What to do in Belarus? Posted July 31

I asked Olya to recommend the best things to see in Belarus. Mushroom
picking was high on her list, as were the castles, forts and forests.
Everyone says it is a relic of the soviet past, yet it really is
prosperous in many ways. How would I describe it? There are beautiful
rolling hills and forests, with quaint small towns, and generally,
space. I can see very clearly now why Poles, Russians, Belarusians,
Latvians and other eastern Europeans all chose to settle in the
Midwest and Canada as it really is very similar in climate and
landscape.

Outside of Minsk it's like one continual farm, with no fences and
livestock in large herds still tended by a shepherd. Collectives are
still very common and village-centered farming is the norm. The
government still owns all the land and country villages are extremely
poor but picturesque.

Belarus has a bit of an identity crisis which means than many will
identify with Poland, Ukraine or Russia more than Belarusian, and the
passivity from so many historical poundings means that the will to
fight for their Belarusian language and identity is limited. Teaching
about wars against Russia is illegal, despite the fact that 2 in 1
Belarusians died, which is twice the number of WWII when 4 in 1 died.
The president hates Belarusian language and culture and is notorious
for not being able to even speak the national language—instead
speaking an uneducated creole of sorts called treshanka. Under the
Soviet Union, no military service would be undertaken in one's own
republic, which is why so many Belarusians fought in Afghanistan and
Chechnya, rather than protecting their own people. This was done so
that if shooting against the population needed to occur, the "foreign"
troops would be less hesitant at protecting the populace as they
didn't identify with them. An effective oppression system, really.

The dig is a fascinating site—a Neolithic peat bog just like the
amazing bog-men collection I saw in the Dublin museum, except that no
bog men have been found in Belarus. The site has been excavated
several times over the last 100 years, but unfortunately, one
archaeologist was executed for being an "enemy of the state", and many
of the items found not to mention journals and records from before
WWII were of course destroyed completely when Minsk was completely
flattened by bombing. Many things changed in the 1970s when the
government put in a huge melioration project of canals which drained
the bogs and marshes. The second dig, which unfortunately I can't go
to, is of a flint mine, which would also have been amazing. Because
Belarus is on the front lines for so many wars, there are so many
possible sites. In fact, Olya was saying that very near the dig site
was the area of the biggest tank battle of World War II and several
planes went down in the bogs which children use as playgrounds now!
Many sites have been gone over with people using metal detectors, but
when they find someone, they tend to just strip the treasure and leave
the body, instead of helping to create some kind of memorial. As it's
a crossroads from Sweden to Ancient Greece, there are many trade route
treasures to be found!

What are you afraid of?

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-07/pl_print

This was a really interesting quiz... I knew when I was doing it that it wasn't supposed to be as you'd expect, but what you expect is not always what you expect! :)

Latvia - people you meet

To be added soon... check back.

Stolen from Rama

The Challenge:
- Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
- See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." If they have, you need to add another!(2.b., 2.c., etc...)
- Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they've done in their life.

Rama's

1. Spent more time out of their home country than in their home country and still been under 30.
2. Flown across an ocean and a continent to be somewhere 2 days just for a wedding.
3. Lived in at least 2 places that most people have never heard of--Myanmar, Azerbaijan.

I've decided that these are completely unimaginative, but that is my mood I guess. Interesting thinking about it though!

Ballet shoes

To be added soon... check back.

Switzerland and Basel conference

To be added soon... check back.

After reading Glamour 2: Are you a nomaphobic?

To be added soon... check back.

After reading Glamour: When am I stressed?

To be added soon... check back.

Dublin 4 - People's Art

Created: 6/29/08


So I've decided that one of my future jobs is going to be as a columnist for a newspaper, and perhaps one of my topics will be something like "Interesting People I Met This Week" or "An Artist I like". This is, of course, very egotistical to assume that anyone would be interested in my opinions (but I have a blog, so I must have already assumed this!) but I just thought it would be an interesting idea, although no doubt, with a limited run. I mean, how many interesting people can I meet? Oh wait, in my life? ...MANY!!!!

This was all inspired by seeing the artist's area around the St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. It's called peoplesart and has some really terrible, but also some really fantastic new ideas, and most of them are Irish! Anyway, I decided that I'm going to promote some of those artists here in my blog, and say, hey tourists, why don't you buy a painting?

