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THE STORY OF OUR STAY IN BELARUS, OCTOBER 2000.
Diary produced every night in Belarus, and typed up by Doug on our return to England.
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Sunday 15th October
Met up at college at 10:30pm and headed off to Heathrow in a rather large bus, giving us all lots of space. It was difficult to sleep, as it was so uncomfortable. Stayed up and talked instead. Subjects covered include death and afterlife, philosophy, religion, ghosts, meaning of life and psychology.
Monday 16th October
Arrived at Heathrow at 4:00am after having a break at an unknown service station in middle of nowhere. Waited around, raced trolleys (Ailsa crashed into a metal pole!) and we were the first to get checked in.. Flight was uneventful but food was awful! Changed at Vienna briefly as running short of time. Went through many metal detectors. Mark got body searched by a man. The same man… got a woman to search Ailsa. Met the German group on the plane but didn’t talk.
Arrived in Minsk on a bumpy, badly maintained runway at about 1:30pm. Airport run-down, empty and full of Bellavia Airline planes. Got very scared by passport control, scary blokes with moustaches told us to move on and waved a gun at us as we tried to fill in the ambiguous custom forms. Got passport stamped. Very rusty escalator that was turned on specially creeked into action. It seems German has now been adopted as the unofficial, official language. Travelled to IBB on bus, took about 30 minutes through vast empty space, forests, tall thin bare trees on long uneven, desolate stretches of motorway. Houses mostly old shacks, farmhouses with tin roofs or badly maintained flats. Closed Ford factory was seen and lots of old cars. Arrived and impressed with room. TV, good showers, comfy beds but can see the ‘real’ Belarus from the window. Sat to dinner in segregated group by country. No choice in food – 2 cabbages followed by potato beefburger crepe followed by blood stained pancake. Went to bed at 10:00pm after a ‘breaking the ice’ session which involved splitting into hobby groups and trust games.
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Tuesday 17th October
Got up at 7:30am and sat in our segregated groups by nationality for breakfast. More cabbage, salami, cheese and omelettes. Did more getting-to-know-you activities such as hugging everyone at least twice, name recalling and a treasure hunt which involved writing and singing a song. Went to supermarket, high security with bag check-in and lack of atmosphere. Blank faces and you could see the fish so fresh they were killed before your eyes. Walkers crisps but with a Russian names. Coke was the only recognisable brand. Shop assistant had massive police style ID badges and there were no conveyer belts. On walk further along street Gav had his arm tugged and was beckoned by a strange man. We walked away rapidly. Saw shopping centre – like a prison where cells were shops, iron bars, cold concrete atmosphere. 4-course dinner for lunch we sat with Tim and Roberto from Germany, and Olga and Polina from Belarus. Lunch consisted of salty raw fish – the cause of many bad stomachs, with salad, then thick pasty soup (possibly vegetable?) followed by meat balls and pasta. Then chocolate mousse, which we mistakenly tried to eat at the end of every course. Split into international groups for treasure hunt. Had to draw a portrait and sing a song (Arrrggghhh!!). Also find out how much a burger meal costs in McDonalds (£1). We tried to change some dollars but we all got different amounts for our due to old and new notes which confused us. We thought we were all rich but were later told that for the old currency we had to off cross 3 0’s. Tea consisted of sour cream salad, liver and mash and then more pancakes with jam. We didn’t eat in a national group – we swapped the 3 girls for Germans. After dinner we displayed our posters. The other countries proved they were more artistic. Went for a walk round the block, in the dark, crossing the motorway on various times. Saw packed buses at 7:30pm and petrol was about 30p per litre. Walked through tower blocks that could easily fit into Sarajevo or Bosnia. Then went to a party where everyone (about 30 people) from the conference was in a two man bedroom. Sang songs and ate food. English were only group that couldn’t lead a song. Stopped by teachers at 11:00pm but continued unofficially. After press-ups and ab-crunchers went to bed, slightly less tired than last night. At about 12:00pm – Not! Actually it was more like 3:30am.
Wednesday 18th October
Couldn’t get up due to talking the previous night. Solid porridge and Spam didn’t go down too well for breakfast. Showed our video, soundtrack went down better than the film, with some Belarussians getting up and dancing. Other presentations were better prepared, with more physical involvement from the participants. Went looking for a football during the break, finding various other shops hid behind plain signs and solid plain doors. Next we were split into international groups to discuss personal problems we don’t want to take into the next century i.e. impatience. We felt patronised, like we were children. MORE CABBAGE with stew and cake for lunch. Next was a long boring trip on a boiling hot bus around Minsk, with most of the information lost in translation, and the sane places visited numerous times. Many people slept through the tour. Walk round old town and some monuments, visited markets and then dinner at a restaurant. Mark and Gavin broke the record for spoonfuls of sugar in tea!! Practised some of the other presentations, met with some Germans, bed at about 1:00am.
