What I Did This Weekend, Visiting an Alien Culture

I went to visit my Mother-in-Law. Her synagogue was honoring her for the volunteer work that she has done, so we went up, along with two of my nephews.

It was a fairly nice affair, but once again, I am reminded just how alien I find Frum^* culture.

From sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, you have the entire, no operation of things electrical, so whatever lights are on or off stay on or off (except for a couple on a timer), the stove is left on low with a plate on top of it to serve as a warmer, and light bulbs in the fridge are unscrewed.

I think that Sharon^† finds it all rather comforting, as this is what she grew up with, at least in her later teen years^‡, but at synagogue, and at social events I feel as if I am from another world.

The award dinner was actually a bit better that most such events. At most orthodox weddings that I've been to lately, the seating at the dinner has been sex segregated, but this time, as it was not a religious event per se, we had mixed seating.

We also had the good sense this time to leave our kids with a sitter for the dinner, which had both of our stress levels a lot lower,

The interaction between Charlie's Asperger's and significantly sized crowds, there were 70+ people there, is frequently not good. It gets him overstimulated, much in the same way that blood in the water overstimulated.

We went to a couple of museums while were there, most notably Sunnyside, Washington Irving's house. It's interesting from an architectural and technological perspective, though I think I enjoyed my visits to Monticello when I was living in Charlottesville, VA more, as it was far more ambitious.

Then again, unlike Jefferson, Irving did not bankrupt himself building out his rather more modest house.

^*Very orthodox culture.
^†Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
^‡As she got older, her parents became rather more observant.