Moon Over Sasova One American’s Experience Teaching in Post-Cold War Slovakia is Dr. Christopher Shaffer’s account of his time in Sasova a suburb of Banska Bystrica just after Slovakia became an independent nation. The book describes his adventures while in country at that time. Dr. Shaffer thanks for coming back to do another Candid Conversation.
Dr. Shaffer: Thanks for having me Cliff. I am always happy to talk about my experiences in Slovakia.
Cliff T.: This is going to be an interesting conversation, tell me what made you decide to go to a nation that was on the brink of something big like becoming independent?
Dr. Shaffer: Really, when you think about it, the big thing occurred in late 1989 with the Velvet Revolution. The Soviets agreed—after massive peaceful demonstrations—to pull out of what was then Czechoslovakia. I went to Prague in the summer of 1991 while on a study abroad experience in Mannheim Germany, offered by Auburn University where I got my BA. I immediately fell in love with the city, and not only the gothic and baroque architecture, which is amazing, but with the kindness of the people and the optimism in the streets. Vaclav Havel, the playwright/dissident, who had been advocating for freedom from the USSR since the 1970s was on his way to becoming president. Everywhere there were signs saying Havel na Hrad, meaning Havel to the Castle, which is where the president was housed. I was only there for a weekend visit, and decided to return for a few more days after my studies ended. After that trip I was hooked and wanted to come back for a more immersive experience. While there, I saw a sign on a telephone pole advertising for Americans to come teach English. I called the number when I got back, and was shocked to discover that the group, Education for Democracy was connected to the University of South Alabama.
Cliff T.: I have to admit I probably would not ever do something like that given the risk of violence that may occur but, here you are you go to Slovakia just after the country goes independent and your going with the idea to teach. What were going to teach, did you actually do that or did the trip turn into something totally different?
Dr. Shaffer: If there had been anything scary, it would have probably been the 1989 Velvet Revolution. At the time, no one knew what would happen and were waiting to see what the Soviets would do. Remember, things didn’t turn out so well in the Prague Spring of 1968. However, 1989 ended without any significant bloodshed, and 1993 ended with none. And everything that was happening was being relayed quite effectively by the American news media. I have always been a news junkie and kept a close eye on things. Czechoslovakia had always been something of a forced marriage that was created after World War I, with Slovakia long being the weaker part of the couple. In the same way that it was bureaucratically created, it was bureaucratically divided. While there were certainly some hard feelings, I always felt it was more akin to sibling rivalry than anything else. And definitely not the Cain and Abel sort.
As far as what I did, the group that sent me was named Education for Democracy. It was started by Major John Hasek and began in Poland. The University of South Alabama in collaboration with the Slovak Education Department then opened a branch in that country. My basic job was to teach English as a second language, and I worked primarily with third year students or older teaching conversational English. Our hidden agenda though, was to be goodwill ambassadors, and introduce people to Americans and Canadians, and demonstrate that we were not boogeymen. Just like our government had inculcated in us a belief that the Soviets and their satellite states were evil, the Soviets had ardently strived to be sure that people under their sphere of influence believed the same things about us.
I don’t think anything turned out differently than I expected. Beyond teaching, I was able to travel a good bit, both in and around Slovakia, which was great. I went to Poland, Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia while I was there, so those experiences were all exciting and also educational.
Cliff T.: Just reading through the note on Amazon about the book it sounds like the trip got off to a busy start right away. What was the first thing that caught your attention when you got to Slovakia?
Dr. Shaffer: The cold. I had never experienced anything like it. If we get cold weather like Slovakia had in the deep South, it is a fluke once in a decade event, and it is also short-lived. In Slovakia, extreme cold is a situation that lasts for several months. I also had to learn to walk on snow and ice, which was a challenge. I was completely unprepared for all of this, because while intellectually, I understood what I was getting into, it is impossible to truly understand what something is like until you have experienced it first-hand. If there was a bright side to the frigidity, temperatures were always expressed in Celsius, so I never truly had any idea what the real temperature was. If they had told me what it was in Fahrenheit, I might have never left the apartment!
Cliff T.: As you began your work in Slovakia you also began to engage with the people there and you were finding out that they had a keen interest in what the West was all about. What kinds of interests did people you came into contact with have?
Dr. Shaffer: Universally, the answer would be things that were cultural. On those initial trips to Prague in 1991, I discovered that there was a big interest in the Czech Republic in Dixieland Jazz. I include a picture of a Dixieland Jazz Quartet in the book. I later found out later that jazz had been considered subversive by the communist government. Going back to 1993, my students frequently wanted me to transcribe the lyrics to American songs. I remember one student named Martin, got me to write out the lyrics to REM’s Man on the Moon. I also met other people who were fascinated with the U.S. Civil War. There was also a strong interest in Native American culture.