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Thursday 19th October
Breakfast was Spam sausages and…..cabbage. Went to art college to do presentations. Watched everyone else but couldn’t do ours as there was no lead to connect video to TV! Visited the toilets. The most disgusting thing ever. Enough said. Began work on mural to be painted on a wall in a school for partially sighted people. The non-artists found the drawing very difficult. After lunch (beetroot and cabbage soup, meatballs and biscuits) and an interesting puppet show, some people went to the Academy of Art while others went on a walk round Minsk centre. In the town centre there were lots of huge faceless shops, which we explored. Bought CDs for about £1.50 and a cheap football. Tried to buy 4 Dynamo Minsk shirts but it was out of stock (?!). Raced back to college arriving 15 minutes late only to find Sam and Jonathon hadn’t arrived. They were lost and we didn’t meet up for hours. Went to Dankov Club for disco and dinner. The place was very seedy and we think we ate rabbit (with our cabbage). Everyone had a good time but big gaps between courses, and some psycho dressed as a tiger tried to dance with everyone. Came back to IBB and practiced our presentations for tomorrow.
Friday 20th October
Only a few turned up for breakfast – the nicest yet, with apple pancakes. Presentations completed, first the music video, then the superhero, which went down really well. Talked about making plays that right the would highlight and solve of the world. Lunch, soup again, fish as the main course, where Mark found a large skeleton in his fish! The resulting shock nearly saw it fly across the table at Gavin! After lunch the shops were visited, before a group photograph. At shops Gav was escorted to the bank, as they didn’t accept US dollars. Went to art college, where group was split into two, one for drama and one for dance. The actors were bossed about by a giant hairy Russian called Sascha. Warm up was stupid, and Sascha changed everyone’s performances – but who cares! The most ‘English’ dinner yet at the café – pork and chips followed by choc ices. Doug’s exchange partner and Damiana (Ira) took us to a heavy metal concert, where we had ice cream and coke. We got home in 2 cars, beating the rest of the group back as their bus never turned up. Sat up talking in national group, bed by 2:00 / 3:30am.
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Saturday 21st October
Breakfast was more pancakes (for those who turned up). Went grocery shopping, changed money and bought some bananas after. At 10:00am went to open air museum on ‘Belarussian Architecture and Culture’ all morning / afternoon. In the bleak Belarussian countryside there were just a few houses, one had an exhibition on scales in it, and some houses showing the changes in culture in Belarus. Came back on the death-trap bus, which was falling apart, and had a removable back seat which exposed a felling axe and a bow saw! Played football in sunny afternoon. Despite winning the match in the first place a penalty shoot-out was organised with England beating Germany! Something the real team could never manage! After a shower and rushed preparation we met our families with which we would spend the night. Each person did separate things with their partners until tomorrow.
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Sunday 22nd October
Morning with partners. All met at 6:30pm outside circus. Watched 2 ½ hour show. Lots of clowns, acrobats and animals, which some didn’t like. Went back to IBB. At night played international games, but were stopped by teachers.
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Monday 23rd October
Beef and cucumber for breakfast. Went to school for children with sight problems to paint the wall. They were over controlled by the teachers. School presented each country with a doll. Lunch in art college, where some of us met our Belarussian partners. Went to Belarussian Society of Friendship lecture, and found they don’t actually do anything. Went to massive empty Palace of Youth Theater to practice dance / acting. Sascha bossed everyone about. Had very late dinner there, with beef and mushroom sauce with mashed potato. Got home and did 1 hour programme evaluation which should have taken 10 minutes. Ukrainian farewell disco.
Tuesday 24th October
Only Mark and Doug were on time for breakfast, which was potato and egg pie and the usual. Performed presentations in front of a crowd of about 200. All went well until the dance (the only teacher organised thing), when the wrong music was played. Ate lunch at Palace of Youths. It was beef and onion with apple drink. In afternoon saw Ukrainians off at the train station then took a mad tube journey to art college via the station with the memorial. Disco and dinner (everlasting starters followed by pork and potatoes). Doug and Mark were accused of not having fire while dancing even after being dragged on stage by Olga and the interpreter. General boredom afterwards, due to no Ukrainians.
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Wednesday 25th October
Breakfast consisted of ham omelette and very thick, jam like juice to drink (plus the usual). Went to shops and packed in morning, then got our packed-lunch, the same as the last one. Said good-byes then got on aeroplane to Vienna, and then on to Heathrow. Dougs luggage did not come but the bus was there and it took about 5 hours to get home.
THE END
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