanities.

The chatterbox and his monkeys

Being in my hometown allowed me to catch up with other folks. I crashed with my sister-in-law and nephew because my parents and brother were out of town. Sebastian (right) recently learned to talk, and it was a treat to hear him singing to himself when he woke in the morning, "reading" Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, and calling me "Aunt Essie." I also had lunch with people from elementary school. You may wonder what elementary school friends who haven't seen in each other in 20+ years could talk about. Facebook certainly makes it easier to keep tabs on people, but there's nothing like seeing people to fill in the gaps; I learned things about my friends that I never knew, and it was good. 

We all drove down to NYC for Thanksgiving, which my mom hosted. Most of the dinner was catered, so I only had to make five dishes: sweet potato soup, oyster stuffing, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls, and pecan pie. The dinner turned out very well, despite my burned rolls (something with my oven) and pecan pie crust (someone put the baked pie into a 350 degree oven!), and the absence of deep-friend turkey (our one chance to celebrate Thanksgivukkah - blown!). I was really excited about the oyster stuffing, but it turned out strange: the oyster flavor was overpowering at first bite, but completely disappeared when the stuffing was eaten with other side dishes. I was less excited about making soup (who needs a first course with a table groaning with food?), so I was grateful to see very little leftover.

History meets art.

We spent most of that weekend, however, in Philadelphia for - you guessed it - Nikita's chess tournament. It was my first real visit to the city, and I was impressed with its civic spirit, which seems stronger than Boston's. Ivan had absolutely no interest in history: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell were out of the question, but the Second Bank of the U.S. was palatable for its many portraits (especially George Washington's, right). He also clocked out at room 3 (of 19?) of The Barnes Foundation, probably because we visited at the end of a long day. A shame really, because I absolutely loved the place: its idiosyncratic arrangement of paintings (without regard to chronology or genre) constitutes the strongest argument for the existence of museums. We both loved, however, the Franklin Institute (more spacious and innovative than Boston's Museum of Science) and the food (Campo's Philly Cheesesteak, Bassett's ice-cream, and Shane's candy).

The most memorable event in November back at home was Nikita storming through the first three Harry Potter books. I never saw him read so willingly; we even stayed up late together (for me: S, Light Years, and Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace - highly recommended!). Unfortunately, he gave up in the middle of book 4, but I think he'll be a reader some day.

Ivan helped me gather leaves (19 bags total!) by running into piles, and discovered Depeche Mode, making "Never Let You Down Again (Aggro Mix)" his WWII soundtrack. Finally, he melted my heart by saving me treats from the school's celebration of St. Martin's Day (which he initially confused for Marty Walsh, the new mayor of Boston).

As for me, I was buried in student assignments, which made me really appreciate Kama Sutra and this well-written essay about Neville Longbottom. I also discovered a fantastic modern classical piece called "Aheym," but I'll end this post with another throwback - this time to grad school: