Week One

I flew in to Prague three weeks later. The weather was the same as it was in Paris since they are on the same latitude. Demetri met me at the airport. He seemed happy that there would be another person on the staff. His job description included driver, maintenance man, cook, custodian, and set designer. I wasn't sure if I understood him correctly because his Czech was so much more fluent than mine, and he often slipped into Russian. Demetri was from Soviet Georgia, which made me chuckle - wondering if his accent was as different from mainstream Russian as a US Georgian accent was different from mainstream American English. I was still unable to detect accents and had to concentrate on literal translations.

Demetri said that the weather had been exceptionally nice, but warm, and they hoped to take all the students swimming a few more times this summer. "If it is as warm tomorrow as it had been for the last few days, we'll all be going swimming tomorrow." He looked at me and said, "You will get to know your students better that way." Demetri laughed. I didn't understand the joke, but laughed anyway. It is hard to understand puns and jokes in another language. However, a little while later he said that the students don't wear swimming suits, but the adults do. He said we would be hiking to the river bank about a kilometer from the school. I remembered telling Uri that I had been to nude beaches around the Mediterranean every time I got to Europe in warm weather.

Demetri asked if I would want to accompany them to their swimming beach along the river, and of course I said I would be happy to go along and would help out however they needed me. I've always thought that there is nothing more beautiful than a young girl just beginning to blossom. I would do my best not to stare, but I also wondered if it would be OK to bring one of my cameras.

I mentioned that I felt so sorry for these boys and girls who had lost their families. I was surprised when he told me it was an all-girls school and orphanage. He said the boys went to a different orphanage and that the little kids and babies were sent on up to Russia. "There are sixty four girls there now, from age eight to sixteen. We also get some of our girls from other orphanages around the area. We share some of our grant money with them, and they really need the money, even more than we do."

We talked about the terrible civil wars in some of the states in the former Soviet Union. We both agreed that The Velvet Revolution was the most peaceful of all. It was a bloodless division when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1989 - just a few years after Gorbachev's perestroika - the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

We mostly spoke in Czech, but I also showed off my little bit of Russian. He drove the old van carefully along the bad roads. It took almost three hours because the roads wound back and forth through the foothills. He spoke fondly of many of the girls and bragged about the success rate to get so many of them adopted after just a few years. The school was located in an isolated area about six miles from the nearest village - if you could call six houses and a little store-restaurant a village. Besides my luggage he had a dozen boxes of food and supplies in the back of the rusty van.

Uri welcomed me again and introduced me to Ludmila, the dance instructor-gym teacher. She was also the supervisor in the large girl's dormitory that held the school dining room. In my opinion she was attractive, but seemed somewhat dykish, but I didn't say anything. She was attractive in an athletic way.

Uri and Demetri said that Oleg, the Science and Social Studies teacher and the set designer, would be back from a trip in a few days. "He is picking up two new girls for our program from another orphanage and will be back Tuesday." He told me that everyone on the staff was very devoted to the girls. Nobody on the staff was married.

Demetri helped me carry my things to my suite above the old bus garage. He explained that they didn't have any busses so they used the old garage space for various things. When we walked through it, I thought it looked like it was set up with several small stages as if for a play.

None of the rooms in the compound were air conditioned, but at eighty four degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity it felt like I needed it. I chided myself for being so spoiled. And I knew that it would cool off after sundown.

The school-orphanage was primarily funded by grants rather than the government. I didn't ask Uri about those grants at the time, although I thought about it much later. "Phillip, I think you will enjoy your stay here at St. Katerina's. Just remember: what we do at the orphanage stays here. We want to keep a low profile. We run things our way and it works out fine. Many of the girls get adopted in just a few years, and most learn to speak at least one other language. You have to promise not to put your western cultural mores onto our school and shelter. We are saving the lives of these students and we must keep the operation going."

Of course, I agreed with him - that it was important to save the lives of those students and to help them get an education.

We all had dinner in the big girl's dormitory dining room, and I couldn't help but feel that the girls were all checking me out. At twenty seven I was in good physical condition and worked out almost everyday. I thought about watching them swimming the next day. I was relieved that we adults would be allowed to wear swimming suits.

Uri, Ludmilla, and I got into a discussion about lawyers while we ate dinner. It was hard for me to concentrate because I was looking at some of the girls and imagining them swimming in the nude the next day. The conversation started when I asked about adoption papers since the girls were all orphans. Uri and Ludmilla pointed out that they weren't as obsessed with documents as the Americans. Ludmilla said, "If we find someone to adopt one of the girls, then we let them take her if we think it would be a good placement."

Uri said that sometimes they will let a couple take one of the girls for a few weeks to see if she would work out for them. He said, "If she doesn't work out, then they make a substantial donation to the orphanage and try another girl." It wasn't until months later that I surmised the ugly truth about these "trial periods." But then, it did provide the orphanage and school with much needed funds.

At breakfast the next morning in the girl's dormitory I sat with Uri and Ludmilla. Ludmilla seemed more outgoing than she had the day before. She said, "I'm looking forward to starting school next week, Phillip. We have been playing games and dancing too much lately. I need to get them back into shape before we begin the new school year." She explained that she was the supervisor in the dormitory and that she had been administering more than the usual number of spankings lately. She thought it was because of the more flexible summer schedule.

Uri looked dubious. He smiled, "I think you just like to spank them, Ludmilla." I detected a hint of blush in Ludmilla's face as if he had hit the mark.

"Well, they certainly need it. I will probably have to spank some of them at the river today, too. The punishment might make more of an impression with Phillip, our new man, here to watch their punishments. I want them to learn good manners."

"Of course." Said Uri. He looked at me, "We want our girls to be especially obedient so they can be adopted sooner." Then he told me that Demetri was also the head cook, and that he was getting picnic lunch ready. "Each of the girls will carry a backpack. You and I will each carry a large backpack, too. Demetri will take the van with some folding furniture and supplies for our fire and refreshments. There are some things that we leave at the site. The girls will each bring some of the food, and their own towels. We have stands set up there for the girls to hang up their clothes while we're there, and a little shelter area. Maybe you could help us design something more permanent. Now we use tarps to make several tents in case of sudden storms."

I was feeling so eager to attend this swimming party, and blurted out, "Should I bring my camera?"

Uri and Ludmilla looked at each other, and I was worried that I had seemed too eager. Then Uri said, "Of course. It will help you remember their names. We should get pictures of each girl. Bring lots of film. I'll bring my camera, too."

"Well, I suppose I don't need to take pictures, really, because if the girls are, umm, won't be wearing bathing suits. So I probably couldn't get the film developed anyway." I was trying to sound less eager, and figured that I might have to mail the film to my parent's house and develop it myself when I got back to the States.

"Nonsense. This is Europe and you can get any kind of pictures developed. I'll give your film to one of our sponsors and he will get it developed in Prague. No problem." Then he chuckled and looked at Ludmilla. "I bet our little actresses will be glad to pose for Phillip's camera."

"Yes, I'm sure they will." Said Ludmilla. She held up her hand a clicked her fingers. The girls started clearing the dishes. They all had jobs to do every day. Some girls cleaned off the tables and other swept the floor or worked in the kitchen-dishwashing area.