Evening star., 1955-08-04
BY FATHER GEORGES
BISSONNETTE

new among towering peaks
which our maps gave as the
Alai Mountains. an outcropping
of the Tien-shan system, to
reach Frunze. 1t is a brand new
city. built by the Soviets on
the emplacement Of a Kirghiz
village. A few medium sized
factories spread themselves on
each side of a railroad.
Six or seven blocks from the
Kirghlzstan Hotel. we came upon
a new church-small but we'll
heated. It was the first new
church we had seen in the
Soviet Union. 1t was also the
only one in Frunze.
We stopped at a restaurant.
The band was playing and there
were no empty tables. The waiter
led us to a table where two
middle-aged Russian women
were slipping beer. Without
further introduction, one OF
them asked:
"Are you going to order for
us or do you wish us to choose
our own meal?"
Adalberto Gropello, my travel
ing companion, did double
take.
It's International Day
"But don't you know today
March 81 is international Wom-
ems Day? Before coming to
Frunze, you did not bother to
inquire into the local way OF
celebrating International Wom-
EMS Day?"
It seems that in Frunze. a
part of the celebration consists
in inviting some women who
have overfulfilled their work
norms to the best restaurant
and having the men who sit al
their tables pay for the meal.
called the waiter and or
dered the best the restaurant
offered-pork chops. I also
called for a bottle of white wine
and two of champagne (Soviet
of course). 1t would make hole
in our budget but we were al
most broke anyway.
Our pair were engineers sent
to the newborn Kirghiz indus.
try. One was Ukrainian. di-
vorced with an 11-year-old son
She was helping set up a meat.
processing plant. The other wa!
unmarried, hailed from Novo.
sibirsk. and did some planning
at an unfinished metallurgica
shop. They had been in Frunzt
four years. detested the place
and wanted to 60 home.
Not Real Engineers
We drank toasts to the women
of the world. the Ukraine, peace
among nations, to the develop
ment of industry as means ot
bettering the lot of mankind
The women became quite light
headed. Halfway through the
third bottle and without any
prompting. the Ukrainian be-
gan berating her boss. the work
norms, the five-year-plan, and
proceeded to give us the first
inkling we had got Of the
psychology Of the trained Soviet
woman.
1--WE are called engineers, but
we are not real engineers. We
can keep a shop going once II
has been set up. This idea OF
having us build a full-blown in
dustry in this forsaken region
will not work"
"In that case" we asked
"how do you fulfill norms?"
The woman from Novosibirsk
took over.
That's the best joke I have
heard in a long time. No one
knows how the norms are worked
out. If your name appears or
a list, you have fulfilled youl
norm. If it does not. you still
have not reached the norm. Oul
names were on the list and We
are here tonight"
1t was now our turn tt
answer questions. l expected tC
hear something about tht
lynching of Negroes, but all thai
interested the engineers" wa
the way women dressed ir
America and Europe, what kint
Of work they did, and-believ'
It or not-the price of cosmetics
The Adalberto painted a very
rosy picture of the lot Of womer
in the West and the woman
from Novosibirsky began sob
bing. Her companion seemed or
the point of joining in when
suggested we break up thu
marty: they had to work to