So last was Riga and that takes us up to the part were we travel
to Belarus. We'll start with how we even managed to get there because
if you look at a map you will find that Riga is not so close to
Minsk.
The night we got into Riga Igor found us a carpool ride from Riga
to Minsk. Yes, they have this, yes it is safe and yes, you have to
speak Russia to apply. :)
Our host was kind enough to take us to the "meeting spot,"
which as it turned out was not a very well defined location. To start
our difficulty we were unable to find the spot that the guys driving
had described. When we found what we thought was the spot we didn't
see the van that we were supposed to go in. So we tried to
call...except the phone number we had for him didn't work. Did I
mention that the night before they almost canceled on us since they
couldn't get a hold of Igor? For some reason they could not call Igor
and Igor couldn't call them. An issue with the country codes was the
culprit that we ultimately decided was the problem. Since we couldn't
contact them via good old fashion phones we had to rely on our web
connection. However, when you are in a parking lot somewhere in Riga
it isn't like there is a Google wifi balloon sending you free signal
everywhere so it turned out to be a bit of a problem. We did have a
wifi hotspot available via our phones, but Igor only had the website
available and logged on his computer that made things a tij more
challenging in the communications department. I was trying to be
patient but feeling a bit anxious about this whole situation now and
worried that maybe we were going to miss our ride but, it all turned
out alright, as it always does and we eventually did find the guys.
To be far they were not really where they said they would be but
hurray for phones and wifi hotspots!
The car ride, which we shared with two Ukrainian guys and a girl
from Belarus living in Latvia was for the most part uneventful and
easy, if not a bit cold. (At one point I took off my boots and stuck
my socked feet into my gloves to warm them up). The drive was nice
and I think Igor enjoyed the conversation however I didn't catch much
(Russian). It always makes me more hopefully and more motivated when
in these types of situations because I know if I just buckled down
and worked harder on my Russian I could at least participate, however
briefly.
After about 3-4 hours of driving we reached the Lithuanian,
Belarusian boarder. We had no problems on the Lithuanian side
although the girl checking our passports did think that Igor and I
"make a good match USA and Belarus." Not sure what that was
about but I took it as a compliment. Our crossing there was only
about 10 maybe 15 minutes at the absolute most. On the Belarus side
though it took quite a bit longer.. We had to go through several
checks and rechecks. No offense Belarus but really? Oh well. We
guessed that they were not used to Americans coming in via car (cuz
it is a bit odd I suppose) and according to Igor they gave him a bit
of a hard time about my passport. They apparently scrutinized it
pretty heavily but in the end they let us on through and about 2
hours later we were in Minsk!
We stopped by the bus station to see if we could get tickets to
Zaslonova that evening (it was only about 5pm) but unfortunately
there were not any buses for the rest of the evening that went there
so we did what any good family would do and we called Igor's brother
(you remember Vasil, not to be confused with uncle Vasil or Father
Vasil) to come and get us. If you are thinking at this point, "hey
but I thought Igor's brother lived in Moscow?" well you would
have been right but they moved to Minsk about 6 months ago, so win
for us.
In the morning we were off. We had some time to kill before our
bus so we thought we would just jump on the metro and go to the
center of town. We didn't have any cash which meant I had to tried to
pull some out with my ATM card...turns out that I couldn't do it. I
actually sort of knew this before we went since my banks said that
Belarus is "on the black country list" meaning that none of
my cards would work there. Don't worry I gave them an ear full about
how they are making banking with the seriously inconvenient and I
might have to go elsewhere. Anyway, enter the Savior bank card from
England!!! I have had it since that year that I decided I didn't want
to live in America any more and so I scampered off to play in
England. I can't tell you how many times this card has saved my
took-us, actually I can a total of 2 but that's not the point, it's
amazing! So yeah we were able to get some money and get our metro
tickets.
We found a mall and a since we are kind of coffee snobs now we
decided that we would treat ourselves and Igor's parents to the
present of a good coffee maker. Yes, that's right we found one of
these bad boys in Minsk! it wasn't as good as the one that we have at
home but it worked just fine.
We made it to our bus and then to Zaslonova put our bags down
chatted for a few minutes with Igor's parents and then Igor went to
school to find out what activities were on for the evening.
Our time in Belarus was a bit of a whirlwind and I will try to
tell it as faithfully and as in order as I possible can but I make no
promises that they are in the right series of events. We were there
for almost 4 weeks, we did a lot and not a lot all at once. The
overview is that it was wonderful and enjoyable most of the time.
