Some Progress, At Last
Today is September 1 and Kharkiv looks like a different city - it's like Sleeping Beauty or Rip Van Winkle - it has come alive. All the schools and the universities (this is one of the largest, if not the largest, university cities in the former USSR) have reopened and the streets are teeming with young people. And it was the most gorgeous, perfect fall day. It poured down rain yesterday. (Ed got caught in it wearing his good suit and dress shirt and dress shoes - he was soaked to the skin - even his underwear had to be wrung out!! I keep telling him he has to take his fold up umbrella with him every time he goes out - that's just the way it is here - there can be a cloud burst anytime, anywhere - but he just won't listen - I wonder how many drenchings it will take before he does.) The rain left the city sparkling and it was clear and cool and sunny and bright today. Seeing all the little kids going to their first day of school, or their first day back at school, holding the hand of their mother or father or grandmother or grandfather, was just so sweet. Just being outside and seeing all this put me in a good mood.
But I must go back and fill in the blanks, as a lot has happened over the past two days.
On Thursday Ed (with Vicky) met with the head of the Bar Association (a man named Golan) to see if he could goose things along. And I must say that Ed has had a brilliant idea about how to do this. Arkadiy wants to have a press conference about the opening of the PD Office soon. Ed's idea is that they approach the head of the bar association and also the Regional Chief of Police (the General, as Ed refers to him) and invite them to participate in the press conference, dropping all the names of the people who will be invited (including President Yuschenko), and telling each guy that he is the "first person on the list" of invitees because the cooperation of the bar/police is so important to this project. Ed really had a good time meeting with Golan - a very crafty fellow, according to Ed. Vicky told Ed that they have a saying here - a good defense lawyer is one who can "talk to the judges" and that Golan, by that standard, is a very good defense lawyer indeed! After hearing Ed's pitch and saying how pleased he was to be included, and that of course he would accept, he said to Ed "Ah, you were wise to come to me first." He then looked at Ed as if to say "now that all this bull shit is over, what is it that you really want from me." What Ed really wants is for Golan to get the approval of the bar for the court to allow the Public Defender Office to have a desk in the courthouse. Apparently, the chief judge of that court told Ed that she could not let the PD office have a desk in the attorney's room (which is huge and has plenty of desks) without that approval. Ed told Golan that he wanted Golan to explain to the defense bar that the PD is not in competition with them, that they will only provide services to people who cannot afford to pay a private lawyer, so they are not taking private clients away from the members of the bar. But, Golan replied, when the detainees hear that a lawyer will be provided at no cost, even those that can afford one will take the free one. Ed agreed that this was a problem (he "validated" Golan's position, as we say in psychobabble), and asked Golan what steps they could take to prevent this. Golan made several suggestions - like getting the rental agreements of the detainee, the employment records, look at their houses to make sure they weren't getting a lot of money "off the books" etc. Ed, of course, agreed with all of this, and Golan promised to call a meeting and try to "persuade" the members of the bar to cooperate.
It turns out that this is no laughing matter. The next day Golan called to report that he had met with the members of the bar, that the members reported that they had been very upset when they saw the sign that the PD had posted in the police stations announcing the availability of free legal representation and giving the phone number of the PD office. In fact, it was probably a defense lawyer, rather than a police officer, who took down the sign that had been posted(remember the famous call by Gennadiy to the police station asking where the sign was and the police officer saying that it was hanging on the wall, while one of the PD lawyers was standing next to him and looking at the empty space on the wall?)!!! Golan said that it had been stupid not to have had a meeting with the bar before putting up this sign - and Ed agreed. In fact, Ed had always been worried about the bar thinking it was in competition with the PD office, and had been urging Arkadiy to arrange a meeting with the bar for a long time. But Arkadiy had said it wasn't necessary, that he had already told the bar about the existence of the project and that they supported it, and that Ed had already met with them to discuss the conflict issues. Bad move!
