3:12 am, Wednesday morning…

The Ministry of Education in Minsk

I am at my desk finishing up before heading off to Minsk. The reason for the trip is to put some stamps on the document I received from Norwood English saying that I have competency in the field of teaching English as a foreign language. I guess I also am going there to speak to the Ministry of Education and probably the Minsk Historical Archives for my good friend Bob D. The bus from Pinsk leaves at about 4:30. I should be there by about 10.

Why I am taking this trip to Minsk instead of getting those last few precious hours of sleep before heading off to work at school number 12 is, I guess, an interesting story. Probably, if you have not already read it, you should skip down to the next blog for a little background. Basically though what happened was that Zoe Nikolaivna said no. Zoe Nikolaivna woks for the Ministry of Education and is directly in charge of the middle schools here in Pinsk. Actually, it was not just that she said no, it was that she triumphantly, patriotically and enthusiastically said no. She said no for several minutes without breathing actually. They have experts in Minsk who are fully trained and capable of teaching. Belarus does not need foreign technical experts taking the place of local residents.She had not, she made clear, as of that moment actually seen the fax that was sent with my document, a copy of my residency card, a letter of reference and another letter describing me as being of proper moral, emotional and professional fiber to properly do the job. This was in principal the way her mind was on such subjects. She was also in a bad mood, it was a Monday after a holiday weekend and she had just come from a meeting.

This conversation was at first between Tatyana and Zoe Nikolaivna. Tanya had called in the morning several times trying to find her; she had been unavailable because she had been at meetings all morning, but Tanya kept at it hoping to get a positive response in regards to my being able to go to work at the middle school a few blocks from our house. Interestingly though, the first burst of negative rhetoric came even though Tanya began the conversation by saying that she was from the school itself. Yes, it was a little bit of sneakiness saying this, but certainly Tanya was not expecting to be yelled at. After a few minutes of trying to interrupt, Tanya finally managed to say that she was not actually from the school, but was rather representing me personally and was calling about my job with the school. This sort of changed things a bit and though there were several other bursts of rather direct rhetoric, it was delivered a bit more mildly. The call ended with Zoe Nikolaivna saying that one of the real reasons for her refusal was that no one from the school had called her. Tanya told me about this after, she now a bit breathless as well. Zoe Nikolaivna apparently can be a handful.

Not having been born into the Belarusian bureaucracy, this business of not being spoken to first made more sense to me than anything. Certainly there are two types of bureaucracy and certainly there is a 'good old boy' network. Certainly there is. But in my mind, this was also possibly a win because only three days earlier they had told me at the school board that they had agreed that I would work out just fine and that they were looking forward to sending me over to school 12 and using me for their English program. I went straight out the door. All what was needed was a phone call and all would be ok. They simply hadn't said the words: "We want Adam."

It took a bit of asking to get that phone call actually. They were not against making the call per se, it was just that they didn't really want to talk to Zoe Nikolaivna, at least this was Tanya's theory. But thy did agree to call on my behalf. After being unable to get through for the first few tries I left to go and do other things; I would be back after lunch to find out what had happened.

Actually, I think I knew that it would not be good. This is not simple pessimism or even Belarus experience, but more like a feeling I had when I was very near finishing up yesterday's blog. It was like a Star Wars thing where all of a sudden all of the energy goes out of your life; Obi Wan feels this way when the Death Star blows up Princess Lea's home world. I think I wrote the words "I don't feel very good" at exactly that moment, sort of a fill in during the final edit. I guess Zoe Nikolaivna had not calmed down any since our phone call.

But as I say, I am on the way to Minsk and the reason for this is to speak to the ministry of Education in person. My feeling was that they didn't really understand my personal situation or who I am. Very likely, Zoe Nikolaivna was speaking about a general Belarusian policy of not wanting foreigners to come in and be in positions of authority. This is not news, I think there is even a line in the play Pod Kablukom about this:

From Pod Kablukom:

Robert
If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Nadia
They say there that if you do not like that the kitchen is too warm, do not be there?

Baba
He says this?

Nadia
It is an American expression…

Papa
And Edward doesn’t know how to cook.

Robert
Yep, that’s what we say: If you are not good enough…well, frankly…you know? (Makes a hand gesture raising his middle finger.) I mean, that’s what we do. It’s our gift to the world.

Nadia
He says that this is who Americans are. If you are not so good, then…

Edward
Piss off!

Brother
And this is what has happened to his other girl, Nadia? She wasn’t able to cook in his kitchen?

Baba
Is this how America feels about us, that we are helpless in our kitchen?

Nadia
Do you want to say that we are helpless in our kitchen?

Robert
I don't understand.

Nadia
He doesn’t understand.

Brother
We shall never recruit an American cook in our kitchen!

Robert
What did he say?

Nadia
He said we shall not allow you to "comment" here.

Robert
What do you mean comment? I am commenting…

Nadia
No, no. Not "comment", "command…command". (Translates into Russian,) There are two words, "comment" which means to have ones say, and "command" which is to tell people what to do. They are similar, but not the same (all agree) He says you are not allowed to command here. You are not the boss.

Robert
This may be what you think Americans want, but this not me. It’s not what I want…. I am just saying what I see!

Nadia
He says he does not want to command, and that he only says what he sees.

Brother
Anyway, I feel you want to be the owner of everything in this world.

So what I am saying is that this is not news.

But what I don't think is understood in this case is that I am not a tourist, I am a five year resident. I am also one of the only people from the west who publicly sides with the Belarusians that they did indeed have the right to govern themselves during the last election. I happened to have taken quite a bit of grief for that standpoint by the way, and even iof it was only for this, I wouldprefer not to be lumped in with a group of people who are expected to be trouble makers. I meanm, I am a trouble maker, but I am a svoix trouble maker if I am anything. I alswo have made a little under 250 newspapers about Belarusian events, all of which depict at least an even and respectful view of the country.

And then there is the personal stuff such as that Egor goes to school 12 and I hve a daughter here who has the outragious habit of wanting to eat food and wear clothes and that I have been living in the community all of this time and wanting nothing more than to clean up my face and participate in the community on some reasonable standards. And possibly that it took me several years to b able to get this piece of paper, I worked very hard on the course, I have experience in the fielad and probably it should even be said that the damned thing was really, really expencive for me. Talk about the cost of a chunk of sausage as a percentage of your monthly wage, this diploma was damned spendy!

Sao yesterday we translated the documents (That reminds me, I need to make an ad for the translator), and this morning I was up a little after midnight putting topgether a new BHTimes, and now I am finishing up this post.

Actually, I have got to run. The bus leaves in about 40 minutes…

More soon…