Hard to Believe

Svitlana said many amazing things to me last night. For example, she had to spend a year teaching in Poland several years ago because the Ukrainian government had stopped paying the teachers. Several enlisted with a private organization and traveled to Poland for a year to teach. She told also about how last year she and Sasha could not take their money out of the bank as the government closed the banks. Between them, Svitlana a teacher and Sasha a policemen, they make approximately $500. They bought their flat for $5,500 several years ago. They do not own a car and Sasha often has to pay for the fuel to gas his police car. He sometimes has to take a bus to the village where he is a police officer.
She also told about how in the past the government forbid the teaching of Ukrainian history. "We really don't know our history," she said. The history was not taught, and then was replaced by a government version of the history that had been lost. These are all amazing statements for American to hear. We think of our history as unmalleable.