It's been a busy period for foreign correspondents in Ukraine with Yulia Tymoshenko's trial. I was a little surprised that no one has mentioned to me the results in the past week. The teachers' room, birthplace of all my gossip, has been completely silent about this issue. Perhaps I missed the conversation but I'm more inclined to believe that it hasn't occurred for two reasons. First, my colleagues are refraining in order to avoid a heated debate. It's not in their nature to discuss politics. Second, it is too distant from their day-to-day lives.
Hence, I was surprised today to overhear a conversation I never expected. Most conversations in the teacher's room are about the personal lives of students, the weather, when it will be pay day, and how much everything costs. Today's conversation took the typical route. First, they stated how cold they were and asked each other about the temperature in their classrooms. Then, they asked each other if they were heating their homes (it's in the low 40s). This was followed by what the price of Russian gas is and what each of them heard on the news the night before.
The next comment I'm still trying to process, translated from Ukrainian, was, "I like the system in Belarus, people are satisfied there. It's good that the president has all the power and that the media is censored." Bam.
This wasn't said by a babushka, but a woman in her early thirties. Everyone in the room (except for myself) agreed with her. It goes against everything Peace Corps is trying to promote in Ukraine (democracy, freedom of speech). It hurt to hear after spending so much time working in this community.
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