After the meeting with Golan, Ed and Vicky went to meet with the General. The General had been called earlier in the week, at which time he had be invited to the press conference, had been told that it would be very important to have the signed agreement in hand before that time, and had been asked to meet with Ed, Gennadiy and Arkadiy to finalize the wording of the agreement. Of course the meeting, which was at 11 a.m., wasn't actually set until 10 a.m. that very day. Arkadiy and Gennadiy were at this meeting as well, and apparently Arkadiy immediately launched into a discussion of the Criminal Procedure Code, telling the General that its provisions require the police to comply with the procedures that the PD office had proposed - basically telling the General that he wasn't doing his job properly. Another bad move! The General responded that he saw a number of problems with the proposed agreement, not the least of which was that the PD office would be overwhelmed if the police sent the PD office every case in which the detainee could not afford a lawyer and wanted representation. Ed agrees that this is potentially a huge problem, but it is impossible to designate those sorts of cases that will be sent to the PD and those that will not because, if they try to limit the situations in which the police call the PD office, then somehow the police will find a way to determine, at least initially, that every detainee is in the category where no call is required (e.g., if only certain crimes require a call to the PD office, then the detainee will be held for a different type of crime until they have had time to beat a confession out of the detainee, and only then will they change the charge). Of course he couldn't say this to the General, so instead he explained to the General that he understands, and he agrees, but that the problem is that the police are very busy and very overworked, and that it's much easier for them if they don't have to go to the trouble of calling the PD office. And it is just human nature, not unique to Ukraine or Kharkiv, that the police will unconsciously tend to find a reason why the PD Office need not be called in each case - that this happens everywhere - it happens in the U.S. - these are not "bad" people, they are just overworked cops trying to do their job. That being the case, Ed suggested that together they should try and find a way to make this work without limiting the types of cases. (Ed thinks they should confine the project to one police station and not try to represent detainees in two districts - this is a pilot program, and if it turns out that there are not enough cases to keep the PD lawyers busy, then you can always add another station. On the other hand, if the PD lawyers are overwhelmed at the outset, you can't possibly remedy the situation by hiring more lawyers - that takes time - and the project will fail before it even gets started.) The General suggested that they meet again on Saturday to draft instructions to the police to implement all the changes proposed. Of course, no specific time was set for the Saturday meeting - that will come later! This is, after all, only Thursday.
So all in all Thursday was a very good day for Ed. I had been busy arranging my apartment search schedule in Kyiv on the coming Saturday and Sunday. I'm especially excited about the apartment that was advertised in the Kiev Post - the one that's owned by an American who lived in Kyiv for 7 years (he's an RN), married a woman from Kyiv, and is now living in Atlanta. He designed the apartment himself and the photos he sent look lovely. The price is about right and there is no commission. It's in a great location, just off Maidan (in fact, just about one block away from the hotel where we and Jodi and her dad plan to stay next week), in an old "Tsarist" building. But I'll have to see it - experience has taught me that you can definitely eliminate an apartment based on the photos, but a place can look great in photos and be crappy in real life. I've also contacted another real estate agency and they have sent me several proposals that look very good - my Saturday afternoon and evening is booked, and so is Sunday morning. I'm leaving Sunday afternoon free in case I want to go back and see anything again (with Ed) - this too I have learned from experience - you just have to see the place at least twice before you commit.
So today I went to the train station to buy our tickets. I will take the early train at 7 a.m. on Saturday. Ed is taking the afternoon train with Belle so he can go to the meeting with the General in the morning (assuming it takes place), and then we will both come back together on the Sunday afternoon. This, it turns out, is a rather complicated transaction - I wanted 2 second class seats for myself on the way to Kyiv, one second class ticket for Ed on the later train the same day (he doesn't mind sitting next to someone he doesn't know - I do, and for $6 a pop I figure I can spring for two seats), and two return tickets for Sunday afternoon. The reason it's complicated is that you have to show the passport for every ticket you purchase, and I was afraid I would never be able to make the ticket seller understand that I wanted two tickets for myself. But I did! I'm quite proud of myself. And I left after about 10 minutes with everything as I wanted it.
