In the next couple of days I want to write about three different things:
Olga's 65th birthday
How two teachers from Columbia High School days are still affecting my lessons
Rare--Books!
This morning I got a lot of correcting, entering grades, and lesson planning out of the way so that I can enjoy the rest of the weekend. This was made possible by a morning of no-classes that wasn't on our calendar in the schedule of classes but was, apparently, online. This afternoon I have a dental appointment, which is actually a lot of fun because I have a great dentist, and then a Pakistani tea at Shehla's. Tomorrow morning Jonathan and I have an online discussion of The Marriage Plot for this month's meeting of the Jo-Mama Book Club, and then Javier and I are going to see Bully at the Stonestown Cinema and take a walk in Stern Grove. On Sunday, Kathy and Suzy and I are getting together for OUR monthly meeting at Suzy's, and I'm going to take Suzy a short story she wrote in 1985--something Mom kept because it was very, very good. It's sad though that it begins after the death of the narrator's mother.
This blog was interrupted by a call from Line Fapiano Folaumoeloa, who's going back to New Zealand tonight from Redwood City. It was a very interesting call, but that's another blog.
Now, about Olga and her family! I'm always grateful when I have students who don't hate me, and Olga was my student back in the days when students actually liked me. She was a dream student in my ESL 4 (?) class after Mikhail had been my dream student at the JCC, where one of their daughters, 12-year-old Svetlana, would come to class with her dad. She remembers that when someone had a birthday, I'd bring in a cupcake to divide among all the students, but she would really wind up with it, after the candle in the center had been lit and blown out by the birthday honoree. I was impressed by how bright she was and still am impressed. She's now an attorney for the Justice Department in D.C. and knows Patrick McMullen, who is Consul on the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, where Miguess is a Senior Consul. They have offices near each other.
Another beautiful daughter, Yelena, got maried in 1997 in SF, and I was at her wedding as I was at Lana's on Long Island in 2009. So I've been friends with the Lunskiy family for more than 20 years.
I had to miss Olga's 60th birthday, but she and the rest of the family were at my 60th, and Javier and I took over flowers after Olga's 60th party, which fell on the same day as a party at Nina's.
This 65th birthday party was held at the Russian Renaissance Restaurant, where Steve took me back in 1966 or 1967, when Harriet and I were living on California Street and I was about to spend the Summer of Love in Zamora, Michoacan! The Restaurant has changed a lot! I like the woman in charge, who knows about the history and suggested that I get the Arcadia book on the Richmond District to see the Russian Renaissance as it used to be.
The food was beautiful to behold, as was the whole Lunskiy family. Lana and Phil make a gorgeous couple (he looks Yemenese), and Yelena was beautiful and sang a "Mama" song in Russian that sounded wonderful. I met Jackie, their little girl, for the first time, and saw Sam, who recited a poem from memory and wore cool sun glasses. Chagall went very well with the whole party, maybe especially with a redheaded woman who was charming.
Before I close on this blog, I do want to say that Lana, years after I taught her parents, told me that they'd passed on a song I'd taught them, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree," and they all loved it. I had to tell her that I'd read an article saying that police use that as punishment for people whose rap music has disturbed the peace. It's aversion therapy.
Is that my contribution as a teacher?
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