Renee and I went to Brighton Beach yesterday. It’s a long subway ride from Manhattan, but it’s like visiting another country. Almost everyone was speaking Russian and had a distinctive look about them. We failed to pinpoint exactly what made the difference, clothing, makeup, hair dye, maybe all of that. but it was interesting to observe. The sun was warm as we strolled on the boardwalk. We had a lovely lunch at the Ocean Cafe, Renee bought a hat, we looked at all the food for sale. I would have liked to buy a hat, but never found anything that fit, and that I would like. We also would have liked to buy some of the prepared food, but the shops were so crowded we just looked and left. After another long subway ride we came home and veg’ed out until dinner time when we ate in an Indian restaurant.

Sally returned from China and got in touch with Shirley Sun earlier this week. I met both of them this morning in Chinatown. Sally’s English is better than Shirley’s but I am never certain I fully understand either of them. My interactions with them are filled with mystery; my imagination works overtime. But I was pleased to see Sally and know she is well. The only problem meeting both of them together is that almost as much Chinese is spoken as English. I keep hoping that someday Shirley will learn enough English to put my imagination to rest.

Yesterday I went to the New York Public Library to see an exhibit called: Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan. The exhibition was huge, more than 200 works, all of which came from the collections of the library. A number of woodblock prints were included, along with an explanation of how they were done. I found the exhibit very satisfying artistically, but the section called "The Structure of the Book" left me wanting more about how the books were created.

Years ago when I came to New York for a visit I did this frantic dance to try to see everything possible within my two or three day time span. Living right next to NYC for eight years I learned to take it easy. But now I feel like I’m back on the merry-go-round. Worse yet, I have to add all of my friends to the mix. Today I will meet friends for dinner, but I have the day free to see exhibits, and for a change, shop. I’m not a big shopper, but after a week of walking around I’m ready for a new pair of shoes. Most of my shoes come from visits to Chicago or New York.

Yesterday, I met a friend at the Asia Society where we saw an interesting exhibit about the Liao, a people who ruled in Mongolia and part of China during the tenth century. We went from there to the China Institute to see an exhibit of contemporary artist books and finished at the Grolier Club for a printmaking exhibit. I wanted to go on to the library for an exhibit of Japanese books, but I was exhausted and came back to the apartment instead.

So, what do Jews do on Christmas day? The tradition is to go to movies and eat in a Chinese restaurant. Renee found something new for us to do: we went to a noshing tour of synagogues on the lower east side. We began at Chasam Sopher Congregation, a beautifully restored synagogue with bagels, bialys and other great nosh, like kichels, I haven’t had in years. From there we went to the Angel Orensanz Cultural Center,
formerly one of the earliest synagogues built in New York. We finished the tour at the Stanton Street Shul
with more food. Although my roots are in Chicago, this was a kind of nostalgia trip. I think every (older) Jew in America has some connection to the lower east side.

One of the things I like best about New York is that I can always find something new. After, I had dim sum with Shirley this morning we decided to go to Union Square. I wanted to show her the Christmas Market. We took the subway from Chinatown, got off at 16th St. and Sixth Avenue and started walking east. We found a wonderful shop that seemed to be nameless because of the ubiquitous New York scaffolding around the building. In the window were some  blankets from  Mexico and pottery and jewelry from the Pueblo Indians. Inside, it was like a museum, cases and cases of wonderful Navajo jewelry, more Southwestern pottery, Curtis photographs, very interesting drawings of Indian subjects. There were also a few things from Alaska and the Northwest coast and from Africa. What a treat!
Another entrepreneur at Union Square. He was selling small replicas of the sculpture mounted on his car, which was taken from a famous photograph, I think by Margaret Bourke-White.

After we looked at both the Union Square and the Bryant Park Markets I said goodbye to Shirley and started to walk to the subway at Grand Central. Another surprise: on 42nd St. at Fifth Avenue is the Taipei Cultural Center. They had an exhibit of eight Asian artists’ interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. Neither of these were part of the plan, but they were a great treat.