After my success at the train station I took the metro back and met Vicky at my bank to confirm that my money had arrived (it had - I knew I'd win that bet with Ed!) and to make sure I had understood the different rules about the different accounts (I hadn't). Based on what Vicky told me, I think I've worked out a system so that it will cost very little, if anything, to withdraw the money (they charge 1% to withdraw funds, nothing to receive them). If I keep a minimum of $2000 in a 6 month savings deposit account I will earn 3 1/2 percent (or $70 if it's $2000) at the end of 6 months. So if they charge me 1% to take money out of the current account, that means I can withdraw $7000 and it won't cost me anything. I can just figure out how much money I will have to withdraw over the course of 6 to 9 months to pay our rent and for us to live on (trips can be charged to Visa), and keep the appropriate amount in the savings account. Besides, where else can we earn 7% per annum on our money????? Anyway, I know it's ridiculous to spend so much time to save so little money, but for me it's just another project and part of my "adventure," as opposed to Ed's adventure, which involves important matters!
Vicky and I had lunch at Rio, a cute little cafe that Ed and I had eaten at a couple of months ago - I had my usual (blini with red caviar and tea) and she had her usual (a capuccino and a desert). We talked about her job (she's told Dr. Stashis that she will be staying here and, on hearing this, he did tell her how glad he was that she had decided to stay and that he didn't know how he would have managed without her). We talked about her problems with the guy she's been seeing, and just generally had a good time. Ed called me while I was at lunch and told me that he needed my help in preparing the draft "instructions" which he would present to the General tomorrow - he had just been told that they were going to meet at 5 p.m. with the lawyers representing the General and the police stations that the PD office will be servicing, to go over the agreements already reached with the General and to finalize the language. Since Arkadiy and Gennadiy would be at this meeting he wanted to get the instructions done so that he could give copies to them to review before the meeting on Saturday with the General. We checked with Vicky and she confirmed that she could join Ed at the meeting, so off Vicky and I went in our separate directions.
The printer is right around the corner from the cafe so, on my way back, I stopped in to pick up the cards Ed had ordered for me. Fortunately they only cost about $12 - they're terrible - really cheap paper stock, very cheap looking, poorly laid out, you name it, it was bad. I could have done a much better job myself on my computer. I'll use them for now if I need to, but I'm going to ask Vicky to recommend a printer to get some good ones - I'm sure it's cheaper in Kharkiv than in Kyiv, and since I don't include an address I can get them done now. I had a feeling they were going to be awful after Ed showed me the "file covers" that had been printed up for the PD office - they're crooked (the two sides don't line up) and are also printed (well, they're not really printed - it's more like ink jet printing) on very cheap stock (I guarantee that they will fall apart after one month at the latest - and these are meant to keep the entire file for each case!!). I think this was one of those cases where they were "saving money" by using a friend of a friend of Gennadiy's - the worst of all worlds because you have to redo the job elsewhere (at additional cost) and you can't even complain about how badly the job was done in the first place!
After a quick stop at the dry cleaner and another stop to pick up fruit and some things for dinner, I got back to a frantic Ed, and helped him by rewriting, organizing, typing and printing the draft instructions for the police. Despite Ed's hovering, I managed to get everything done in plenty of time and then settled in for a nice visit with Natasha, Prince Andrei, Pierre, and the whole gang from War and Peace, while Ed went off to his meeting.
Ed's meeting with the lawyers representing the General and the police districts went extremely well. But it didn't get off to a very good start. When Ed, Gennadiy and Arkadiy walked in the door they were presented with a new agreement (in Russian, of course - so Vicky quickly translated it for Ed), which completely changed the deal. Vicky told me that Gennadiy immediately launched in, saying that this wasn't what they had agreed to, that there was nothing to talk about, and that he then gathered his papers and prepared to walk out. Ed stepped in at that point and, of course, took a different approach - he has amazing patience when it comes to dealing with bureaucrats and other people who have complete control over the situation (or at least the power to say no, even if they don't have the authority to say yes), and who are often stupid, stubborn and lazy. Ed said the expression on the face of one of the two lawyers (they were both women) when they walked into the room was one of utter disgust - as if to say "how can I possibly be expected to endure the distasteful task of talking to these defense lawyers - everyone knows how repulsive they are - they are no better than the criminals they represent." But somehow Ed was able to persuade them that they should reconsider their positions, and again he was able to get everything the PD office wants. I also think that having Vicky as his translator has made a world of difference - not only can she translate, but she is very smart, has a law degree, and can give Ed insights into the nuances of what is being said. He came away from the meeting very happy. The agreement was rewritten as they discussed it, and it was finalized and printed out before they left the building. Ed was hopeful that it would be signed the next day at the meeting with the General. Of course, that meeting had yet to be scheduled - after all, it was only 7 p.m. the night before! At 9 p.m. Ed still hadn't gotten a call from Arkadiy telling him what time they would meet, so he finally called Arkadiy. Arkadiy still hadn't heard anything, so who knows if the meeting will even take place at all. I certainly won't know until after my train leaves, because it pulls out at 7:05 a.m.
