Surreality

Sometimes, the juxtaposition of times and cultures is amazing.

On Sept 11th, there was a huge documentary on TV about the attacks against America. Everyone I knew was watching it. Some of my students came up to me to say they were thinking about America on this day. Newspapers and TV stations stopped by the school to "Interview the Americans and Discuss Their Feelings on the 9/11 Anniversary".

My host family sat me down on the couch with them so we could all watch the documentary together. Although I couldn't follow the words, certainly the story was familiar.

Afterwards, we sat and looked through some of my host mother's old photos, especially the ones from when she was a summer counselor for the Young Pioneers (communist youth organization during the Soviet Union).