He Not Speak Pretty One Day
Poor Ed. He is so exhausted. It is really, really hard to spend so much time with Gennadiy, who is a really good soul, but so scattered. And he talks non-stop, but in a way that is especially exhausting because he is constantly interrupting himself and going off in a different direction. So every conversation takes forever and goes nowhere. He is a really principled man, and Ed says he is a real fighter in court, but when it comes to speaking English, it's really, really difficult. And of course Ed can't possibly use a translator with him - he would be so hurt and offended. But the problem really boils down to the fact that he just doesn't speak English very well - and so he is always searching for the right word, which takes a long time, and he is not always successful. I know, I should talk - my Russian is non-existent and my Ukrainian pathetic. But I don't have any illusions about my ability to communicate in those languages - I can't, plain and simple! And although his command of English is about one million times better than my command of Russian and Ukrainian, it's still not that great. For example, he and Ed did a whole series of motions that are to be input on the office computers in Russian, and Ed just wants him to identify the subject of each motion that is in Russian so that he can use them in Kyiv as well. There are exactly 39 of them - I know this because I scanned all of them into our computer. So far he has gotten Gennadiy to identify about 10 of them - and that took about 2 hours. I wish I could convey how frustrating it is to talk to him - he'll say "You go number 5 tram, then there is - no not is no - that is - no no - number 5 next to number 6 - no no - that is, well maybe, number 5 will go, no, not go, come to court." He once tried to give me directions to go somewhere, and after 15 minutes I just asked him to please give me the building number and the street - it was about 5 minutes from the apartment and if I hadn't interrupted he'd still be giving me the directions - and this was 3 months ago!!!! So after a few hours with Gennadiy Ed comes home just beat. And he really wants to get a lot done before he leaves - he wants to identify all those motions, make sure the office phones are working so that they can take calls, make sure that the copiers and cabinets and locks to be placed in the police station and the court are purchased, meet with the Presiding Judge and all the other judges at the Kominternovskiy court to introduce a radically "new" procedure called bail (which entails setting up an account with the courts where bail can be deposited, writing regulations on the procedures for posting bail, etc., none of which the courts are very receptive to). In addition, he has to go to Golan's office (he's the guy who arranged for the PD's office to get a room in the courthouse) and explain to him why there won't be a big-deal press conference after all (they've decided to postpone that until the office is really up and running - probably mid to late October), but only a minor press conference with Ed, Gennadiy and Arkadiy on Tuesday announcing the signing of the agreement with the police and the beginning of the work of the PD Office. Of course, no one from the press will go to that since they already covered the big deal signing ceremony at the police station on Tuesday. Some of this stuff he shouldn't have to deal with at all (e.g. making sure that the copiers are purchased!), but if he doesn't do it, it just won't get done.
Arranging the meeting with the Presiding Judge has been very difficult. The Deputy Presiding Judge is very opposed to the project - she says she knows all about the project, she doesn't want or need to meet with "the American," they have plenty of good lawyers at the courthouse who will take these cases "for free" and will do a very good job, and on, and on. But finally a meeting was arranged at 3 p.m. today. We'll see if the judges will cooperate. Ed asked me to remind him how to get the courthouse, and I couldn't help him - I've never been there - I've only been to the police station. After many heavy sighs and groans to prepare himself for the coming ordeal, he picked up the phone and called Gennadiy. He was on the phone for about 5 minutes getting directions, and when he got off I asked him what tram he has to take, and he said that he was going to take a cab - Gennadiy did the usual stop, start, stop, turn, stop, start, turn, turn, stop, and Ed just gave up! Ed asked me if I thought that the cab driver would know where the Kominternovskiy courthouse is, and I said that frankly I didn't - the cab drivers here can't even find popular restaurants when you give them the exact address, and we don't even know how to say "courthouse" in Russian or Ukrainian! He thought he remembered how to get there on the Number 5 tram, so he set off an hour early to see if he could find it. (When I called Vicky later to find out how to say aspirin in Russian (it's "aspirin," by the way) she told me that Ed had called her to ask her to help him explain to a taxi driver that he wanted to go to the courthouse and to give the driver the address. Vicky was actually teaching at the time of the call, and she didn't know the address, so she asked her students, some of whom did know, and together they were able to get him to the court on time! Vicky asked me to tell Ed that he owes her class a lecture on the workings of the PD Office in Kharkiv - that she had told her students about the project and they (all law students) were very excited about it. Naturally, Ed is very happy to do this - it's right up his alley - he's a born teacher.) He ended up giving up on the tram because, after waiting half an hour and seeing three Number 5 trams going in the other direction, he began to worry that he wouldn't get there in time if he didn't get a cab. He learned later that there were two auto accidents and that the Number 5 going in his direction was not running!