But I must go back and fill in the blanks, as a lot has happened over the past two days.
On Thursday Ed (with Vicky) met with the head of the Bar Association (a man named Golan) to see if he could goose things along. And I must say that Ed has had a brilliant idea about how to do this. Arkadiy wants to have a press conference about the opening of the PD Office soon. Ed's idea is that they approach the head of the bar association and also the Regional Chief of Police (the General, as Ed refers to him) and invite them to participate in the press conference, dropping all the names of the people who will be invited (including President Yuschenko), and telling each guy that he is the "first person on the list" of invitees because the cooperation of the bar/police is so important to this project. Ed really had a good time meeting with Golan - a very crafty fellow, according to Ed. Vicky told Ed that they have a saying here - a good defense lawyer is one who can "talk to the judges" and that Golan, by that standard, is a very good defense lawyer indeed! After hearing Ed's pitch and saying how pleased he was to be included, and that of course he would accept, he said to Ed "Ah, you were wise to come to me first." He then looked at Ed as if to say "now that all this bull shit is over, what is it that you really want from me." What Ed really wants is for Golan to get the approval of the bar for the court to allow the Public Defender Office to have a desk in the courthouse. Apparently, the chief judge of that court told Ed that she could not let the PD office have a desk in the attorney's room (which is huge and has plenty of desks) without that approval. Ed told Golan that he wanted Golan to explain to the defense bar that the PD is not in competition with them, that they will only provide services to people who cannot afford to pay a private lawyer, so they are not taking private clients away from the members of the bar. But, Golan replied, when the detainees hear that a lawyer will be provided at no cost, even those that can afford one will take the free one. Ed agreed that this was a problem (he "validated" Golan's position, as we say in psychobabble), and asked Golan what steps they could take to prevent this. Golan made several suggestions - like getting the rental agreements of the detainee, the employment records, look at their houses to make sure they weren't getting a lot of money "off the books" etc. Ed, of course, agreed with all of this, and Golan promised to call a meeting and try to "persuade" the members of the bar to cooperate.
It turns out that this is no laughing matter. The next day Golan called to report that he had met with the members of the bar, that the members reported that they had been very upset when they saw the sign that the PD had posted in the police stations announcing the availability of free legal representation and giving the phone number of the PD office. In fact, it was probably a defense lawyer, rather than a police officer, who took down the sign that had been posted(remember the famous call by Gennadiy to the police station asking where the sign was and the police officer saying that it was hanging on the wall, while one of the PD lawyers was standing next to him and looking at the empty space on the wall?)!!! Golan said that it had been stupid not to have had a meeting with the bar before putting up this sign - and Ed agreed. In fact, Ed had always been worried about the bar thinking it was in competition with the PD office, and had been urging Arkadiy to arrange a meeting with the bar for a long time. But Arkadiy had said it wasn't necessary, that he had already told the bar about the existence of the project and that they supported it, and that Ed had already met with them to discuss the conflict issues. Bad move!
