Weekly doings, Facts & Observations

In the last one and half weeks no big event took place here, so that’s why I was silent. I’m officially here for over a month now. I celebrated with studying.

Since the last post we’ve been to 2 CouchSurfing meetings. They were as good as ever, I met many locals, Italians, and e.g. an Israeli and a Libyan guy as well.

On Sunday I took a walk in the huge park nearby the dormitory. The weather was gloomy, so I didn’t feel like taking photos, just a few random shot. I saw the Palace of Independence, about which I have to carry out a research, because it is a quite new bulding.

March arrived and with it the so called “Масленица” (Maclenicha), the local Carnival. It was held on the 1 March and it marked the beginning of spring. The locals always eat a considerable number of pancakes! In theory everyone should do so. Though I missed this opportunity, this weekend we’re going to make pancakes with Simon and Mélanie, make up for the things we’ve missed.

So, now you can read some observations and facts from the last month.

Observations:

• Understandably I make comparisons with the places where I’ve lived before. One similarity between Finns and Belarusians e.g. that both nations love ice cream! Anytime, anywhere! So am I! And it is great here. I frequently take advantage of this. ;)
  I always end up at the ride side of the world seemingly. :)


• The food is cheap. In the back of my self-made dictionary I note all of my expenses so that I could keep track of my money. I spent around 150 USD HUF for food this month (everything is included: water, groceries and everything that I had to buy at the beginning, e.g. washing powder & soap, knife, chopping board, etc.). I’m just sharing this piece of information so that you would have an idea about the local prices.
  
• The clothes are very expensive compared to the wages of the people. It is interesting, since Russians and Belarusians as well are crazy about fashion and famous brands, so I simply cannot imagine how they can buy clothes. Concerning taste though, I must say that some of them could improve it! But it is a feature that is existent in many countries though.
• On weekends people like walking in the parks: they’re stuffed with couples, who walk along the riverside. Older as well as younger ones. You can see some joggers as well, but it is still a bit cold, so in my opinion their number will increase as the weather improves.
•  The view of women doing their make-up on the street is completely normal.
  This is one thing that I would never do, so I always watch them with a smile on my face.
• One realization struck me: Although I didn’t consider myself addicted to Facebook and the Internet in general, here I had to realize that at home I spend way too much time on FB and on the Internet as well, without even realizing it. It is incredible! Perfect that I have this 4-month treatment (sort of) to get rid of this absolutely useless habit. I read a lot more and I can spare my time a lot better as well.
• If you ever start learning Russian, use only squared notebook.
• The coin has two sides. Though I love the international environment, the mass and the odour that it results in in the kitchen… is something I have no words for.
• The weather is getting better and better. However, one can only seldom see the sun.

Facts:

• Our teacher was on holiday for 2 weeks (she has a little daughter) and returned last week, thanks God! The classes are a lot faster and more interesting, because she speaks fast. Perfect! But one interesting thing is… I think I didn’t tell you this yet: we have a new student from China, and she has the strongest accent you can ever imagine. And combining that with the fact that we are studying here Russian… it is just IMPOSSIBLE to understand her. The replacement teacher could understand her well enough, but our usual teacher has not yet accustomed to it. It was hilarious today!
• I have alaways been aware of the fact, that we live in different countries, thus different nationalities have acces to different information. I know that e.g. China is a closed world as well, but it is quite shocking for me to see it for myself what it means actually. First I was just utterly shocked, and – I must admit – annoyed, but since then I’m just trying to be patient. We were talking about Europe in the class and one French-Italian woman was talking about Paris and the Chinese girl didn’t know what it was. The group was shocked. However, as I said, I’m trying to apply the appropriate behavior. Another advantage of such trips is that you simply must leave your comfort zone and come to learn to live with all the people. It is not at all easy.
• Last week somebody called the police that there is a bomb in the metro. Fortunately it turned out to be fake. But the metro was closed for a couple of hours.
  We mentioned an event that took place a few years back. A bomb was exploded at one of the metro stations and it resulted in the death of many people.
• In relation with the attacks, we discussed the subject of death penalty in class. It is still legal here. It is one of those controversial matters, about which you can argue endlessly. It is quite interesting in my opinion (the whole subject). It is even more interesting to discuss this matter, if you are surrounded by people from many nations.

I just have one more thing to add: I listen more and more to the local radio, “Radio Minsk”, 1. To listen to local music, 2. To listen to the broadcasters. The programmes are pretty good… it is only the broadcasting that is a bit annoying: it always hisses and crackles.

Whenever I online, I start reading about the situation in Ukraine. I hope that all of you follow the events, because it is very important to be up-to-date!

To finish the present flow of thoughts… in the last few days I felt a bit under the weather. Well, I felt terrible, but it’s mostly psychological I think. You don’t need big things though. You just have to find the things that you need in the right moment. I just started watching Julie & Julia, a cooking movie that I simply adore, because it is a lovely, real story and it records two women, who think (thought) in the same way about cooking as I do. It is just such a comfort and brings happiness into one’s life. All the spices, the smells and tastes. Hmm! It is one thing that I miss: to be in our kitchen and just to cook my soul out! J

I shed some tears I became so happy in an instant.

I hope everybody is fine out there! Have a lovely weekend!

Пока!