For two last days of May 1998 we met again. This time, again at the Jiminy peak resort in the Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts.
And it was so good... The best thing was the ability to meet, to talk, to communicate. The beauty and charm of the Berkshires just framed all the events, added a special flavor to talks, after dinner drinks, soccer game.
First people arrived Friday afternoon, and by Friday night the reunion gained full speed, making spacious Kiriankov's suite look crammed. About 20 mexmat-ians (spouses included, children - not included, they were in other rooms) were enjoying each other’s presence with beer, wine, pizza, and more beer.
On Saturday morning, after paying respect to the buffet breakfast, a good number of people conquered the Jiminy peak (not that much of a sporting achievement, but nevertheless...). The air was tasty, adding up early summer flavors to mountain ones, almost no clouds, nice high sky, and talks, talks. Again, the best of the reunion is a special feeling that you are among the people that are like you. These people are not only connected by common youth memories, but also having a lot in common attitudes, no matter on what soil you are, and where on Earth you meet.
This year was different: we played soccer! Special thanks to Kolia Yatsenko and Senia Knif who organized the event, the First Traditional Mexmat Cup. It happened to be two weeks before the World Cup 1998, but we enjoyed it more. Two team names were "Golyje" and "Odetyje" (does it need any explanation?). Most of the time the game was six on six, with about a third of each team represented by a second generation. These younger players added speed and emotions to the game, but quite often lacked soccer experience. The score was 2:1, with Vitaly Zayler, Zor Shechtman, and Kolia Yatsenko scoring. The game lasted for two 25-30 minute periods, and has drawn fans that outnumbered players, not that greatly though.
Another point of difference with previous years was a visit of Iakov Kameniarj, Vlad and Mira Kaufman. They graduated a year earlier, in 1970 and heard about our gatherings. Is it possible that the event will in years grow to full Mexmat reunion, alumnae and alumni from 1940 to 2000+?. Or, to be more realistic, maybe we will invite people that graduated in 1971 ± 2 years? Let us give it a thought, it will be much more crowded, but most of crowd will be nice people
The dinner started at 8 p.m., with light confusion over table setting; everybody wanted to sit at the table with everybody else, so some compromise was achieved with four tables for 8-10 persons each, plus a children table. Dinner toasts: "For the country that accepted us", "For Mexmat", "For mexmat-ians spouses and children", and "For Yakov and Zorik". After the dinner we gathered at the deck near the swimming pool, with more beer, and vodka, and nice chatting. Children had their own after-dinner party, chatting and singing traditional "bard" songs under large and very close stars.
Sunday morning was slow in motion, and fast in running through. As Inna Kushnir noticed, the shortest day of the year is the day of Mexmat reunion. But we still had time to talk, drink, see last year’s tape (thank you, Lenia Nusinson!), pay tribute to the Jiminy peak (for those who could not do it on Saturday), and more talk and drink. We decided to meet next year at the same place, and, most likely, at the same time of the year.
On the way home, some people visited Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts (that is a little over 3000 feet). The fog there was so dense, that we could barily see each other, not the three states we saw a year ago. Then, the Clark Institute in Williamstown offered an opening of the "Dega's Little Dancer" exhibition with a short ballet performance. And, later a huge thunderstorm covered all the travelers, but looks like everybody got home safely.
See you all next year!
NN Last, First Name Spouse Children -- ----------------------------- ------- -------- 1. Borovskiy Yakov Natasha Lenya 2. Epstein Leopold 3. Futer Aron Olya Marisha 4. Kameniarj Iakov(1970) Luba 5. Karasik Joseph + Julya 6. Rosenberg(Karasik) Ira(1974) + 7. Kaufman Mira(1970) + 8. Kaufman Volodia(1970) + 9. Kerchman Vladimir 10. Kiryankov Vladimir + 11. Kiryankova Anna + 12. Knif Senya(Simcha) 13. Kokotova Khana Boris Daniel, Svetlana 14. Kushnir Mike + Grigoriy 15. Kushnir(Volfman) Inna + 16. Levitin Maria + 17. Levitin Ananiy(1970) + 18. Liberman Nikolay Mia Julya 19. Medvedovsky Leonid 20. Mintz(Dain) Rita Lenya Mike, Anna, Matt 21. Nusinzon Leonid Emma Oleg, Jenya, Alla(niece) 22. Shekhtman Zor Gala 23. Sipershteyn Boris + Kirill 24. Sipershteyn Olya(1980) + 25. Skaletsky Vladimir + 26. Skaletsky(Kvasha) Elena + 27. Yatsenco Nikolay 28. Yelaun Vitaliy Alla Sasha 29. Zayler Sofa + 30. Zayler Vitaly +
Serguei Smaguine serguei@nicotech1.msk.ru Feodor Surkov sur@sur.rostov-na-donu.su Boris Menikov menikow@glas.apc.org Armen (Alik) Sergeev armen@sergeev.main.su Sasha Rybko rybko@ippi.msk.su Edik Komissarchik edwardk@netcom.com Leonid Brevdo cnebel@buran.strm.ing.tu-bs.de Peter Vingardt libradesign@worldnet.att.net Sem Nisenzon yelena@spatial.com Boris Radich karatlm@karatlm.kiev.u Andrey Marchenko avmar@ressek.msk.ru Alik Gorlin gorlin@netcom.com Alexander Harlap aharlap@setech.comIf you know their new e-mail addresses, please, let me know.