As if Ed won't be exhausted enough tonight (we're both getting colds too - hence the need for aspirin), we're having dinner at Gennadiy and Nella's home this evening!! She's making borscht specially for me. She really is the nicest person. So while Ed went off to meet the judge, I went to the expensive "Gastronom" around the corner to buy some French wine and French chocolate truffles to bring with us. We'll pick up some flowers when we go to catch the Mashroutka - these are little minivans that basically follow the routes of the buses and trams (but there are more of them than there are public transport), charge slightly more (like maybe 1.50 HVA - 30 cents - as opposed to .50 HVA - 10 cents), have only a few scheduled stops (but they will stop when they are flagged down and when you ask them to), so they are generally faster, less crowded and more comfortable - or so they say. We shall see. We actually took one when we went to Gorky Park shortly after we arrived in Kharkiv, but this trip will be at rush hour (5:30) in the heart of downtown, and I've seen the queues that line up for these things. I think it will be standing room only.
Ed just got back from his meeting with the Presiding Judge, which he said was moderately successful. She's agreed to assemble all the judges in the courthouse for a meeting on Monday afternoon. We'll see if they show up. He brought up the issue of writing regulations for granting bail, but she said that there was no procedure allowing for bail, even though there is a law that entitles people to bail. When he asked her for a meeting with the court administrator to help set up such a procedure, she explained that she has very bad relations with the new court administrator, and that she could not arrange such a meeting. She then proceeded to give a detailed history of her "good" relations with the previous administrator, may he rest in peace!
Now it's off to Genna and Nella's. I'm sure it will be a feast.
Arranging the meeting with the Presiding Judge has been very difficult. The Deputy Presiding Judge is very opposed to the project - she says she knows all about the project, she doesn't want or need to meet with "the American," they have plenty of good lawyers at the courthouse who will take these cases "for free" and will do a very good job, and on, and on. But finally a meeting was arranged at 3 p.m. today. We'll see if the judges will cooperate. Ed asked me to remind him how to get the courthouse, and I couldn't help him - I've never been there - I've only been to the police station. After many heavy sighs and groans to prepare himself for the coming ordeal, he picked up the phone and called Gennadiy. He was on the phone for about 5 minutes getting directions, and when he got off I asked him what tram he has to take, and he said that he was going to take a cab - Gennadiy did the usual stop, start, stop, turn, stop, start, turn, turn, stop, and Ed just gave up! Ed asked me if I thought that the cab driver would know where the Kominternovskiy courthouse is, and I said that frankly I didn't - the cab drivers here can't even find popular restaurants when you give them the exact address, and we don't even know how to say "courthouse" in Russian or Ukrainian! He thought he remembered how to get there on the Number 5 tram, so he set off an hour early to see if he could find it. (When I called Vicky later to find out how to say aspirin in Russian (it's "aspirin," by the way) she told me that Ed had called her to ask her to help him explain to a taxi driver that he wanted to go to the courthouse and to give the driver the address. Vicky was actually teaching at the time of the call, and she didn't know the address, so she asked her students, some of whom did know, and together they were able to get him to the court on time! Vicky asked me to tell Ed that he owes her class a lecture on the workings of the PD Office in Kharkiv - that she had told her students about the project and they (all law students) were very excited about it. Naturally, Ed is very happy to do this - it's right up his alley - he's a born teacher.) He ended up giving up on the tram because, after waiting half an hour and seeing three Number 5 trams going in the other direction, he began to worry that he wouldn't get there in time if he didn't get a cab. He learned later that there were two auto accidents and that the Number 5 going in his direction was not running!
As if Ed won't be exhausted enough tonight (we're both getting colds too - hence the need for aspirin), we're having dinner at Gennadiy and Nella's home this evening!! She's making borscht specially for me. She really is the nicest person. So while Ed went off to meet the judge, I went to the expensive "Gastronom" around the corner to buy some French wine and French chocolate truffles to bring with us. We'll pick up some flowers when we go to catch the Mashroutka - these are little minivans that basically follow the routes of the buses and trams (but there are more of them than there are public transport), charge slightly more (like maybe 1.50 HVA - 30 cents - as opposed to .50 HVA - 10 cents), have only a few scheduled stops (but they will stop when they are flagged down and when you ask them to), so they are generally faster, less crowded and more comfortable - or so they say. We shall see. We actually took one when we went to Gorky Park shortly after we arrived in Kharkiv, but this trip will be at rush hour (5:30) in the heart of downtown, and I've seen the queues that line up for these things. I think it will be standing room only.
Ed just got back from his meeting with the Presiding Judge, which he said was moderately successful. She's agreed to assemble all the judges in the courthouse for a meeting on Monday afternoon. We'll see if they show up. He brought up the issue of writing regulations for granting bail, but she said that there was no procedure allowing for bail, even though there is a law that entitles people to bail. When he asked her for a meeting with the court administrator to help set up such a procedure, she explained that she has very bad relations with the new court administrator, and that she could not arrange such a meeting. She then proceeded to give a detailed history of her "good" relations with the previous administrator, may he rest in peace!
Now it's off to Genna and Nella's. I'm sure it will be a feast.
posted by Susan Spivak at 3:09 PM
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