To Minsk (Минск) and Beyond!

Weekly Reflections—Thoughts on Belarus/Minsk So Far

Well, we have now been in the country for a little over a week, and while most of that time has been spent getting settled into our apartment, doing paperwork, meeting with various U.S. Embassy and BSU administration/officials, there has been some time to experience some of Minsk, interact with the people, and see the general society at work.   

One thing that struck me right away is the holidays.  I think we came at the busy holiday season, but there have been several just since we arrived.  This has made things a bit difficult this first week, as we have needed to file paperwork at government offices, sign rent contracts, etc., but it has also been nice to see the people celebrating Russian Orthodox Easter, their version of Memorial Day (but unlike the U.S., they actually go and visit/clean up the graves of their deceased family), and tomorrow is May Day.  

In this first week I have spent a lot of time at the various play areas/parks with the kids and it has been interesting to see the other kids playing, and the adults who are watching them.  While everyone has been very friendly, our general experience to this point is that if we approach someone who does not speak Russian (child or adult), they tend to be shy/scared and just keep walking.  Our kids have been able to overcome this a bit at the park, finding opportunities to play with kids, even when language is a barrier, but Jacque and I have found this to be the case when we are out and about and have questions/need directions or whatever.  

At least so far, it seems that most people don’t speak English, or at least are not comfortable with their English.  Those who are comfortable with English have been very eager to talk to us and help.  Language is always a barrier wherever you go.  

Back to the parks—there is one park near our apartment in particular that seems to attract a lot of people.  Our large family tends to get some stares when we show up, especially when others hear us speaking English.  But it is pretty much like any park you would see in the U.S.—kids are playing, most parents are sitting on benches watching, while some parents are helping their smaller children.  I think it has been very good for the kids to spend so much time at the parks and see that things really aren’t all that different here.  

One thing I have noticed in general is that most people don’t seem to walk around with smiles or much general enthusiasm for daily living.  At this point I will not pretend to understand why this is the case (and a lot of it may just be cultural), though I certainly have my suspicious, but it is a general observation.  I sometimes feel a little self-conscious walking quickly around with a huge smile on my face.  And when I am out with the kids, they are just so energetic and full of life, and to this point I have not seen that as much from the people here.  This makes us stick out a little more.   

Everyone at the university has been extremely friendly and helpful.  I have had some good planning sessions with the MBA director and other good meetings.  Alexander (from BSU) has also spent a lot of time trying to help me with the necessary paperwork for registration, temporary residency, multi-entry visas, etc.  I have to admit that it has been frustrating spending hour after hour dealing with the paperwork (I can’t imagine how any foreigner could ever do this without a native Russian speaker helping them), but it was not unexpected.  I understand that is the system here, though I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised and have things go more smoothly.  Hopefully we will have all of that taken care of in the next week or so.   

We have found Minsk a rather expensive place to live (at least for a family our size wanting to maintain some similarity to the U.S. standard of living we are accustomed to).  Our apartment is great, though expensive, and while we have found some things to be ridiculously cheap (like public transportation and some foods like bread), most of the things we are wanting to purchase are more expensive (sometime by a wide margin) than in the U.S. (and I am not talking about cheddar cheese, peanut butter, and that kind of stuff you can’t find here without paying an arm and a leg, but fairly normal stuff that even the people here use regularly—just not as regularly as we do).  And while the median household income here is relatively low, living expenses are fairly high, coupled with high inflation.  So I think it is a difficult situation for many.  

This week I will start teaching and it will be very interesting to meet the students and start to get a sense of their perspective on life, their work experience, and how it relates to the topics in the class I will be teaching (human resource management).  I am excited for the experience, and I am sure I will learn a lot from it!