Powwow

This week has altogether been englightening in terms of Native American traditions. Today I went to see the Nez Perce tribe's powwow wchih was at the football arena on campus (I guess a somewhat smaller place would have offered a more intime experience but this was nice too). I really enjoyed the ceremony of Grand Entry, in which all the dancers and singers enter the grounds. They were all very nicely dressed, some with quite some traces of modern culture in their traditional-style outfits. I think closest I've ever gotten to a feeling of spirituality has been the three times this week that I have been privileged to hear the prayer with which they started. It is in a form of a kind of a chant which in my opinion resembles that of the Sami people of Lapland. There are no words, and I think the purpose of this chant is to create a proper state of mind for their religious practice. After the opening ceremonies they had dance competitions for different groups. The "tiny tots" were incredibly cute, some of them couldn't even walk without help yet.

In fact, the greates thing about having been able to get to know Nez Perce culture has been to see that they have such a large group of youth learning about the traditions and wanting to keep this culture and language alive. In addition to the dancers, there were very young boys (as well as guys my age) in the traditional drum groups. In a way, knowing the romanticized, traditional picture about Native Americans, it feels funny to see them in their traditional outfits, but warming themselves with a basketball jacket. On the other hand, it is good to see that some traditions have survived, and that the culture is capable of transforming, meeting the requirements of the present day. As far as I know, there are currently only about 30 elders (?) who speak Nez Perce as their language but hopefully this new generation will revive this beautiful language and it will stay among the living languages at least a while longer.

Se hämmästyttää, kummastuttaa...

Vaihteeksi kokeillaan äidinkieltä. Miltä tuntuu... Ja ihan varmuuden vuoksi ;)

(Tämän tekstin pohdinnat koskevat vain konservatiivisen osavaltion pikkukaupunkilaisia - ja niitäkin yleistäen. Ehkä... Sattuuko tätä lukemaan joku, jolla olisi kommenttia asiaan?)

Minulla on nyt teoria. Se on ehkä vahvaa yleistystä, mikä on äärimmäisen kiellettyä eikä kukaan muu koskaan moiseen sorru. :D Amerikkalaiset ovat hyviä hoitamaan oireita puuttumatta vaivan syihin. Lähtien siitä, että kauppa on täynnä vatsalääkkeitä ja joka kolmas mainos kertoo, että nyt voit vihdoin päästä eroon ilmavaivoista, mutta kukaan ei mieti, miksi ilmeisen monella on jatkuvasti vatsa ns. kuralla. Sodat ovat ikäviä. Ratkaistaan asia sillä, että kielletään kaikkia maita ylläpitämästä asevoimia (I Maailmansodan jälkeen). Diktatuurit ovat pahasta. Syöstään diktaattorit vallasta ja maa muuttuu kuin itsestään harmoniseksi demokratiaksi (Irak). Jne. Jne. ... ...

Nuoriso täällä noin niinkuin jälleen törkeästi yleistäen tuntuu hyvin osaavan kritisoida menneitä virheitä. Hymähdellään takavuosien politiikalle istuttaa lisää kaloja kun alkavat olla vähissä (sen sijaan, että puututtaisi liikakalastukseen ja muihin ympäristöongelmiin) ja kauhistellaan idealistista ja naiivia maailmanpolitiikkaa. Vaan ei mitenkään nähdä minkäänlaista jatkumoa näissä ajattelumalleissa.

Pidetään omaa maata valtavan luontoystävällisenä kun on oikein omistettu alueita, jotka pidetään "luonnontilassa", ilman turismia tai muuta taloudellista hyväksikäyttöä ("maan annetaan olla rauhassa vaatimatta siltä mitään"). Pidetään naapurimaata melkein luonnon vihaajana kun ei ole vastaavaa käytäntöä (ehkä minä suomalaisena samaistun tuohon pohjoiseen metsäiseen naapuriin.. ;)

Tämän olen oppinut: demokraattejakin äänestävä amerikkalainen (pikkukaupunkilainen) on aikas konservatiivinen. Aikaisemmin ajattelin, että he olisivat jotenkin "räikeämmin" erilaisia. Not so.

Portland

It's been a long time! Nothing much has really happened, I've been quite busy.

Last weekend me and Timo took a well-earned break from studying (and being social..) and traveled to Portland, Oregon. We rented a car, cheapest and smallest, which turned out to be a 2006 Subaru outback thingie, with a roof window and everything :) No, of course I don't want my own car. Ever.

The drive was long, and there was plenty of country music available on the radio. We didn't make one wrong turn, and made it to Portland in 6 hours. Didn't have much energy on Friday night, so just grabbed some dinner and relaxed. (Had a real hotel room by the way, I don't think I've ever before paid an actual hotel for myself. All hostels were full... The hotel was nice, though very basic. The shower was really good after the stupid ones here at the hall!)

On Saturday we walked around the city (downtown is surprisingly small), went to the Portland Saturday market which had kind of an "alternative" air to it with hippie clothes and incence. Took a walk along the river, couldn't find a bench to sit down as all were taken by homeless guys enjoying the warm and sunny fall weather.

Then we decided to drive our car to a big mall near downtown, and did some shopping :)

And the evening was really the best thing! We found an excellent Italian restaurant ("Pazzo"), slightly expensive but on the other hand quite perfect, starting from the olive oil that we sprinkled on our bread. Had some incredible wine as well. For dessert drinks we went to Portland City Grill, which is located on the 30th floor with beautiful views of the city lights. It was crowded of course, but quite an experience (plus their drinks with some liquor?, fresh strawberries and champagne were quite delicious). Felt very posh etc. :)

On the way back to Moscow on Sunday we stopped at some beautiful views of the Columbia river, as well as waterfalls.

It was overall really good to be in a big city. You know, multicultural (yes, there are lots of foreign students in this university but "quite" not the same), somehow more (politically, culturally) aware -seeming people, public transportation, choice of foods... But well, the small town is the true American experience that I came here for. I'm getting what I wanted ;)