I did think it was humorous to hear some of the tourists walking past. One of them asked their companion, "Hey, do you think you could by xxx/so-and-so a painting?" and they shallowly said, "Well, if I did, I think it'd have to have a pub in it." I just decided that that was incredibly idiotic and narrow-minded! Is art dead people?!! Hello!!? The artist is Irish, so it's an authentic souvenir.

Artist 1: Margaret Farnell okay. website doesn't work.... check back later http://www.margaretfarnell.com/,

Pixie Mary Cahalan (dancer) http://www.binbanart.com/searchresults.asp?ArtistID=249

Pamart.ie (thai designs)

Dublin 3

I meant to post this when I first got to Ireland--these were my initial impressions! July 8, '08

I thought it was very interesting the third degree grill I got when I arrived in Ireland. I don't know if the working New Zealanders have given us all a bad name, but the visa processor didn't look all that thrilled about me. I said I was leaving Sunday, and so he gave me permission to stay until Monday. Is that stingy or nasty or just realistic? I was being honest so it's really not a big deal, but I've got 30 days by right, so it's a good thing that I didn't actually need to change my flight and then have to deal with visa extension issues. [The other interesting thing is that since travelling I haven't gotten any subsequent stamps. Switzerland doesn't stamp NZ passports (it seems), and neither did Austria or Latvia or any other place in the EU. Very interesting!! I wonder if I'll get a stamp going out tomorrow?]

I was amazed in Ireland how prevalent the crime was--how dirty it was, I guess. The busses had drivers enclosed in a secure box, there were fences and guards for parking lots, there were dubious looking men loitering everywhere! A sign of their struggling poverty-ridden past?

It was a bit depressing as well. Cloudy grey colored homes, and of course the drizzling rain didn't help. No wonder so many people left for centuries since they couldn't find jobs either. Apparently the immigration rate is less than the emigration rate for the first time this year!

I love the gaelic everywhere--it was a fascinating sound to my ears--the tones and sounds seemed the same as English (there were no nasal/guttoral/foreign sounds), yet of course I couldn't understand a word. German and French--they sound foreign, but initially, Gaelic doesn't!!

Aer Lingus impressed me as an airline. It was efficient, cheap and good quality. They had one of the best entertainment on demand systems that I've seen. The food left a little to be desired, and was all on disposable stuff (so much for being green!). The one annoying thing, though, was that they kept trying to sell things!! The duty free, a special perfume, a special phone card, the drinks, or other extras! And they kept interrupting the movies I was watching to talk about it--first in English, then in Gaelic (and German for Switzerland). I suppose it only helps them to make money for the airline, but it was not a good thing for me!

The little airport in Dublin (which turned out to be not so little), looked like it was built in the 1960s (or at least the part I arrived in did--the rest, though modern, was still stiflingly crowded in spite of modernity!). It appeared quaint at first, but then I noticed all the dodgy men hanging around eyeing my bag.

The interesting question I had when I was there was whether I would like to live there. It was so dreary, and SO expensive (more so, on retrospection after comparison with the rest of Europe/the EU). But it was so alive and there was English everywhere (which I do miss). I do like pubs over bars (far more social).

The most interesting thing I found while I was there though, was listening to the accent. I was amazed to discover that it has many connections to the American accent. Now this is probably because the American English was sharply dominated by Irishmen. From far, it could have been either accent, though of course, once closer, it was easy to distinguish between them. Just an interesting thought!!

I am ashamed to admit that I ate Burger King while I was there. But, I did look to eat some fish and chips in a pub... they were 11.95 euro, while BK was only 6.85... does that justify it? I was so hungry!! The euro was such a shock though! Maybe it was just Ireland! Changing US$400 and only getting 250 euro, though... now that was painful!!

The jackets in Ireland were something to notice. Not the style, but the fact that people were wearing them. In Canada, the cold didn't seem to touch the locals, who wore t-shirts everywhere. Why were the Irish so wimpy that they needed them? Surely their winters are cold enough that the "warmth" of the summers should ensure they don't need them? :) If there are any Irish readers, no doubt they are insulted!!

Okay, this random assortment of observations is done now. Hope you can make sense of it!!