More Bad News...

This afternoon Peter Young (one of the Fulbrighter's in Minsk) called to check in on me. Unfortunately, he had even more bad news. Several classes and lectures had been cancelled at the Belarusian State University with little or no explanation beyond the obviously state mandated "it isn't convenient for us." One of his colleagues cancelled a lunch appointment and the usual invitation to joint his students for a beer after class never came. The other Americans had similar stories to tell and even heard that the American Corners were in jeopardy.

So far nothing strange had happened in Grodno... but then again things always started in the capital city and spread from there. I turned to Lyudmila, my supervisor at Grodno State University, for some reassurance and she said everything was okay. She even called her contact at the U.S Embassy. Everyone was trying to maintain a state of grace despite the dark cloud that was heading our way.