The first couple days were spent just re-cooperating from our
crazy walking city tours from the previous week and a half. We went
to Igor's school and played basketball with the kids one evening. I
got to play with the big kids this year and I even scored!! I watched
Igor play chess with his old P.E. teacher and win. I watch Igor play
volley ball. I know when I am really not good at something. I don't
claim to be good at basketball but I do know how to play. Volleyball
is a totally different story. Uncle David will be heartbroken but I
don't even know the rules, let alone how to serve or really even hit
the ball. So, instead of being a menus on the floor I decided to
watch.
One thing about being an American in a place where you don't get
many Americans is that you are sort of a novelty. Do you remember how
last year we went and visited the English class and talked to them.
They made us tea, and sang to us, etc.? Well, we didn't do that
this year but once the kids found out that there was an American
around I was like a unicorn in a petting zoo. The kids, especially
the girls, would sort of swarm around me. Usually they didn't talk to
me just sat very close by and whispered to each other. Every once in
a while though, one would get up the courage to ask me a question and
I would do my best to answer either in really poor quality Russian or
as simple of English as I could, to make sure they would understand.
You would be surprised how tiring it is to do that type of English
speaking. I feel like I don't even speak the language properly after
a while. I hymmm and haaa, umm and ahhhh as I try to think of simpler
ways to phrase an answer or ask a question so they will understand.
It would be easier to answer with a "yes" or a 'no' but I
think that's cheap, especially since they were trying so hard. It was
kind of fun though. I have learn more Russian over the last year and
it made it a bit easier for me, if only a very little bit. I could
hear them talking amongst themselves trying to figure out the correct
way to ask the question, to ask what they knew how to, although
probably not really what they wanted to know. Anyways, this type of
creative alternative, simple English will come up again in our
narrative later, so keep an eye out.
Back to our sports play. So I am crap at Volleyball (sorry Uncle
David) but Igor is most definitely not from what I can tell and it
was fun to watch him play. He played soccer a couple of times too but
I didn't the first night because I did know what to expect and my
foot had been sore (I fractured the tiny bone under the ball of my
foot awhile ago and it still bothers me at times).
One of the first days we were there we felt rather ambitious or
rather felt brave. We walked to the sacred springs about 3 miles more
or less away. For those of you who have followed over the years, the
first time we went to Belarus in 2014 during the summer it was hard
for me to get into that ice cold water. I did it on my second attempt
but barely got in half way on my first. Well, because I think I am
tougher than I actually am I decided that we should go back. Igor did
do it last year with his friend Serge in the middle of winter and
told me how difficult it was but you know me, I still thought I could
do it.
We got a bit lost on our way there, ended up right out side of the
military shoot range... had to ask one of the officers for directions
lol oopse. Found our way back. Wished we had brought the yak trak
snow and ice grips for our shoes that my dad had got us but if you
saw how little we brought and how little room we had you would
understand. Anyhow, we eventually made it, I was sweating by the time
we got there because walking on ice is seriously tough work, feeling
like this was it, I was totally got to do it...
I still believe that I could have gotten all the way. I want to
lead with that. It's probably not true but I like to believe it is.
What was my mistake you may ask? Well... I my mind it was the fact
that I took my shoes off too early. Yeah, you heard me. In order to
do this polar plunge you must be in your birthday suite or your
swimsuit and let me tell you, if there is snow outside and the first
thing you take off is your shoes, you are in a world of hurt. I did
get my feet in...for about five seconds max and then quickly got out
squealing about how cold it was, jumped on to the bench and huddled
with my now burning ice pained feet, red as cold can get them.
Thus my failed and very sad attempt at the Belarusian sacred polar
plunge.
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| @sacred springs |
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Igor attempting to warm his hands up after the
plunge. Yeah he did it.
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| Polar Hero |
Ok time for a short break. I leave you with this little guy. A new
addition to the Belarusian Farm Family at Igor's grandmothers house.
Enter Barshik the super energetic lovable kitten who likes to attack
my feet.
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| yea, he liked the yarn |
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After much convincing I did drive the car a very short ways from this monument to Igor's grandmothers farm. It was less than 2 miles away but still I waas very nervous and conscious of the fact that I had not driven a stick since my great stalling incident in Norway 5 years ago. I did fine. I think I stalled or at least almost stalled once but I still got us there. It wasn't like the other time that I drove a stick with Jamie across the US and got us stalled in the middle of Chicago in rush hour...pretty sure I still to this day don't have nightmares about that.
