Precerpt from In with East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life - Czechoslovakia: Official Work
Official Work
We did not have programs in Czechoslovakia even though we
taught the Czech. My mission on this first trip to Prague was to acquire
authentic materials for use in the classroom. (This pre-dated the Internet). Among
these materials were textbooks used in the public schools, the purpose being to
allow Czech language students in our content-based program to sign up for various
subject matter courses, using real textbooks from Czechoslovakia with native
speaker teachers from Czechoslovakia. This approach often led to classrooms
that allowed our students to experience classes in physics, zoology, čítanka
(reading – in this case, the fourth grade reader, which could be challenging
enough for students learning Czech from scratch), among others, that closely
resembled the experiences of their counterparts in Czechoslovakia.
To get those books, however, meant meeting with the State
Publishing House. A meeting had been set up, and I was hoping I would be able
to use my fluent Russian to communicate since Russian until recently had been a
lingua franca along with Czech. Fortunately, I ran into Jan, who was on leave
back home and had contacted me when I arrived. He promised to serve as interpreter
for the meeting with the State Publishing House.
When we arrived, an administrative assistant conducted us
into a room where about a dozen members of the State Publishing House sat
around a conference table. All men. Quite formal. I definitely sensed a bit of
left-over Soviet influence, but I knew how to manage that. We made
introductions, with Jan interpreting, then delved into what I needed and why. In
the middle of the negotiations, the admin assistant popped in and motioned to
Jan. He talked to her briefly, then turned to everyone and apologized. He had
been called away for another meeting.
Hm. There we sat, without an interpreter. I broke the ice,
asking, “Vy mluvíte rusky?” [Do you speak Russian?] Of course, they did. I knew
that and was prepared to continue in Russian.
I was surprised by the response, “Ne, nemluvím.” [No, we don’t.]
I was not prepared for that!
Haltingly, I picked up, in struggling Czech, where we had
left off. Fortunately, they understood everything, and in the end, they offered
to send one copy of every K-12 textbook to the US Embassy, which folks there could
then pouch back to my office. When I offered payment, they smiled and declined.
They said that my spending a half hour in a professional discussion, using
their language, Czech, was payment enough. I still believed that they could
have spoken Russian and that cultural pride and linguistic ease prompted their
negative response. I guess I will never know for sure, but I am grateful for
their patience with my slowly improving Czech and the opportunity to “practice.”
Once the books had been transported to the embassy, I needed
to drop by to make sure embassy staff had a correct address for me and to make
contact with the military attache who would be overseeing the mailing. I had
hoped, while there, to get five minutes or so with the ambassador.
At that time the ambassador was Shirley Temple Black. She
had studied Czech at the Foreign Service Institute when I was providing methodological
consultation to the Czech language program there (though that was not the branch
I worked in). As a result, I made the acquaintance of the students in training,
including Ambassador-designate Black. That period occurred at the end of my FSI
time, as I prepared to leave for my new assignment at the DLIFLC in Monterey.
During one class break, my son was with me (a gifted student
in home school who had skipped four grades, he found great delight in spending one
day a week in the morning teaching computer science at his brother’s elementary
school and the afternoon assisting the computer science consultant at FSI who
was glad to have an extra hand as he was integrating multiple platforms on separate
floors). So, he had the opportunity to meet Ambassador Black. To his expressed
anxiety about moving from Arlington, VA to Monterey, CA, she very kindly
assured him that he would love Monterey. Then, she added that Monterey was her
favorite city and, for that reason, she had chosen Monterey for her wedding. Remembering
that, I had brought Monterey-grown wine with me should I have the opportunity
to drop by, compliment her on how much the Czechs really liked her and her use
of Czech, and thank her for reassuring my son.
Unfortunately for me, she had headed to Plsen for the 45th anniversary
celebrations. So, I left the wine with a note. A few years later, I did see her.
In Monterey. She had come to help with the dedication of the Monterey Bay
Sanctuary. I spoke to her for a short while about her Czech experience, mentioned
the wine and regret that I had missed her, and learned that she was in a rather
challenging position training new women (not common back then) diplomats being
assigned to, of all places, the Middle East—a story for a different book.
Bottom line: she was the right person for the right position
at the right time in 1989. To see the Velvet Revolution after living through
the 1968 could not have been planned but must have contributed to why the
Czechs respected her and took pride in her and must have been very satisfying
to her. A lovely, humble lady, and a remarkable time in world history. Being
part of that is a Mary Poppins episode that I remember with utmost clarity. Who
wouldn’t?
Volume 1: ABC Lands
by Dr. Betty Lou Leaver
For more posts about and from this book, click HERE.
For more posts by and about Betty Lou Leaver, click HERE.
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