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.

Podcasts Update

If you're into podcasting, make sure you download CBC's Words at Large Podcast 15. CBC Radio's Tapestry host Mary Hynes speaks to writer Oriah Mountain Dreamer about her latest book, creativity and spirituality. It's a gem.

Along with moving to Beta Blogger earlier today (which made my blogging a bit more comfortable), another addition to SJ is a brand new Top 10 Podcasts section on your right (below all the other links). As you will notice, the selection is rather ecclectic - and listed in alphabetical order, which is so like me! It's the sort of stuff I listen to on my way to work or while cycling.

Quarterly Book Reviews #2

I was supposed to post these around Midsummer, but I was saving some of the books for my summer break, having decided there was no better place to read them than on an empty beach, in the early morning hours.


GENDER STUDIES/PSYCHOLOGY
Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly (Da Capo Press 2004)

Probably the foundational book of the so-called mythopoetic (or expressive) men's movement. First printed in 1990, it stirred something of a controversy among feminists, masculists and all the other -ists. Using Brother Grimm's ancient fairy tale Iron John, award-winning author Robert Bly analyses eight stages of male growth and writes about the need for mentorship and the restoration of male initiation rites in contemporary culture.

NEW AGE/WICCA & PAGANISM
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn 2005)

With so many books on Wicca being published every year, it is more and more difficult to find a good practical introduction. Cunnigham's book, sold in about half-million copies, is readily recommended by most Wiccans, and for a good reason. As far as Wicca 101 books are concerned, this one is a must.

HEALTH
The Immune Advantage: How to Boost Your Immune System - The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do for Your Health by Ellen Mazo with Dr Keith Berndtson (Rodale 2002)
With this book I think I have finally found the perfect one-stop resource for disease prevention. Written with a holistic approach, it deals with everything from antigenic determinants (whatever that is) to the power of prayer. There's loads of practical advice, quizzes, tests... All the good stuff.

NEW AGE
The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra (2004)
Typical Chopra, for the thousandth time. How to unlock the secret dimensions of your life, etc etc. I don't think I am going to read any of his books ever again (says a person subscribed to Chopra's e-newsletter).

SACRED SCRIPTURE
Upanishads (Wordsworth Classics 2000)
Have you ever read something you couldn't quite understand (or even begin to), and yet you were utterly entranced by it, feeling the beauty resonating somewhere deep within?

As the T-shirts say, I've survived holidays in Croatia

I've returned from my three-week summer holidays in Croatia, my pays d'origine. I already miss its ancient cities, islands, the sea and the warm, unpredictable Mediterranean wind and, last but not least, its shopping malls (Croatian Tourist Authority really should pay me for heaping praises like that). I'll be travelling there again relatively soon, so I'm not too depressed about coming back home.

If I'm not too lazy I might post an extract or two from my journal later on. On second thought, who would want to read about me sunbathing, snorkeling and collecting pebbles and sea shells, going shopping five times a day (as a hobby) and maniacally doing crosswords in between, day after day?

P.S. A warm welcome (and come again) to everyone who visited the blog while I was away. And I've checked, there were quite a few hits!

Celebrate Summer

One of the things I have picked up along my spiritual path so far is the celebration of the ancient sacred days. While most people would identify them with (neo)pagan beliefs and practices, the fact is that all the major Christian holidays were originally pagan days of observance, clothed in Christian imagery during the first several centuries of the Common Era. Christianization of these holidays was supposed to show the all-encompassing superiority of the Christian creed, while heavily relying on pagan symbolism, rites and archetypes.

Going back to the authentic, Earth-based, meaning of these holidays, observing the cycle of the year and devising my own ways to honour it, gave a whole new quality to my spirituality, making it more positive, creative and less dependent on any particular religious or Church teaching. At the same time, it recognizes the Divine - however one might experience it - in the workings of Nature.

Tomorrow happens to be one of the most important solar holidays, the Summer Solstice or  Midsummer. If you want some facts and information about Midsummer celebrations in various cultures (both ancient and modern) and their rich symbolism, Religious Tolerance, Beliefnet, and BBC are great places to start.

Happy Summer Solstice and have a great summer!

Pyramids in Bosnia

One of many, many joys of living in the Balkans: sensational archaeological discoveries (not sure which one of these three words to put under inverted commas).

UNESCO Team to Probe Bosnian "Pyramid"

Reuters

SARAJEVO (June 5) - Bosnia's mystery pyramid will now be probed and inspected by a team of experts from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

"We shall send a UNESCO expert team to Visoko to determine exactly what it is all about," UNESCO Secretary General Koichiro Matsuura said in an interview published on Monday in Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

Amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic has caused a stir with his find, although local and European archaeologists denounce it as nonsense.

Geologist Aly Abd Barakat, an Egyptian researcher sent by Cairo to assist Osmanagic's team last month, has said that the Visocica hill did appear to be a primitive man-made pyramid of uncertain age.

Barakat said huge stone blocks found on the three sides of the hill used the same type of artificial cement used in ancient Egyptian pyramids.

Osmanagic's team is also investigating the Pljesevica hill -- which he calls the Moon Pyramid -- as well as underground tunnels he believes connect three pyramids.

The researchers have also found a sandstone monolith in the underground tunnel with enigmatic symbols engraved on it, which will be sent to Egypt for analysis.

Osmanagic, who studied pyramids in central America for the past 15 years, said that satellite and radar analyses have revealed the perfect geometry of Visocica and precise alignment of its sides with four cardinal points.
It does resemble a pyramid:
Photo: www.superbosna.com