И смех и грех

Originally sent June 23:

I forgot to mention a few things. They are mostly not happy, so I will start with a joke I learned yesterday:

1 Englishman is a gentlemen, 2 Englishmen-- a bet. 3 Englishmen-- a Parliament.
1 Frenchman-- a lover. 2 Frenchmen-- a duel. 3 Frenchmen-- a revolution.
1 Russian-- unemployed. 2 Russians-- a fight. 3 Russians-- a drinking session.
1 Jew-- a professor. 2 Jews-- trade. 3 Jews-- the Russian Symphony Orchestra.

Trust me, it's really funny in Russian.

Now-- some drama! I forgot to relay that on Thursday night, V. Jr. came home drunk. O. was not happy, but it was no big deal. But then it happened again yesterday-- a Monday. And he skipped work to do so. This was a massive scandal. O. kicked him out of the house and became very emotional. Tears were shed. They had to call V. Jr.'s boss to ask for forgiveness on his behalf. She told me "I understand if you don't want to live in a house like this. We will think of something." I told her-- nonsense. I like it here. And I meant it-- every family, after all, has its problems.

Another thing: I was told to be wary of racism/ profiling in Russia. While no ordinary person has ever done anything remotely racist, the police aren't ordinary people. I was stopped on the metro yesterday and asked for my documents. As it happened, I didn't have them with me. What does a sensible person do in such a situation? Explain that one doesn't have his documents, and slip the militsiya a few rubles, just to make the point. But what does Aseem Shukla do in such a situation? Shouting "inostranny student!" ("foreign student!") and pretending he doesn't speak Russian. It worked.

All for now!

Aseemchik