After 13,000 steps in Syracuse we limped back to the ship for Shabbat.
They lay out a nice setting and a nice group of people gathered with a few new faces. Some had become familiar as we kept running into them at places of Jewish interest. And the ship bakes the challah for us each week This evening we met a couple from Uzbekistan who moved to NYC with their 2 girls 1999. Interesting people. Interesting stories.
Speaking of girls, I had a nice conversation with a woman working on the ship from Zimbabwe who informed me that in Zimbabwe I’d be loaded . I’d have three cows and a decent amount of cash as the husbands still all have to pay a bride price.Traditionally it was livestock. Now it is more common for it to be a combination of animals and cash. While many people now live in the city the community where they come from still has the family plot with some family still on it. Also learned about the chickens they keep. They call them roadrunners because they’re so damn fast and it’s such a pain to catch them. But they survive scratching for themselves while the grain fed pullets die more often than not.
Day after Thanksgiving the Xmas decoration went up. I was impressed with this tree from recycled lumber
Of course there is the more traditional stuff around along with a Chanukia.
This brings me to the thought that only Americans seem to be so afraid of offending and we tip toe around words. One of the guides was from Odessa, Russia. I (Melanie) told her my family was from Odessa and she matter of fact said “they must be Jewish”. She wasn’t. That’s the kind of comment you’d never hear in the US
Also, when waiting for a light to change, I met this nice young man who asked where I was from. I said Ithaca, New York, and he said Mandami, yes! We had a moment together cheering. I’m not sure why I cheered.
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