LatinosUSA

Translated from the Russian by NL Herzenberg

When my students are seated, I give out copies of my book and tell that they’ll have to share their copy with their neighbor.  “This book is about my childhood. Today we’ll be reading a story about my childhood. Read the name on the cover.”

They read aloud: “Nina Kossm….”

“I didn’t know that your name was Kossman, Miss Nina! I thought that your name was Miss Nina.”

“That’s just because I prefer my students to call me by my first name. ‘Miss Nina.’ It’s easier.”

“So, that’s what you were called when you were a little girl —’Miss Nina?’”

“When I was little, they called me just Nina. Nina is my first name, but for you, my students, I’m ‘Miss Nina,’ simply because you’re my students and I’m your teacher. Now, let’s start with the first story. Find page five.  Five, Hussein, not three. And not four. Five, Amina, five. Look: my book is open on page five. Mahjabin, read the title of the story.”

Mahjabin reads the title: “How … my … beach ball … floated away …”

“Where do you think this story is taking place?” I ask. “You can just guess if you look at the word ‘beach ball’ in the title.”

“On a beach, Miss Nina!”

“Have you ever been to a beach, Zainab?”

“Teacher, I went to a beach only one time … there were lots of shranks there … they wanted to eat me …”

“Do you mean there were ‘sharks’, Zainab?”

“Yes, I’m so afraid of them, Miss Nina … So afraid …” Zainab begins to whimper quietly, as if she is re-experiencing the incident.

“Don’t worry, Zainab. We’ll talk about sharks another time. This beach, the beach which is mentioned in my story, is very far from New York. See, here’s New York.” I point at New York on a map. “Here is the Atlantic Ocean, here’s Europe, here’s Russia, and here’s the Black Sea.” The beach which is mentioned in my story is here. Now let’s vote how you want to read this story. Do you want to read it out loud or silently? Raise up your hand if you want to read it out loud, taking turns as we usually do.”

Many hands are up.

“Everyone except Ibrahim wants to read it aloud, so we will read it aloud, as the majority wishes. Now, who will remind us what it is called when the majority votes and decides on things? «

“Democracy, Miss Nina!”

“That’s right! Let’s start reading.”

They read, taking turns.

When it’s Azim’s turn to read, he stops at a sentence “Someone said: ‘Girl, your ball is floating off to Turkey.’”

“Miss Nina, it’s very strange, how can it be … a ball floating to Turkey?”

“Look,» I say, pointing at the map, «Here is the Black Sea. Turkey is on one side of the Black Sea, on the other side is Ukraine, or to be more precise, the Crimea, which just a few years ago was part of Ukraine. And now the Crimea … well, the Crimea now belongs to another country… Another country took it and claims that it belongs to it.”

“What country?”

“Russia.”

“But that’s your country, Miss Nina!”

“True, I was born there, but that doesn’t mean that it’s mine, and certainly I had nothing to do with Russia’s taking of the Crimea.”

“Russia is big.”

“Yes, Russia is big.”

“My mother is from Russia.”

“Your mother is from Ukraine … that is, from the part of the Soviet Union that became an independent Ukraine … and your father is from Egypt.”

“Yes, how you know this, teacher?”

“You told me about this yourself many times, and your mother told me about it too. Look, your mom is from here,” I point at a  yellow spot on the map, “and your dad is from Egypt. So, in a sense, two people who spoke different languages, lived in different countries, met, and got married–and you were born.”

“Yes,” Adel says modestly, smiling.

“So, it turns out that you are half Ukrainian Jew and half -Egyptian.”

“What’s a Jew, Miss Nina?”

The first answer that comes to my mind is, «It’s what you are,» but I decide that it will not be clear.

“Jews are just people, a group of people … sometimes it’s considered an ethnicity, sometimes a religion, and sometimes both.» This is a difficult topic, we’ll touch upon it when we read another story in this collection. But not today, okay?”

Finally, we finish reading the story, and I ask my usual question.

“Who can tell us what this story is about? Amira?”

“I don’t know.”

“Aisha?”

“This is a story about your mom.” 

“No, Aisha, this story is not about my mom. Think again.”

“It’s about how you loved your mom.”

“Think, what is the main idea in this story? Is the child’s love for her mother the most important thing here?”

“Miss Nina, this is a story about countries.”

“Now you’re getting closer. Tell me who is the main character or heroine of this story? Who is ‘Nina’?”

“That’s … that’s …”

“Yes, Mariam?”

“Nina – that’s you.”

“But why does this story matter? Why did I include it in the book?”

“Because it’s about you? Because you’re a little girl here?”

“But who can tell me what is the most important in this story? No one? Well, I’ll help you. The most important thing here is that a child, five-year-old Nina, wants to go to another country – Turkey, and adults tell her: «It is forbidden to go to another country. Nobody will let you go to Turkey to find your ball.”

“That’s right, Miss Nina, because you can catch a cold if you swim for a long time at sea.”

“Of course,” I say with a smile, «it’s very easy to catch cold when swimming in cold water from one shore of the Black Sea to the other.”

“Maybe it’s because your mother doesn’t allow you?”

“And what was on you, Miss Nina?”

“What was on me?”

“When you played with the ball on the beach? What clothes did you wear when you were playing with the ball on the beach?”

“As far as I remember, there were these special shorts for little girls that were worn for swimming. Swimsuits were for older girls, so I did not have a swimsuit then.”

“Shorts, Miss Nina? And nothing else?”

“It doesn’t matter, that is, it doesn’t matter what I was wearing. So, let’s not dwell on this. The important thing is that I want you to read this story and understand that Russia, which at that time was called the ‘Soviet Union’, was not a free country, and citizens of this country were not allowed to read books published in other countries, they could not travel abroad… In short, the government controlled everything.”

“Teacher, it’s like in my country! Like in Iran!”

“It seems that you are beginning to understand, Elia.”

“But, Miss Nina, what religion was in your country when you were little?”

“First, remember, I asked you not to call Russia ‘my country’. And as for religion , we can say that religion was communism.”

“And what kind of religion is Communism, Miss Nina?”

“It’s not exactly a religion, it’s a system when the government has too much power, and the people don’t have freedom, and there are no rights …”

“Miss Nina, this is the same religion as in my country!”

“Not exactly, Rashida. Religion in Sudan, where your parents used to live, is Islam. Communism was not a real religion, it was a bit like a religion, but it was not religion, it was an ideology.”

“What is ideology, Miss Nina?”

“Ideology is like religion, because it makes people believe, almost like a religion, but on the other hand, communism was against all religion.”

“Against religion? That’s bad, Miss Nina!”

“We’ll discuss this in more detail when we read the next story. Now it’s time for you to go to lunch.”

“Good-bye, Miss Nina!”

“This is a sad story, Miss Nina!”

“Why is it sad, Mahjabin?”

“Because you never got your ball back, it floated off to Turkey.”

“Miss Nina, I know about Turkey! My mother made a turkey sandwich for lunch! Here, I’ll show you!”

“I believe you, don’t show me your turkey sandwich.”
They line up, and I take them to the dining room.