(no subject)

R and I finally went down to our local pub last night - it was a kick! Our friend J came over with a bottle of wine and the Turkish equivalent to Twix bars (Albeni) and after the wine was drained he wanted to go out. DH and I were feeling like homebodies, so we comprimised by going to the pub that is in the next building over from us. It had always looked a little seedy, so we'd avoided it in the past, but it turns out it is quite sweet. There were about 4 tables with chairs and only 1 bar stool pulled up against the bar. The beer was $.28 for a half litre glass. The whole thing was so quaint we will have to go back. As we were finishing up our beers the Russian speakers at the table near us starting asking one another if they spoke any English and tried to strike up a conversation. They were all shocked that DH and our friend only spoke Uzbek and no Russian, since half of them were ethnic Uzbeks who only spoke Russian. At the end of the night one of them really tried insisting that we go over to his house and sleep for the night (it is considered an honor to have overnight guests here). We managed to get out of it by pointing to our building a few feet away. When I started walking toward home and the guy was left with only 2 Uzbek speakers, I think he knew the proposition wasn't going to fly. Anyway, I'm nursing a bit of a sour tummy from the wine and beer mix (I guess "wine before beer, you're in the clear" doesn't apply to Uzbek sickly sweet wine) and need to get cooking because Easter supper starts at 1 pm!

(no subject)

Oh and I found two articles that seemed appropos and depressing for easter:

1st, one about the "Pharisee Nation" ganked from the ubsa community:
http://207.44.245.159/article8113.htm

2nd, a very sad article from Al Jazzera about how soldiers who murdered Iraqi and Afghan prisoners are not getting charged with crimes:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9C8ABBED-CCB4-43AB-8A95-9D84A51F40CE.htm

I think this combination is why I'm not going to easter services at the one place they are holding them this year (Russian easter is later and has a lot more celebrants here). Even though I'm loosely pagan identified and kinda Unitarian, Christianity does play some role in my sprituality. Easter is the one time I try to go to church. Something about the message of rebirth (and fecundity and lots of paganny goodness) that prevails during this time of year really resonates with me. Anyway, this year I've decided that going to church right now would be too risky because of what is going on in Kyrgyzstan and the actions of the US government which seems to be angering more people than it is "freeing." Since there is only one easter service going on today, and is being held at the hotel where the military and contractors like Haliburton billet their people, I think I have to stay away. Pity, because easter hymns really are my favorite.