Friday, October 16, 2008

I have a horrible night’s sleep, tossing and turning. My throat feels a little better in the morning. Looking back, I realize that my head and nose have been full all week, and I have ignored the symptoms. Every time I come in from outside, I have to blow my nose over and over to try to clear my head. Once again, this reminds me of my graduate school years in Wisconsin 1969-1972, when I was afflicted with similar health conditions and infections in cold weather. Maybe I got some water in my ear and that’s what started my illness.

I awake at 6: 45 am before Edward comes to wake me. I am exhausted from a restless night. I shake myself and remember that Olena and Tanya, teachers at School #9, will be soon arriving to escort me to their school on a city bus. Edward tells me they will be at the flat by 8: 00 am. He leaves at 7: 10 am, his usual time.

I bathe and eat 2 ½ pancake rolls with cheese and sausage, thinking that food will help me feel better. Just as I finish eating, the ladies arrive. I want to hurry to meet them, but Valentina insists that I finish my breakfast first. So we leave at 8: 10 am, and we are late for the first bus. It is another cold, raw, windy morning. My ear aches so badly in the cold air; I try and stand away from the wind.

Small Town Connections

After twenty minutes, the next bus arrives, and we board to the back. At one of the stops, a man getting off up front starts pounding on the back window next to us. We look, and Tanya recognizes it’s her father, and they wave to each other as the bus pulls away. This reminds me once again how in a small town everyone seems to know everyone else. For example, when I talk to the teachers, they all went to school with each other or were taught by some older teacher at school. Edward’s principal hired him because she was his former teacher and knew the high quality of Edward’s character. At School #9, Principal Victor once taught Edward too, and remembers him favorably as a good student and leader.

We ride the bus for about twenty more minutes. The teachers are anxious because we are so late. We get off and we have a long block walk to the school. We hurry as fast as we can, but my illness affects my ability to push hard.

Victor Shows Off School #9

School #9 is definitely older and surrounded by mature trees all in various stages of colors and bare limbs past peak color time. We are greeted on the sidewalk by Principal Victor Melnyk, a man who strikingly resembles my dad in build, features, age, and mannerisms!

He shows me right away how proud he is of his school. He tells me that it was built in 1921 after the Communist Revolution. It only had one building then and was a school for railroad workers living in the town at the time. In those days, the principal was expected to live in a room off the main hallway. More wings were added later as the town of Novograd-Volynsky grew. During World War II it was used as a concentration camp by the occupying Nazis military, and over 38, 000 people were killed on the campus grounds – all Soviet officers, he states. Edward later tells me that all the Jews who lived in the vicinity were also rounded up and executed immediately. At the time, Jews numbered about half the population of about 30, 000. He tells me that one execution site is in the woods outside of town, and three other sites are in the town itself!

Victor finally leads us inside the main hallway, and is very proud of the displays of World War I, the Revolution, World War II, and the Afghanistan War. He tells me that all the woodwork design on the hallway walls was done by teachers at the school. Indeed, all the decorations inside the classrooms, even the desks themselves, were made by the staff over the years.

Victor tells me he became principal around 1981, and has done much with the little resources he has. Everywhere Victor leads, a cleaning lady is just ahead of us mopping the wet floor boards before us. It is definitely a more Spartan environment when compared with Edward’s more modern School #11.

Galina’s English Class

I give my thanks to Olena and Tanya, and Victor takes me to Galina’s seventh grade English class. Her students are practicing past tense verb formation for regular English verbs. She wants to have her twelve students compete in two teams to list twenty verbs into proper columns for the sounds –ed makes: t, ed, id. It turns out to be a bit of a problem for them. They have a hard time with the sounds, put words in the wrong columns, and misspell “ed” with “id.” She stops them after ten minutes, monitors and adjusts as all good teachers do, and has them come up one at a time instead. This too, proves to be somewhat of a challenge, so she gives them the task at their desk to work in pairs. She and I move around the room to help. It is fun to be able to help students individually, and they seem to enjoy the attention of an American teacher!

Her class finally ends, and I am taken to meet the entire staff for a quick twenty minute meeting. They mainly want to know how my school days at Estrella Middle School are spent. They seem amazed to learn that I teach all day long, everyday of the week, and they do not. Each day varies for them, and their salary is based on the number of classes they each teach. Budget constraints from the depressed economy dictate that some days are part time for them. They even have special names for not teaching – one extra period off = window, and two periods off = door.

Auditorium Assembly

I am next taken to a full auditorium of students, grades 8-11. It goes really well and the students ask great questions. One asks, “How do the teenagers spend their leisure time? ” I answer by saying they “hang out.” They do not know this slang term, and it takes several different translation cycles with Galina before they finally understand the concept. I show them pictures of my three boys, twins Tim and Matt, and Kyle, and my daughter Claire. The girls go gaga over the boys, and the boys go gaga over Claire. I give them a blow up globe, and bat it out to the audience. They think that is really fun! I end by giving Victor and Galina Arizona souvenirs – silver coins, pens, and collector pins.

After getting a standing ovation and more autograph seeking, I am taken to Victor’s office. It still amazes me how the students undeservedly regard me as an American celebrity. I am still not used to handling all the attention.

Victor gives me some parting gifts in his office – a wood carved cutting board, and two lovely embroidered napkins. I give my escort teachers, Olena and Tanya, a silver coin and Arizona pen.

