Acccidents of birth

I lived in the same place for twenty years, then moved twice last year, from my old condo in Arlington to a new one, and from there to Kyiv. Now I'm moving again, back to the U.S. After this I'll be ready to stay put--for a little while, anyway.

Yesterday I had lunch at "Chili Pizza" which is spelled "Cili" and, of course, called Silly Pizza by all the English speakers here. Sitting outside, I suddenly saw that the building across the street was on fire.

Whoa! Did anyone else see it? The wait staff stood around watching. One finally pulled out a cell phone. People across the street were pouring buckets of water on the flames (it was a small, localized fire). A couple of fire engines came screeching around the corner, but by then it had been extinguished by the amateurs and their buckets. It was like something from a Marx Brothers movie.

This year, unfortunately, I haven't really gotten to know local staff at the school due to language barriers. But on Tuesday I got a chance to spend time with a Ukrainian teacher who's about my age. Zina's English is pretty good, and she became more loquacious after we drank some wine.

She grew up in a two-room flat with her parents: they slept in the living/dining room/kitchen. She had her own room, which led directly into the other room--no privacy for the parents. When Zina got married, her husband moved into the flat. Then she had a baby, so there were five of them.

She divorced and wanted to get on a waiting list to buy her own flat. To do this, Zina had to earn points by doing work required by the state. So she, a teacher, took a course to become a crane operator. She taught during the week and operated the crane on weekends and after school.

Zina was close to having enough points to move up the list. Then the USSR collapsed. The points were worthless. "I was number 82 on the list in 1991," Zina told me, "and I am still number 82."

I couldn't help but think of the ease with which I bought that new condo last year. So many people were screwed, in so many ways, under the Soviet government and then after its demise.