springing forward

We finally sprung forward with daylight savings time last night. I don't really know why we were about 3 weeks behind the States, or the States 3 weeks ahead of us, but so it goes. And the weather here has been very spring-like which has been simply wonderful.

Today was independence day in Belarus, marking their original independence that was pre-Soviet Union. However, it has only come to light as a celebration in Minsk recently because of certain political groups (i.e. not the government). Thus, there were peaceful demonstrations around the city, of which you can probably read about at www.charter97.org
I experienced a bit of inconvenience thanks to these demonstrations, but of course, it also was a bit interesting for me to witness. As I tried to leave church with 2 friends (1 thankfully was Belarussian), our bus was not allowed to stop to pick us up… because the bus would be driving by the central square where the demonstrations were planned. The metro stop at the center of the city also was shut down…. For the entire day… creating havoc when I had to switch metro lines and was unable to later that evening… Also, there were human and fence blockades on the sidewalks in about a 2-4 block radius around the center. Therefore, I had the experience of walking through hundreds of people (while also managing to get a photograph or two) carrying the old Belarus flag around, then had to walk 4-5 blocks away from the center, and then make a loop back to the main road… a nice 30 minute detour, that normally would’ve been a 5-10 minute walk on the main road. Several times police kept us from walking up certain streets (hence why I was thankful to have a Belarussian escort to find out where we COULD walk to get on the other side of the main city center). Overall, the day seemed a bit uneventful, and I don’t think there was much momentum for this protest. ((update: after perusing the above site, it seems there was quite a bit of momentum later in the day, and at different parts of the city. I simply did not manage to see very much from my end. the only way I would have seen much would have been by pushing my way through human blockades, and well, I wasn't about to do that for sure!! It also appears it was not totally peaceful, as force was used to restrain protesters.)) I did however manage to pass all of the ambassadors to Belarus - EU and American - strolling TOWARD the main square, accompanied by many reporters and photographers, right smack in front of the kgb building. I wondered if they were going to make a statement or something on this day, or wave their own former Belarus flag … ((they are also mentioned at the above site))

ladybug

I learned today that a "ladybug" is called in Russian something along the lines of "God's little cow."

Now, aren't you just so glad you stopped by my blog today to find out this little piece of information?? :)

frustrations, magic 8-balls, and saying hello to spring

Everyday can’t be “your” day. Yesterday was such a day for me. I lost my eyeglasses for about 20 panicked minutes shortly before 15 people were expected at my apartment. I accidentally dumped a glass of water all over my kitchen table – unknowingly – while my laptop sat on this same table, and soon I discovered that my laptop was SITTING in a puddle of water. My speakers disappeared for a while, and then were off and on for the rest of the day. (Now I think they’re fine.) Then I killed my shift key. While working on my computer at my desk, I accidentally knocked a photo frame off the shelf above it… and the corner landed right on the shift key and suddenly I heard POP and there flew the shift key off the keyboard. I had to perform emergency surgery, not knowing what the heck I was doing, and now I pray that it’s fixed and won’t decide to randomly fall off...

I’ve also learned that perhaps I need to take more cues from the Belarussians. I can imagine myself sitting with a magic 8-ball in my hands….

Question: Am I a stupid American?
Answer: It is decidedly so.

You see, the snow is wonderful. I love the snow. But when the temperature gets above freezing, there is this phenomenon known as “melting.” Then, not only is the snow no longer snow, but slush and water or even sludge, but it’s not pretty, and it is a trap for city dwellers… Because when you are walking along streets at night, with all this slush and water, you find yourself INEVITABLY walking through puddles, nay, veritable LAKES in the middle, er, taking up the entire width, of a given street…. So, why does stepping into these lakes of wet doom make me a stupid American? Well, you see, it’s because I wasn’t taking cues from the Belarussians. They have this “fashion style” (which I know now also comes from experience and wisdom) to wear their boots over or on top of their jeans. Being an American, I’ve never really done this, or never had boots that would be proper to do it with, and of course all my jeans have a boot or wide cut leg, making it difficult (and uncomfortable) to stuff all this extraneous material into your shoe… so generally, I just haven’t done it. I kept wearing my jeans over my boots. But then these past two days, I met the lakes disguised as harmless puddles, and suddenly found myself wading through water over and over again over the course of a 10 minute walk in my neighborhood. Well, it was nasty. My jeans were unhappy, as you can see. So maybe I should stop being so stubborn and start learning some practical tips for dealing with the unexpected perils in a winter wonderland…



p.s. Happy First Day of Spring. Well, at least Belarus celebrates the first day of spring as March 1st. Which makes no sense, since it's earlier than it is celebrated in the States, but Belarus is last to really experience spring-time weather. Maybe they just redefine spring to mean "lots of slush and rain and wind" instead of what I think of as spring, being, "sunny skies and blooming flowers."