Did you recognize from the photo whose story we’ll be talking about today?
📌 In the fall of 2001, a woman appeared at the door of my office at school and offered to tutor her older daughter in English.
That woman was Svetlana Dobrovolskaya.
She immediately said: we’re colleagues (both teachers), so let’s keep things formal and use first names and patronymics.
I went to their home twice a week. Every time they’d feed me and, as I was leaving, hand me a book: here, read this!
At first, it was the Anastasia books; later came Zeeland’s Transurfing, Richard Bach, and good old Walsch.
Svetlana Vladimirovna worked with children who didn’t fit into our education system, and their parents often turned to her for professional advice.
And I felt awkward bothering her with my own problems. She’d ask: How are things? I’d tell her something, and in response I’d hear: Well, that’s good!
I really needed that kind of non-judgmental support!
📌 We talked about a lot, but the moment I slipped into negativity, I’d hear: We only talk about good things or nothing at all. Or the suggestion: Let’s change the subject 🙃
You often ask, HOW do you switch from negative to positive?
The answer is simple: put a strict censor next to you (like Svetlana Vladimirovna), and you’ll learn fast!!!
📌 I also loved how clearly she set her boundaries: the phone would ring, she’d pick up and say: I’m busy right now, let me call you back later.
And me? I felt awkward cutting someone off and saying I was in a hurry/busy, etc.
There was so much I felt awkward about, and I soaked up examples of how to act differently like a sponge! Sometimes I even managed it 😉
But not on the first try, or even the second.
📌 I spent 2.5 years “sitting” on maternity leave, and all that time I was tutoring.
Svetlana Vladimirovna taught me simple math: figure out a) how much monthly income you need to cover all your basic needs, and b) how many lessons a week you’re comfortable giving. Divide one by the other, and you get the cost of one lesson.
I calculated it. The cost came out higher than the city average.
How could I possibly charge that much?
Well, for that, you need to understand how your lessons are different from other teachers’ lessons!
You have no idea how much I racked my brain over that simple idea, which people now call your uniqueness ❗️
But in the end, I figured it out and started teaching English to “new kids” — the ones the traditional education system had given up on: preschoolers and elementary school students.
📌 Svetlana Vladimirovna gathered the parents of her restless students around her — among them was a real Jewish man, and somehow it turned out that we started gathering every Friday for Shabbat 🙃
We’d sit in Svetlana’s kitchen, Nastya would sing for us, we’d munch on pies, share news, the kids would play in the rooms — it was a wonderful time!
We celebrated New Year’s and birthdays together. We Simoroned together, we changed together.
⚠️Looking back, I can honestly say: Svetlana Vladimirovna was my first teacher. If it weren’t for her, who knows when I would have awakened on my own?!
📌 And I’ll wrap up this story with a telling episode from our lives.
In 2006, I got really excited about the X-Trail (car brand). And to bring it into my life sooner, I signed up for driving school, and three months later I got my license. My dad trusted me with his Lada 8.
So my friends and I are planning to go sledding on the hills outside the city. I call Svetlana Vladimirovna and offer to give her a ride.
I pull up. Svetlana Vladimirovna comes out of the entrance. She gets in the car. Buckles up. And we drive out to the snow-covered fields outside the city. We arrive at the spot.
Svetlana Vladimirovna gets out of the car and says: I never thought that you, Elena Vasilievna, with your right-brain thinking, would be able to drive a car.
????
Then why did you get in the car with me?
I had to support you!
P.S. For the rest of the stories, if you missed them, read them at the link >>