Download or read book No Smiling Allowed written by Julia Bendis and published by . This book was released on 2019-11 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grandma started running around with a metal pot, asking all the neighborhood kids to sit and pee in it. That's a sight I will never forget. She was a tough Ukrainian Jew that survived the war, so no kid wanted to ask questions. They just sat on it and peed in that pot. No Smiling allowed is a comedic take on life in the former Soviet Union, as an immigrant in America. Julia Bendis has compiled many years of funny stories about her old-fashioned and traditional Russian parents, their understanding of how life works in the United States, their hilarious adventures, and her own younger generation's view of what it was like to blend in as a weird-looking kid from Russia. The book follows Julia and her family from their life in Riga, Latvia, which was part of the former Soviet Union, through their move to California and all the adventures in between. Who knew that assimilation in a new country could have so many hilarious twists and turns?