My Saturday

~ Clarissa

I discovered that I enjoy book fairs a lot more as a reader than an author. Self-promotion is not my thing. I feel weird and uncomfortable.

The writers were all great. There was a lot of solidarity and mutual help among the authors. There were some really interesting people but I felt out of place. My whole parish turned out in support, including the priest in funny shorts. When I told my mother, she immediately asked me if he’s got nice legs.

The author of children’s books in front of my table at the fair was the mother of a friend of Klara’s friend. This is a really small town.

Now I’m on my way to take out the Russian teacher. She’s clearly miserable, and in spite of everything, I feel bad for her. Nobody was supportive of her coming here. Her parents were very opposed.

Being human is a heavy burden.

P.S. By “taking out the Russian,” I mean I’m taking her out for a ride and dinner.

Published by Clarissa

16 thoughts on “My Saturday”

  1. \ Nobody was supportive of her coming here. Her parents were very opposed.

    Are they completely Putinoid and imagine USA as a ‘gay land’ of Russia haters?

    Does she support Putin too?

    Am very curious what you learned about today’s Russia from the new teacher.

    Thought if you ever want to give her a present, your father’s book would be perfect. Literature may win over propaganda, especially when the Russian in question is already living in the West.

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    1. I’m not talking to her about Russia. This is like taking a person out of a religious sect. They need at least 6 months of normal life to become open to conversations. So I’m trying to give her a normal life.

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      1. There is one supporter of Russia among our Russian friends here in Montreal. We agreed to disagree and to not discuss it. But we go back almost 20 years, as long as we both lived in Montreal, so ‘exposure to normal life” does not always help. The person is perfectly normal in all other respects.

        Are there many Russians in your town and what are their views?

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        1. I have one at home. :-))) He’s doing his absolute best but we still have biweekly conversations about why the republics wanted to seek independence. He can’t comprehend why they didn’t want to be part of Russia. 15 years, and it’s still a work in progress.

          In town we have that Putinoid I visited several years ago but I’m avoiding him. He’s tried to bring himself to my notice but I let his pro-Ukrainian Italian wife deal with him.

          And that’s all we’ve got, thank goodness.

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  3. In Israel people don’t use patronymic in Hebrew, so Russian-speakers don’t use it in Russian either from my experience. Never been referred to with patronymic in my life.

    I imagine in your case she would use the patronymic though.

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      1. Interesting…
        Are you fond of it since it reminds you of your father, or is there some other, more general, reason you like to be called using the patronymic?

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        1. I emigrated at 22 and never got to experience it.

          Another thing I really miss is the Ukrainian vocative case. So next year I’m planning to bring a Ukrainian teacher who’ll address me with the patronymic in the vocative case: Ольго Михайлівно. How cool is that?

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  6. So, what present did she bring you from Russia? (I’m sorry if you posted this earlier and I missed it.) Caviar? A bottle of “Putinka”? A portrait of the dear leader?

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    1. She brought a chocolate and a book on the museums of St Petersburg. I’d much rather read a book about St Petersburg burning to the ground but no such luck.

      At least, it wasn’t anything really gauche.

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