The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. Granted, it's still below freezing (our above zero thaw went away three days ago and hasn't yet reappeared) but the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was shining, so I decided to take a short walk and do my best to rake in some vitamin D. I didn't go very far, as I had to get back to the AH in time for my new class (more on that later in this post), and instead I walked south along Letneperevozinskaya, and then down Voznesenskaya, all the way to the Khristo Voznesenskaya church near the road's end. And of course, I took some pictures.
Voznesenskaya is lined with traditional Russian wooden homes.
This one is my favorite.
The Khristo Voznesenskaya church
From Voznesenskaya, you can see the
Svyato Nikolo Galeiskaya church in the distance.
Here you can see the domes of the Svyato Nikolo Galeiskaya church
above the roof-tops of the homes in the neighborhood.
Today I had my first class with my individual student. I knew nearly nothing about her before the class began, not even her level of English language proficiency. All I knew was that she will be going overseas in three weeks and wants to practice English conversation as much as she can before she leaves. Sounds easy, right? Well, come to find out she has a very low level of English proficiency (if she were studying as part of the AH curriculum, we would classify her as Z2, our second level). On one hand, this is good; I teach Z2 already, so I know what to teach and how to teach it. On the other hand, I went into the lesson planning to shoot the shit for ninety minutes (she had asked for conversational practice, after all!) only to find myself struggling to figure out how to chat for ninety minutes with someone who struggles with the simple present. I do have lots of ideas of what to do for her next class, but man, today was a struggle.
I must say, though, that I left the lesson feeling somewhat disturbed. My student (she's 23 years old) was in Egypt on vacation in Sharm el Sheikh two weeks ago. While there, she met a man who offered her a job at the Royal Rojana Resort Hotel, where she will be leading groups of tourists in aerobics, dart-playing, ping-pong, and volley-ball, and where she will take part in some sort of theater/dancing show. She didn't know any more details than that. She will be living in the hotel. Supposedly, 60% of the people she will work with will speak Russian, and the other 40% will speak English. (Thus her urgent need to practice English before she leaves for Egypt in three weeks.) I don't know... This girl is a book-keeper. She's does aerobics sometimes with her friends, but certainly not professionally. The whole thing seems kind of sketchy to me. I really hope everything works out for her. Maybe I'm just uber paranoid (having done a lot of research on human trafficking) Ahh well.
5 comments:
No, you are not paranoid and such offers are quite common among Russians (particularly women) who might like to travel or work abroad.
Katja had some similar opportunity in Italy that she decided not to pursue, for all the reasons you cite. They would have brought her to Italy under a different sort of visa than would be required for her to work there, essentially making her an illegal immigrant. People in such situations don't believe they have any recourse with authorities and so basically can be mistreated or used however their "employers" see fit, once they are in-country.
Definitely a potential bait and switch.
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On an unrelated topic - maybe you should show your abdomen more often, I noticed you had a pack of hungry wolves begging for more! ;-) Actually, maybe that means you would want to show it less often, depending upon the desired effect.
Hi Jane,
The pics are wonderful......seems a very idyllic town.....i have noticed that there are hardly any people around....or so it seems from your pics...do you make it a point not to have em in your pics???. And as far as what W.shedd said about the job offer to your russian friend in Egypt i second that opinion......hope she doesn't end up in trouble. Also in such cases the employer actually confiscates the passport of these women as soon as they land….it happens all the time in Arab countries.
I will ask my student all I can for details about this "job" in Egypt, and I will see if I can put her in touch with the Angel Coalition before she goes.
**
I try to avoid photographing people I don't know. Some people are really fearless when it comes to phtographing strangers, but I'm pretty much the opposite. And I tend to think that things look more picturesque without people in the way...
Based on the details you've presented here, I say that your student is putting herself in a vulnerable position.
She was there for vacation (ie, not very long), she's young, probably attractive, and gets a job offer for work outside of her training. A theatre/dancing show? Perhaps. But,then, I've seen a "theatre/dancing show" in a basement night club - all female performers, all of whom were Eastern European - in Ankara, Turkey. All the performers were, ahem, available for private performances. I chatted with one of them, a gal from Romania, as long as I could without buying her an expensive "ladies cocktail". The women were bused back and forth from the hotel they lived in while there "on contract'. It was difficult for me to understand her well but I got the impression that the women were not allowed to determine their own movement - on or off the job. The Romainian did not seem in the least unhappy with her situation. I believe she chose to be there. Though I wonder if only because of her perception of what her options were back home. This was in 1999, btw.
I lived near Sharm al Sheik twenty-two years ago when I worked for a peace-keeping force (that is still there). It is (or was, anyway) a spectacularly beautiful place. And unlike then, tourism is a big deal there now with fancy resorts and nightlife and so forth. It must seem like a bit of heaven to a young Russian visiting in winter.
It may be that there is nothing untoward happening here. But skepticism is warranted. Outright slavery may not be a danger here. But the situation is ripe for, at least, subtle or not-so-subtle manipulations. And perhaps your student realizes this. Does she have a firm understanding of what her living conditions will be? Her ability to get around on her own? Does she know how to get out of there if she wants? Does she have the mental resolve to walk away from a dodgy situation and get on a plane home in order protect herself? Does she know the contact details of the Russian Embassy in Cairo (for what that's worth)?
Well, good luck to her.
sonyphone
"All the performers were, ahem, available for private performances."
I have to amend this, now that I've thought back. I recall that there was no such explicit statement made in that nightclub. Still, I feel safe in saying that many, if not all, of the women there, were available for private encounters.
sonyphone
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