Talking about history could get interesting. I was having a conversation with one of my classes about World War II and Hiroshima and Nagasaki came up. I had been educated to believe that the U.S. had been in the right to drop the atomic bombs, because of the number of American lives that had been saved. The Slovaks had been educated to believe that the Soviets were about to come to the aid of the Americans and that it was an immoral and unnecessary act that occurred because Truman wanted to send Stalin a message. And, as I got older and learned more, I can’t say that they were completely wrong. However, given their history, I still think it is odd that they thought the Soviets were going to something noble. However, we killed roughly 350,000 people with two bombs, and many of them were innocent. That is a stain on our history that we are stuck with, regardless of whether it was the right military decision or not. I went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 2017, and the only experience I have ever had that was emotionally on par with that was when I went to Auschwitz in 1993.
Cliff T.: The book, Moon Over Sasova, is it part memoir part retelling of history from your vantage point?
Dr. Shaffer: It is really a memoir and a travel journal. I am not trying to play the role of a historian. I am just letting the reader know what I experienced during that time in my life. For people interested in the history of these places at that time, I think it would be interesting. At the book’s end, I do reflect on the irony that I was in the former Eastern Bloc trying to spread American democratic values, and America seems to be a quart low on those same values today.
Cliff T.: How long did it take you to get this book together and how were you able to maintain accuracy after all this time as you wrote Moon Over Sasova?
Dr. Shaffer: That is an interesting question. I had a photo album that did a good job of documenting all of the places I had been. I also kept a sporadic journal while I was there that was very useful. I am still good friends with the person I shared an apartment with, Merrill, and we were able to recreate a lot of memories through telephone conversations. Finally, a good friend, Tom Nadar, who I regularly wrote while I was in Slovakia died a few years ago. Quite unexpectedly, when I was about halfway through writing Moon, his brother contacted me. It turned out that Tom had saved all of the letters and his brother wanted to know if I wanted them. Those letters helped me add a couple of stories that I had forgotten about, while also helping round out a few others.
Cliff T.: What kind of message Dr. Shaffer, do you want people who read Moon Over Sasova to get, what is the take away from this book?
Dr. Shaffer: The best way to learn about the world is to travel—at least once Covid ends or is under control. Getting out and meeting people and exploring the world will completely change your point of view and make you more open to other ideas. It can also make you realize that there are a lot more good people in the world than bad.
Cliff T.: So is it true that you drank everything put in front of you? Oh my there must have been some good and horrible libations LOL.
Dr. Shaffer: You may have heard the phrase “to drink like a European.” Europeans in the West have nothing on those in the East. There was a lot of beer and wine, but there were also local/regional types of boozes such as Becherovka, a liqueur made from 20 different herbs and was supposed to cure most if not all illness, and Slivovice, which was sort of like gin on steroids and tasted like shooting a pine tree, needles, bark and all. Whenever I would be out at a bar, people wanted to buy the American shots, and it was easy to get in trouble very quickly. There also weren’t any raised eyebrows about drinking at work. When I went to give the dictation for my students’ final exam, the school’s director first had me drink a shot of cognac and vodka. I’m sure the students were thrilled to have the “Slurring Southerner” read that dictation to them. I did make a point of reading it slowly and as many times as they wanted.
Cliff T: What was the big take away for you, besides seeing another country and culture. What was the a ha moment or thing you got by going to Slovaka?
Dr. Shaffer: Ultimately, I liked the culture, and much of the way the people there looked at life. I think that I am essentially stuck being American. It is the culture I was raised in. I like “stuff” and I tend to be work obsessed. However, I was fascinated with how little I needed to be incredibly happy. I had a spartan apartment, and our sub-zero balcony served as our refrigerator/freezer for the first three months I was there. Work was not the priority for the Slovaks. They worked and worked hard, but family and friends, experiencing life and nature, whether it was through hikes in the mountains, or making merry in bars and restaurants was more important to them. At the end of your life would you rather have experienced those things, or met deadlines for Corporate America. It’s an interesting question.
Cliff T.: It sounds like you had a lot of fun, learned a great deal about people and probably yourself and the world around you.
Dr. Shaffer: I did. It is an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. And, I liked it so much, I went back and did it again three years later.
Cliff T: Thank you so much for sharing the book and the back story to it. Where can people get the book and what forms does the book come in?
Dr. Shaffer: The easiest way to get a copy of Moon over Sasova is on Amazon. It is available in both print format as well as Kindle.
Cliff T.: Thanks again for doing a Candid Conversation Dr. Shaffer.
Dr. Shaffer: Thanks for having me. I like that I am now something of a regular on Candid Conversations. Now, I have to come up with something else interesting to do so that you can have me back!
Dr. Christopher Shaffer is the Dean of Library Services at Troy University. He is former history teacher and in the 90’s he went to Slovakia to teach. He wrote to us from Enterprise AL. Dr Shaffer was interviewed here on Candid Conversations in April 2016. The article: Excercise + Study = Healthy Mind Healthy Body: A Candid Conversation With Dr. Chris Shaffer, Troy University is still up for reading.
The book Moon over Sasova: One American’s Experience Teaching in Post-Cold War Slovakia was published on November 10, 2021 and can be found on Amazon.com.
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