And this was the last one. I was pretty sick and required a pretty decent operation. I went to the States for this. It was as all things a debacle. But I came back. People didn’t know why I came back but I came back. Why did I come back? Because I had hope that something good would happen with my daughter here and I had a very successful business. I was built in and a part of the community. I could visit any school and be granted space in the auditorium to talk to the kids. Eventually people got it that these were sales missions and not speeches but I had that right. I was the man and then suddenly, it was over.

But this last class was full of veterans and gold medal students. There were six kids in the class and each had their own personality. They were now 16 and some of them had been with me for four years or more. We all knew each other and none of them particularly thought much of this class except that it was an interesting group to be with and we had really a lot of fun at the end of the year with this play.

I will be honest that I wrote this play. As far as input from the kids, it was negligible. Of course I was a different person now. My body had different parameters and I was learning how to deal with the world. I was also in a new apartment that was excellent for advertising when people would walk by on the way to the market. There was a lot of business in those days and I was very busy. Actually it was not very good for my health because I was sitting all day but sometimes I would be there for 70 or more hours a week in front of students. It was something.

As for this play, I wrote it for the amusement of the room. When the kids would come to class, I would show them all the new text and they would read their own parts. There were some incredibly funny moments. There’s a scene where Feres and Kolia (Pavel and Remiz) end up in bed with some women they met in the billiard parlor. Unfortunately, the boys did not know that these were wives of the policemen and that this was not going to go well. But the real moment in the scene was when it was illustrated that Fares really wasn’t interested – No! He screamed. Best laugh of the whole process.

The play received more compliments from journalists and such. One person said it was the greatest work of art ever written about the Republic of Belarus. The story itself is a history of an extremely tumultuous time for the country of Belarus, 2010-2012. There was a massive economic crash, there were riots over the elections, the Metro was bombed and living here became so ridiculous one could only laugh at it. And it was during this time that our six heroes were obligated to work in the town together because that was the rules of getting their university paid for. It’s called jobs by distribution, отработка in Russian and it is exactly that. There are stipends for housing and a regular paycheck which is small but theoretically sufficient. And at the end of the two years, the person can stay and become an official member of the company or they are free to go anywhere else.

So are they prisoners? Well, let’s just say this is my version of the TV show Friends. Three boys and three girls trying to get along as best they can with their individual specialties. I think it is an outrageous play. I think it is very funny. There are moments of great tragedy to it so I think it stretches your emotional range dealing with it. And I think I have brought out well the moments of great emotion. I think you feel this play having seen it. I think it’s filmmable but not really. I don’t think you could ever recreate what it was like being manhandled by the Russian economic Mafia. People knew about it but they thought it was gone. It wasn’t.

And then this was my last play. Things changed. I couldn’t really maintain a table in town anymore. Business was drying up everywhere. I had to move to a different town to try and open up more business there. I eventually gave up face-to-face teaching in favor of internet teaching. It was very profitable for a while. People didn’t like it as much as when they got to look into your eyes. But I didn’t mind it so much because I didn’t really need so many people looking in my eyes all day. I didn’t really need to bolster up so many people without the personal will to do their repetitions. I’m a terrible motivator.

And then I just stopped writing for a while. My life had changed. I was no longer physically the same person I was before. In fact I was really starting to get very sick. It was not a happy time. And then in the middle of that, I got into a relationship with a girl that was way too young for me. She was special. She was a student. She was the student. She was a great student. She was a genius and an oddball and a little tweaky. And I couldn’t really not be had. When someone like that puts their full attention on you, you don’t really stand a chance.

During that relationship, I didn’t do any writing. I tried to but she was no longer the same person. She was more professional now. The whole relationship was pleasant but had a feeling of being inevitably doomed. Me? I just showed up for my online meetings and my days were basically sitting and eating. It was definitely a unique thing And if it means anything, that was my most profitable year teaching English I ever had. 2 years of being very profitable. And then it was suddenly over everywhere with everything. Of course it doesn’t end well. We all know it happens and eventually it happened. She supported the Russians.

So, for whatever it’s worth, this is my career as an independent playwright and screenwriter and novelist. This is my standard career of trying to work with classical forms.