Greenwich Meridian Memoir by Emma Palova

Author:Emma Palova [Palova, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

Thanks to mom’s connections I could continue my university prep studies at the Zlin Gymnasium from 1976 to 1980 on top of a hill at Forest Quarter.

It was a prestigious school that was mostly attended by kids of doctors and lawyers. We were a snobbish bunch. In my senior year, I remember tearing into a rookie classroom with my entourage and making fun of the scared kids.

“Yeah, you’re going to suffer, sure you are,” I laughed. “Wait until Miss Chemistry lays her hands on you. You are her experimental rats, since she just got done with her degree.”

My bold act was just a cover up for my weak side and that was chemistry and physics. We already had organic chemistry, and I remember my struggle with the composition of hydrocarbons in petroleum.

It was a time of exploration and discoveries. Bad and good. I had tons of friends because everybody knew that I came back from America. Both mom and Aunt Martha made sure everyone knew, while I contributed as well.

Mom could exchange dollars for the fake Czech currency called Tuzex “bons.” The Tuzex bons were just vouchers issued by the International Bank of Commerce in Prague, not backed by any federal reserve or treasury. They were only valid at the Tuzex stores. I wish I had saved one of those colorful papers.

The magical “bons” went far. They were used in Tuzex stores sprinkled sporadically around the country like sprinkles on Christmas cookies. Most Tuzex stores were located in Prague and Bratislava. Both mom and I sold bons to our friends for Czech crowns, which was illegal. A Tuzex bon sold for 5 crowns. I loved going to the Tuzex store located on the sixth floor of the Zlin department store Prior near the Moscow Hotel and the Cinema. The Tuzex stores carried merchandise from the “West” such as perfumes, clothes and food.

For nostalgia purposes, I even kept some of the clothes bought in Tuzex and later took them with me to the U.S. I still have the silver-colored sweater with a huge leaf applique and a jean jacket by the United Colors of Beneton bought in Prague. Some people, like my friend Hannah, were friends with me mainly because I had the Tuzex bons. Anyone who worked outside the Eastern communist block and got paid in foreign currency could exchange it for these fake colorful papers.

Just like regular money, bons carried power with them.

“You got some bons to sell today?” asked Hannah.

Of course, I always had some bons to sell. I am a dealer by nature. I inherited that from my entrepreneurial grandpa, Joseph. So, I traded and sold bons in school and outside of the Zlin Gymnasium. I never really lacked anything, except for the freedom to travel to the Western countries or the semi-capitalist Yugoslavia, which was the norm for students at the prep school.

At that time, I was highly competitive in grades and in social status. You were nobody if you didn’t go to Yugoslavia for the summer vacation and skiing in the Alps in winter.

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