May 30, 2010

May 30, 2010

The sun is slowly drifting beyond the trees to the west of my balcony and I sit again in my silent apartment. The whole day was quiet. I did have one midday tutoring lesson and it was nice to talk with someone. We spoke about traditions, both here in the Czech Republic and back in the United States. This woman, roughly 40, was astounded when she asked, “What will you eat for dinner tonight?” And I replied, “I will cook something or another.” It was with that simple question and answer that our conversation began to flow. She couldn’t believe I cooked. She told me how neither husband nor her sons cooked. The contrasts between their country and ours are vast. The shock at a man cooking for himself is just the start, it goes well beyond. In this country, for the most part, women still hold the role of the house maker, cleaning, doing the laundry, raising the children, and god knows what else these spectacular women do. I know it was not long ago in America’s past these same roles, and in many cases still are attached to the female gender, but the change which has occurred over the past 50 years has happened rapidly and with such a drastic contrast to how it was. This is was what we spoke about as well.

I told the woman sitting across from me, listening intently, I believed in another decade, maybe two or three, the Czech Republic would carry the values in relation to the equality of men and women as we do in the United States. I spoke about how I was witnessing the change right before my eyes. I was seeing more and more women here in the Czech Republic advancing their education, advancing their lots in life. Not simply settling for the role of the housewife if it wasn’t what they wanted. I told her I believed there would come a day in the not too distant future when women may make the choice, and I emphasize the word choice because I do not see anything wrong with wanting to follow a traditional female role of caretaker to a family if that is their choice, but women will have that choice, whether to go out and do whatever a man can do. To become the President of the Czech Republic if they so choose. It was nice to be able to exchange ideas back and forth between one another, she even agreed with me, said she saw the signs of a change just as I have.

I did not get a chance to hear Andrea’s voice today. However, I did get to chat with her through Skype on the internet just before I had my tutoring session. Knowing she was at home and safe was a great relief. I know she is one of the strongest women I know, but it was an incredibly long journey and I did worry. Plus, it was nice to hear all the plans she had for the day. It sounds like she will be able to keep herself well occupied while I am finishing up teaching over here. I don’t even know if I can remember the entire list of the things she had planned for just today. Shopping, sitting by the pool, yoga, going to see the new Sex in the City movie, I just hope she has a lot of fun because she deserves it. Andrea had a lot of great times over here in the Czech Republic, but she also had a lot of rough moments and she stuck through it. It is something I truly admire and love her for, she didn’t give up when she received no help from her school with her difficult children, and she didn’t even give up when she was forced, because of our living situation, to spend way too many nights alone in a strange city. She is much stronger than she will ever give herself credit for and I hope someday she realizes it.

All of the things she told me though, I do have to admit, made me a little jealous. When she told me how Ernie, our dog, clawed at the bag he was in at the airport only to be let out to unleash a ravaging of kisses upon her, I admit I was jealous. And when she told me Ernie had waken her up this morning with kisses at seven in the morning and she had to take him for a walk, I have to admit I was jealous, this is normally my job. As much as it annoyed me be waken so early and not being able to fall back asleep, I miss it. I had never once thought before about how happy Ernie was to go on that first walk of the day until now, but I remember now, him running about as much as his leash would allow and being simply in a state of ecstasy.

Furthermore, and I know this is going to make me sound bad, but I am jealous I am not going to be the one going to the movies with her tonight, sharing a popcorn with her. I don’t even care if it was the Sex in the City movie. Lastly, when she told me how she had dinner with my parents last night I was at a loss. It would be so nice to be sitting around a table with my family and hers rather than sitting at my wobbly, probably twenty-year old table, eating grilled cheese and French fries again.
Beyond the chat with Andrea and the conversation with my tutee that was pretty much it. I surfed through the internet again for a while and saw the Tiger’s lost once again to a West Coast team. Unbelievable.