The Café

We say our warm goodbyes, and the ladies take me to a nearby café and order a huge lunch of tomatoes, sausage, mashed potatoes, soup, meat dumplings, beets, and pork cutlets. They also pull a bottle of Odessa wine from a bag they have been carrying, and we toast three times. We toast in Ukrainian “let us be” as a sign our toasts have been spoken. It is a grand tradition, this toasting practice I have now had fun participating in several times. We speak of their families and Odessa, a large city to the south near the Black Sea. They tell me that Galina once lived in Odessa, they have been married two and four years respectively, Tanya has one daughter, and that Galina’s husband was injured on the job and cannot work for three months. They also state that Galina has not been paid a salary for teaching so far this school year! I am dumbfounded. I ask how they can live without salaries. The answer is they live with his parents who are helping out as best they can. At the end of the meal, they present me with gifts of their own – a bird whistle and a picture card of Novograd-Volynsky.

First Ice Cream!

They tell me that we are running late and need to hurry to meet Edward. This is not good news for me; my infection is getting worse by the minute. I managed to hide it as best I could back at the assembly, but I am really dragging now. Anyway, we proceed to walk several miles back to School #11. Thank God, it is an absolutely gorgeous afternoon, the best weather so far! We walk through the center of town, so I finally get to see how small it really is. I take a picture of the town center circle, the cinema, a World War II jet on a pedestal, and the old bank. They buy me an ice cream cone – my first Ukrainian ice cream! It tastes soooooo good - smooth-rich-and creamy - and cold on my very soar throat. It really feels like a full blown ear infection is taking me over. I hurt so bad from swallowing on my right side that it is hard to eat lunch. Plus, I am losing my voice, not just from the speaking engagements, but from inflamed vocal cords.

We eventually reach School #11 around 4: 00 pm. Edward was expecting us back around 2: 30 pm, and I can tell he is justifiably worried. The girls explain why we are late. I say my final thanks to them for helping make this day a very fun and special one. I tell them they were most gracious hosts. They leave and I think to myself that I probably will never see them again.

Hot Water Arrives!

Edward and I leave school and head back to the flat. By now, I am feeling absolutely horrible! I ask Valentina if she has any olive oil or any kind of cooking oil to heat and put in my right ear. This is a treatment my wife and nurse Kathy uses for our family, and often helps. She does not. I take more pills. She brings me an old water bottle which she fills with hot water heated on the stove. She tells me to lie down and put it on my aching neck and jaw near my ear. I lie there for about two hours, trying to rest. Then, miracle of miracles, the hot water comes on line to the apartment for the weekend! She draws me a hot tub, and I lie down in the water up to my ear lobes trying to find some relief from the intense pain. Afterwards, I decide to eat to see if that helps. I eat a meal of squash-cheese fried patties, tomatoes, and hot tea.

Ride to the Train Station

Then it is time to get packed for our 10: 00 pm eight hour overnight train ride to Lviv. I pack a small bag. I have been so looking forward to this trip, and cannot disappoint Edward, even though I am really struggling with the illness. Edward’s dad, Ilgam, picks us up in the old military Jeep I had seen him driving the week before. It is a very cold starry night, probably in the high 30s F. The cold air is like a knife in my right ear. I grit my teeth and try to swallow the pain away. It does not work. I am wearing my ski cap and pull my jacket hood up to try and block the air. It keeps the wind from blowing into my ear, and helps a little. Edward teases me, “No one is Ukraine wears such a silly cap, ” but I tell him I’m an Arizona desert rat and need to do something!

We go about twenty mph over some very rough paved streets to the train station. When you walk the streets they don’t seem so rough. Maybe it is the lack of shocks on the Jeep. Whatever, it is like being in a cement mixer, and the jarring just makes my head hurt even more.

On the Train

Ilgam stops the Jeep, and walks with us to the station. We stand in the bitter cold for about twenty minutes, waiting with little conversation. Finally the train emerges in the night, we say our goodbyes, and board.

Instantly, the impact of sweaty bodies, dirty clothes, foul liquor breath, and 100% humidity assaults my senses. I have never before experienced such a moment! We squeeze our way down a very narrow off-center walkway, dodging extended hands, feet, and heads of people sleeping in all sorts of crazy angles on hard platforms, softened a little by thin soiled mattresses wrapped in a clean sheet - just like the one given to us by the car’s hostess as we board.

She leads us all the way to end of the car, and wakes and moves a man who is in Edward’s spot on the outside wall. My berth is on the second level on the outside wall too. We make up our crude beds in the semi-darkness, throw our bags up with us for safety, take off our shoes, and climb into bed. The width of the platform is a bit wider than my small 5’6” frame. One false move during sleep, and I’m crashing to the floor.

But I don’t. For the eight hour trip, I probably have maybe 3-4 hours of semi-fitfully guarded sleep. The train stops and starts all night long, picking up and dropping off passengers, just like it did us. It also rocks and rolls on its noisy wheels. I try to put all this out of my mind, try to ignore the throbbing pain in my ear and throat, and just close my eyes.

It’s no use. The banging and slamming of the car’s connecting door doesn’t help either, as people come and go to the toilet all night long. The smell ebbs and flows each time the door opens and closes. I say something to Edward in the dark before sleep hits. He says that our sleeping platforms will be much better on the return trip. We will be nearer the middle of the car away from the bathroom, and on the longer, wider berths away from the outside wall.