Privatization
Today's lesson went really well--I managed to keep feeding my tutor questions about her life and we didn't turn to the book until the last ten minutes.
I have been very curious about privatization. I've read about the process, but would like to know what it meant for individuals. How did it work, exactly? So I asked my tutor to explain how they purchased their apartment.
Turns out, they didn't.
What came next was a long story that began during World War II. Her mother served as a military nurse, traveling with an entire hospital by train and gathering the wounded soldiers for operations. Towards the end of the war, they found themselves in Lviv. Their unit was supposed to travel on towards Austria, but in 1945 she un-enlisted and found work at the Lviv State Hospital. At this time, my tutor continued, all the Poles were leaving Lviv. Willingly? I asked. Yes, she answered, and went on to describe one family who arrived in a recently vacated 3-room, or was it 4?, apartment where they discovered a cup of hot coffee on the table. Her mother needed to find lodging, her main criteria being that it be near to the hospital. She found a place in a small apartment owned by an older Polish woman, who rented a room to her. And there she stayed: my tutor was born in that apartment (literally: her father not present at the birth, it happened too quickly, she was born in the back room), the Polish babusya became her only grandmother (she never knew her biological grandparents), she grew up with Polish fairy tales and songs, and at age seven, she only spoke Polish. Even her mother couldn't understand her. And when this Polish grandmother died, she left the apartment to my tutor's mother.
My tutor still lives there, with her daughter, also raised in the apartment, and her grandson, who will grow up there too.
When she finished her story, I asked how life was for Polish residents after the war. And she answered, you know, after a while, I began to realize how many stayed. And she pointed out her kitchen window into the central courtyard, ticking off the windows belonging to Polish people.
I have been very curious about privatization. I've read about the process, but would like to know what it meant for individuals. How did it work, exactly? So I asked my tutor to explain how they purchased their apartment.
Turns out, they didn't.
What came next was a long story that began during World War II. Her mother served as a military nurse, traveling with an entire hospital by train and gathering the wounded soldiers for operations. Towards the end of the war, they found themselves in Lviv. Their unit was supposed to travel on towards Austria, but in 1945 she un-enlisted and found work at the Lviv State Hospital. At this time, my tutor continued, all the Poles were leaving Lviv. Willingly? I asked. Yes, she answered, and went on to describe one family who arrived in a recently vacated 3-room, or was it 4?, apartment where they discovered a cup of hot coffee on the table. Her mother needed to find lodging, her main criteria being that it be near to the hospital. She found a place in a small apartment owned by an older Polish woman, who rented a room to her. And there she stayed: my tutor was born in that apartment (literally: her father not present at the birth, it happened too quickly, she was born in the back room), the Polish babusya became her only grandmother (she never knew her biological grandparents), she grew up with Polish fairy tales and songs, and at age seven, she only spoke Polish. Even her mother couldn't understand her. And when this Polish grandmother died, she left the apartment to my tutor's mother.
My tutor still lives there, with her daughter, also raised in the apartment, and her grandson, who will grow up there too.
When she finished her story, I asked how life was for Polish residents after the war. And she answered, you know, after a while, I began to realize how many stayed. And she pointed out her kitchen window into the central courtyard, ticking off the windows belonging to Polish people.
posted by aelis at 10:49 PM
1 Comments:
have only read the first sentence but i had to laugh because that is MY technique too! doesn't matter if you haven't done your homework, as long as you're able to talk about WHY you were too busy to do it.
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