first week ramblings.

I saw a young girl, perhaps 9 or 10 years old, riding the metro this evening by herself. I wondered what it would be like to be a kid using public transportation in a city of 2 million people in the evening without a parent, guardian, or older sibling to watch out for you. I am pretty sure I was never allowed to wander the streets of my suburb even by myself. I always had my sister or my best friend across the street to walk to the bus stop with. And if it was bad weather, my mom would drive me. I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to be independent when I was younger. I don’t think I learned how to be independent until I started to drive. I wondered, does this young girl enjoy being out in the city? Or was she scared to be out by herself? Was it a highlight to her day, or did she dread it and only felt a sigh of relief after she walked in the door to her home?

I sometimes step back and evaluate how I feel as I move about and live in this big eastern European city. I find myself doing a lot of things independently, on my own, more than I would in the States. My alone time in the States is usually in the car, as I drive around. Even when I have errands to run, a lot of times I have company, or as is often the case, a lot of errands can just be done at home, either by phone or the internet – paying bills, ordering a new CD or book, etc. In Minsk, I feel a lot more solitary. Now that I am going to start back with classes, I also am faced with a more solitary aspect of life. Last year I had several American friends in class with. We’d hang out on breaks together, go get tea or a snack together, hang out after class, grab lunch, etc. This year it will be harder for me… I probably will have about 10 Turkish guys in my class and no Americans. Broken Russian will be our only common language. I just can’t see myself hanging out in the same way with a bunch of guys who are in Belarus just to find a Belarussian wife. Ok, I better not stereotype. But saying most feel this way is pretty safe. Just sayin’. It also takes me longer to get to school. Yes, I have roommates now, but they are also hardly at home. So usually I am traveling 45 minutes by foot/bus/metro/foot again by myself. I people watch until I realize that most people are watching me. Then its just awkward to stare back… More often than not, I keep my iPod going so as not to get bored. I am afraid to read and miss my metro or bus stop, so I rarely do that. When I read I usually get in a zone. So life is a bit solitary.

And yet, you’d wonder, do I feel unsafe? After all, a young gal like myself, walking around alone, a foreigner and it being obvious to everyone around me that I am a foreigner seem like prime conditions to be taken advantage of. Yes, last year I had my wallet stolen off my person. But I am pretty sure a woman did it, and she did it on a very crowded bus where you have to let go of any desire to retain personal space. The weird thing is, I actually feel much more safe walking the streets of Minsk than I would the streets of America. There is crime in America. There is very little crime in Belarus. The only thing I worry about is drunkards. At night there are plenty. But, again, they’ve never actually bothered me. Sure, their drunken state bothers me, it bothers me that they leave beer bottles lying all over the streets, broken beer bottle glass in the elevators to step on, etc. But they never talk to me. Never hassle me. I’m bothered internally but not externally.

I’m a people person and like having people around me. I like having company. Unlike my friend Rand, I don’t have one or two or twelve orphan kids hanging around me 24/7. I don’t have my own car to drive in the city. So, in a way, it’s a little melancholy for me in this way, very un-Kristi to be by myself a lot of the time, riding the public transportation, surviving on my rusty Russian. But if I were to be solitary in this way here or in the States, I guess maybe I’d rather it be here.

******

Yesterday I carried my new travel French press around town, filled with some very yummy Coffee Times coffee. Let me just say, people were ALREADY going to stare at me because of my bright white new tennis shoes I got for running, and because I don’t look Belarusian, so I decided, what the heck, I don’t care. But having a travel coffee mug and taking it on the metro of all places DEFINITELY was a magnet for stares. I’ve been more annoyed by the staring this year than last. People, just get over it. Americans are really not THAT much more exciting.

******

We had small worms invade our kitchen cabinets. They even ate their way through some of the Ziplocs. Yuck. Not to mention, I’ve seen at least one cockroach climbing the shower wall. We also are hamster-sitting. So there are critters. Out and about.

******

Summer left. Took off. I saw it for a brief few hours the afternoon I flew in. The next day and every day since has been chilly. 15 to 18 degrees Celsius. Which is like 59-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Fall is here. I can’t wear short sleeves without a long sleeve shirt underneath or a jacket over top. Flip-flops are a no-go outside my building. Sigh. As I know from experience, fall also doesn’t last long. Winter will be here by October.

******

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve already been to McDonald’s once. I do, however, have a good reason! I hadn’t seen my friend Rand yet, and so yesterday (Monday) he finally stopped by my apartment…. Around 8pm. We decided to get a late dinner. We went to Minsk’s new-ish underground mall, stalitza. There was a small café, called the Sun Café, that we went to for pizza. Rand, one of his orphans Sasha, and me. We’re talking in English most of the time. We order food. Rand gets a phone call. I’m zoning out, and tired. (Jet lag this time around has been rough.) While he’s on the phone, the waitress informs us that something we ordered is not available. That much I got. So Rand gets off the phone, and we re-order something for Sasha. We thought that was it. She brings our drinks. We wait 20 minutes. She brings Sasha’s food. We wait 10 minutes. She brings the check. No food for us. Finally I tell Rand I wasn’t really listening to her before, and he was on the phone and distracted, so we ask Sasha, what did the waitress say? He informs us there was no pizza for us. WELL. Wish we had been smart enough to think to ask Sasha sooner. So. Still hadn’t eaten and it’s 10pm. Where are we going to go? Yep. McDonalds. By this point I wasn’t that hungry. So we got McFlurries. Mine had raspberry flavoring in it and it was pretty yum.
That night I also gave Rand an Ale-8-1 straight from my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. It was only slightly flat, but even so… he was won over. Spreading the Ale-8 love one person, one city, one state, one country at a time…