First Grain of Sand — Page 44
28 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND the letters of the Russian alphabet-along with sample words for each letter that are common both in text and in speech—and told me to memorize and practice writing them. In my room, there was a large open furnace [an iron container used as a heater as it burned coal/charcoal] with tar on its surface. When I would go outside for addressing the call of nature, I would bring back many small dried and hard pieces of clay and spend one to two hours a day using that clay to practice writing Russian words on the furnace. In four days, I had memorized and learned how to write his sample words, and I had also identified phrases that are commonly used in conversation and learned how to write those phrases as well. Over three months, I asked more questions and learned more vocabulary such as common food items, clothing items, parts of the body, numbers, days of the week, etc. Every day, I would stand in front of Orlov and recite the latest lesson I had memorized, which left a good impression on him. He began to take great inter- est in giving me Russian lessons every morning. He soon started initiating me in reading elementary books. Throughout this process, the prison inmates would warn me that I came from a foreign country and as soon as I was incarcer- ated, I started learning the Russian language, which would inev- itably cause the Soviet government to see me with even greater suspicion and, thus, treat me even more harshly. I would reply to them saying there should be nothing suspicious about this. I said that if they question me, I can tell them that seeking knowledge is not a crime. I am a knowledge seeker, and instead of sitting here idly, it is better that I at least spend this time increasing my