The European Enigma (LSD, #9)

40. The Slovenian Semester

The Slovenian Semester

"Hello! Mum? I'm Ho^ome!"

A far-away voice shouted something Milena didn't understand, but she picked up the message: her mother was doing something in one of the bedrooms and would come down when it was finished.

Milena put her schoolbag on one of the chairs around the kitchen table, filled the kettle with water, and put it on the stove. The kitchen was a mess. As usual, everybody had been in a hurry that morning, fighting for time in the bathroom, quarrelling during breakfast, and running away just in time to leave the dirty dishes for others to clean. Dad worked in an office from 8:30 to 18:00, which was (according to himself) a perfect excuse not to bother at all about any of the domestic affairs. Mum worked at a supermarket from 8:00 until 15:00, which gave her three more hours daily to do the cooking, the shopping, the washing, the cleaning, and all the other chores that need to be done when you look at them with women's eyes, although they seem perfectly alright when you're a man.

Milena started with washing the dishes. When the water for the tea was boiling, the kitchen was clean enough for the next battle: cooking and eating dinner. Milena didn't like cleaning; it was useless, it was boring, and most of it was hard work, but when she looked at the results of her fifteen minutes of dedication, she felt quite proud of herself: it looked a lot better now.

"Mum! I've made tea! Are you coming?"

Some stumbling later, Mum entered, manoeuvring the full laundry basket between doors and furniture: "One second, dear. I just hang the bedclothes outside to dry and I'm— You've cleaned the kitchen?"

"Let me help you with the laundry. If we do it together, it will be done in half the time.", Milena said.

Mum was surprised but didn't say anything. Teatime is time to talk.

"How was your first day at school? New semester, old story?", Mum asked while she pinned the clean sheet on the line.

"New semester, new story this time.", Milena answered, hanging up a towel and breaking the clothes peg in the attempt: "We really have to buy some new clothes pegs, Mum. The sun crushes these plastic ones. We should buy wooden pegs. That's also better for the environment."

Mum broke another plastic peg and laughed: "I guess you're right. I'll make a note on the shopping list."

When the laundry was dancing in the warm September wind, Mum and Milena went back into the kitchen. Mum faked her second surprise: "You've cleaned the kitchen? How nice. And you've made tea too! Is there a reason for this unexpected rage of domestic workflow, or are you in desperate need of some extra pocket money?"

Milena filled the cups and nibbled a biscuit: "No, I'm not trying to bribe you. It has to do with school. As I said: new semester, new story. The new story is that someone high in the organization has decided that we're learning useless things at school. They've changed the classes drastically."

Mum knew that story: "When the elections are over, the new peacocks have to show their feathers. First, they split up big classes into smaller ones, to guarantee the quality of education, and four years later, they join the smaller classes into bigger ones, to guarantee the quality of education."

"It's not about the size of the classes. It's about what we learn. After ages of torturing innocent students with mathematics and physics, finally, someone started to think about why we are at school, about what's the purpose of us, being in class 30 hours and doing 10 hours of additional homework every week."

Mum already knew the answer: "Well, it's obvious. You have to learn because it's important for your future. Imagine a world in which nobody can read, write or calculate..."