After the meeting with Golan, Ed and Vicky went to meet with the General. The General had been called earlier in the week, at which time he had be invited to the press conference, had been told that it would be very important to have the signed agreement in hand before that time, and had been asked to meet with Ed, Gennadiy and Arkadiy to finalize the wording of the agreement. Of course the meeting, which was at 11 a.m., wasn't actually set until 10 a.m. that very day. Arkadiy and Gennadiy were at this meeting as well, and apparently Arkadiy immediately launched into a discussion of the Criminal Procedure Code, telling the General that its provisions require the police to comply with the procedures that the PD office had proposed - basically telling the General that he wasn't doing his job properly. Another bad move! The General responded that he saw a number of problems with the proposed agreement, not the least of which was that the PD office would be overwhelmed if the police sent the PD office every case in which the detainee could not afford a lawyer and wanted representation. Ed agrees that this is potentially a huge problem, but it is impossible to designate those sorts of cases that will be sent to the PD and those that will not because, if they try to limit the situations in which the police call the PD office, then somehow the police will find a way to determine, at least initially, that every detainee is in the category where no call is required (e.g., if only certain crimes require a call to the PD office, then the detainee will be held for a different type of crime until they have had time to beat a confession out of the detainee, and only then will they change the charge). Of course he couldn't say this to the General, so instead he explained to the General that he understands, and he agrees, but that the problem is that the police are very busy and very overworked, and that it's much easier for them if they don't have to go to the trouble of calling the PD office. And it is just human nature, not unique to Ukraine or Kharkiv, that the police will unconsciously tend to find a reason why the PD Office need not be called in each case - that this happens everywhere - it happens in the U.S. - these are not "bad" people, they are just overworked cops trying to do their job. That being the case, Ed suggested that together they should try and find a way to make this work without limiting the types of cases. (Ed thinks they should confine the project to one police station and not try to represent detainees in two districts - this is a pilot program, and if it turns out that there are not enough cases to keep the PD lawyers busy, then you can always add another station. On the other hand, if the PD lawyers are overwhelmed at the outset, you can't possibly remedy the situation by hiring more lawyers - that takes time - and the project will fail before it even gets started.) The General suggested that they meet again on Saturday to draft instructions to the police to implement all the changes proposed. Of course, no specific time was set for the Saturday meeting - that will come later! This is, after all, only Thursday.
So all in all Thursday was a very good day for Ed. I had been busy arranging my apartment search schedule in Kyiv on the coming Saturday and Sunday. I'm especially excited about the apartment that was advertised in the Kiev Post - the one that's owned by an American who lived in Kyiv for 7 years (he's an RN), married a woman from Kyiv, and is now living in Atlanta. He designed the apartment himself and the photos he sent look lovely. The price is about right and there is no commission. It's in a great location, just off Maidan (in fact, just about one block away from the hotel where we and Jodi and her dad plan to stay next week), in an old "Tsarist" building. But I'll have to see it - experience has taught me that you can definitely eliminate an apartment based on the photos, but a place can look great in photos and be crappy in real life. I've also contacted another real estate agency and they have sent me several proposals that look very good - my Saturday afternoon and evening is booked, and so is Sunday morning. I'm leaving Sunday afternoon free in case I want to go back and see anything again (with Ed) - this too I have learned from experience - you just have to see the place at least twice before you commit.
So today I went to the train station to buy our tickets. I will take the early train at 7 a.m. on Saturday. Ed is taking the afternoon train with Belle so he can go to the meeting with the General in the morning (assuming it takes place), and then we will both come back together on the Sunday afternoon. This, it turns out, is a rather complicated transaction - I wanted 2 second class seats for myself on the way to Kyiv, one second class ticket for Ed on the later train the same day (he doesn't mind sitting next to someone he doesn't know - I do, and for $6 a pop I figure I can spring for two seats), and two return tickets for Sunday afternoon. The reason it's complicated is that you have to show the passport for every ticket you purchase, and I was afraid I would never be able to make the ticket seller understand that I wanted two tickets for myself. But I did! I'm quite proud of myself. And I left after about 10 minutes with everything as I wanted it.
After my success at the train station I took the metro back and met Vicky at my bank to confirm that my money had arrived (it had - I knew I'd win that bet with Ed!) and to make sure I had understood the different rules about the different accounts (I hadn't). Based on what Vicky told me, I think I've worked out a system so that it will cost very little, if anything, to withdraw the money (they charge 1% to withdraw funds, nothing to receive them). If I keep a minimum of $2000 in a 6 month savings deposit account I will earn 3 1/2 percent (or $70 if it's $2000) at the end of 6 months. So if they charge me 1% to take money out of the current account, that means I can withdraw $7000 and it won't cost me anything. I can just figure out how much money I will have to withdraw over the course of 6 to 9 months to pay our rent and for us to live on (trips can be charged to Visa), and keep the appropriate amount in the savings account. Besides, where else can we earn 7% per annum on our money????? Anyway, I know it's ridiculous to spend so much time to save so little money, but for me it's just another project and part of my "adventure," as opposed to Ed's adventure, which involves important matters!
