You know you're Eastern European when...

As emailed to me by a friend. Quite true, actually.
1. You had to share a room until you were 21.
2. Everything you eat is savored in garlic and onions.
3. You are standing next to the two largest suitcases at the airport.
4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.
5. All your children have nicknames which sound nowhere close to their real names.
6. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.
7.Your mom tells you you're too skinny even though you're 30 pounds overweight.
8. Your house is full of medicine from your old country and it's probably all illegal here.
9. You and your friends have ever been kicked out of a restaurant or recreational park for being too loud or rowdy.
10. You don't know how to use a dishwasher b/c *u are* the dishwasher.
11. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
12. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
13. Your dad ever butchered a pig or lamb.
14. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
15. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
16. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making calls.
17. It's "normal" if your wedding has 600 people.
18. Your 15 year old sister can out-drink any American guy.
19. You drive a nicer car than your parents.
20. Your dad carries around enough money to buy a car.
21. You have all brand new appliances in the kitchen but your mom cooks in the basement with the stove from your old house.
22. Your parents have gone on vacation ONCE and it was to your home country.
23. You base your whole life on fortune in your coffee cup.
24. Your parents still prefer to buy cassettes instead of CDs.
25. You're actually nodding and laughing at most of these things.
26. You're a proud Eastern European and pass this on to your European friends.
27. Your non-English speaking grandmother gives a shocked look when you say 'pizza'.
28. You wear French Connection and other designer clothing when going to work out.
29. You carry liquor back here from your country in plastic Sprite bottles under tons of clothing in the suitcase.
30. You have 17 consonants and 2 vowels in your last name.

(Not So) Quarterly Book Reviews #3

The new school term began two months ago, and with it my daily two-hour commuting odyssey in Belgrade's much maligned public transport, en route to my teaching job. It really isn't as bad as most people claim (public transport, that is, not my teaching), although it often occurs to me that it would take me less time to get to London by plane than to the other part of the city by bus. On the other hand, were it not for all the hours I 've spent commuting like that, I don't think I would have read nearly as many books and magazines, including some of these featured below.

HISTORY/RELIGION
Latter Days by Coke Newell, St Martin's Press 2000

"A guided tour through six billion years of Mormonism". I actually liked it, in spite of its rather pretentious subtitle. It narrates the genesis of that religion, its remarkable early history and explains the fundamental beliefs and values of the Latter-day Saint Church.

Needless to say, it is not to be confused with a soppy gay Mormon-themed novel & film bearing the same title.

ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY

The Earth Path by Starhawk, HarperSanFrancisco 2004

Beautfully written, like most of Starhawk's writings, this book is a treasure trove of inspiration, meditations, rituals and practical ideas for all the eco-conscious people out there, not just those sharing the author's neopagan path. Just the sort of stuff Saunterer's loves to endorse.
ARCHAEOLOGY/HISTORY/RELIGION

The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, The Free Press 2001
A nice piece of serious and scholarly, yet quite readable, work on biblical archaeology. It's been referred to as "bold" and "revolutionary", questioning established beliefs regarding the origins of the Bible and its historical background. Along with claiming that most of Old Testament content is pure fiction, the authors take a step further and explain why and under what circumstances were the books of the Bible produced, and serving what (political) purpose, making them all the more fascinating.


SOCIAL STUDIES/RELIGION

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, Penguin Compass 1986

Almost 600 pages of excellent investigative reporting on "witches, druids, goddess-worshippers and other pagans in America today", written by an NPR correspondent and a practicing pagan herself. It's a genuinely thrilling book, filled with interviews, personal accounts and sociological analyses. It remains the single best A-Z of modern paganism.