Vicky and I had lunch at Rio, a cute little cafe that Ed and I had eaten at a couple of months ago - I had my usual (blini with red caviar and tea) and she had her usual (a capuccino and a desert). We talked about her job (she's told Dr. Stashis that she will be staying here and, on hearing this, he did tell her how glad he was that she had decided to stay and that he didn't know how he would have managed without her). We talked about her problems with the guy she's been seeing, and just generally had a good time. Ed called me while I was at lunch and told me that he needed my help in preparing the draft "instructions" which he would present to the General tomorrow - he had just been told that they were going to meet at 5 p.m. with the lawyers representing the General and the police stations that the PD office will be servicing, to go over the agreements already reached with the General and to finalize the language. Since Arkadiy and Gennadiy would be at this meeting he wanted to get the instructions done so that he could give copies to them to review before the meeting on Saturday with the General. We checked with Vicky and she confirmed that she could join Ed at the meeting, so off Vicky and I went in our separate directions.
The printer is right around the corner from the cafe so, on my way back, I stopped in to pick up the cards Ed had ordered for me. Fortunately they only cost about $12 - they're terrible - really cheap paper stock, very cheap looking, poorly laid out, you name it, it was bad. I could have done a much better job myself on my computer. I'll use them for now if I need to, but I'm going to ask Vicky to recommend a printer to get some good ones - I'm sure it's cheaper in Kharkiv than in Kyiv, and since I don't include an address I can get them done now. I had a feeling they were going to be awful after Ed showed me the "file covers" that had been printed up for the PD office - they're crooked (the two sides don't line up) and are also printed (well, they're not really printed - it's more like ink jet printing) on very cheap stock (I guarantee that they will fall apart after one month at the latest - and these are meant to keep the entire file for each case!!). I think this was one of those cases where they were "saving money" by using a friend of a friend of Gennadiy's - the worst of all worlds because you have to redo the job elsewhere (at additional cost) and you can't even complain about how badly the job was done in the first place!
After a quick stop at the dry cleaner and another stop to pick up fruit and some things for dinner, I got back to a frantic Ed, and helped him by rewriting, organizing, typing and printing the draft instructions for the police. Despite Ed's hovering, I managed to get everything done in plenty of time and then settled in for a nice visit with Natasha, Prince Andrei, Pierre, and the whole gang from War and Peace, while Ed went off to his meeting.
Ed's meeting with the lawyers representing the General and the police districts went extremely well. But it didn't get off to a very good start. When Ed, Gennadiy and Arkadiy walked in the door they were presented with a new agreement (in Russian, of course - so Vicky quickly translated it for Ed), which completely changed the deal. Vicky told me that Gennadiy immediately launched in, saying that this wasn't what they had agreed to, that there was nothing to talk about, and that he then gathered his papers and prepared to walk out. Ed stepped in at that point and, of course, took a different approach - he has amazing patience when it comes to dealing with bureaucrats and other people who have complete control over the situation (or at least the power to say no, even if they don't have the authority to say yes), and who are often stupid, stubborn and lazy. Ed said the expression on the face of one of the two lawyers (they were both women) when they walked into the room was one of utter disgust - as if to say "how can I possibly be expected to endure the distasteful task of talking to these defense lawyers - everyone knows how repulsive they are - they are no better than the criminals they represent." But somehow Ed was able to persuade them that they should reconsider their positions, and again he was able to get everything the PD office wants. I also think that having Vicky as his translator has made a world of difference - not only can she translate, but she is very smart, has a law degree, and can give Ed insights into the nuances of what is being said. He came away from the meeting very happy. The agreement was rewritten as they discussed it, and it was finalized and printed out before they left the building. Ed was hopeful that it would be signed the next day at the meeting with the General. Of course, that meeting had yet to be scheduled - after all, it was only 7 p.m. the night before! At 9 p.m. Ed still hadn't gotten a call from Arkadiy telling him what time they would meet, so he finally called Arkadiy. Arkadiy still hadn't heard anything, so who knows if the meeting will even take place at all. I certainly won't know until after my train leaves, because it pulls out at 7:05 a.m.
posted by Susan Spivak at 6:37 PM
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