Sputnik Minsk

... in an elaborate but dilapated building. Now this is a first class shopping centre with prices we could not afford. We had lunch in one of the small cafes and this was a sandwich and a drink. While the group went to theArmoury we explored the Food Hall at the Gum and the surroundings. Moscow has been westernised to a great extent. The next day we went out to Zagorsk, the centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is about 45 kms outside the city. We stopped on the ...

We got on the train at Warsaw, were not able to get any money at the station (the machine spat out our card) for food or water. There was no dining car on the train, the journey was 20 hours. What would we do? The kind carriage attendant helped us fill out the customs card (instructions in Russian!!). The customs people were quite stern but didn't give us any hassle. Belarus was a crazy soviet style extravaganza. lots of concrete, armed ...

... option in their country, but "it is because their schools are so much better"!!! WOW! I decided it is easy to think that your country is amazing when you are boarderline brainwashed by your government and not allowed any freedoms or opportunities to see what else the world has to offer. I am SO grateful for all of the opportunities I have had to travel, and pretty much after every experience I have, I come back to the same conclusion- I am so PROUD ...

... for cardiac patients and performs between 700-800 heart surgeries a year! This is one of ICHF's most successful hospitals. The ICHF first visited Minsk in 1996 and was asked NOT to come back after the majority of the patients did not survive. Then, in 2001, Dr. Novick was again invited back and has since been personally training the doctors and nurses with his team. Now they are up and running on there own ...

... than in German, and I set off around 10, determined to do my best to follow them. Overcoming my fear of city buses (if you don't know where you're going, how do you know when to get off?? someone please explain this to me) I catch number 33 and eventually find a metro station. During Soviet times, when a city reached 1 million people, they got a metro system. Ergo, Minsk has one while Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius do not. I never figure out how to pay for the ...

... I first met him he had a cough and sounded like he was coming down with a cold, so I said "Oh, I'm sorry that you are not feeling well" and his answer was "Ah! It's nothing that some Russian vodka and a cigar can't cure!", and then he proceed to light up a cigar and smoked the whole car ride to our hotel! I found it very funny because it was the LAST thing I expected! Never the less, he is an AMAZING surgeon ...

... plant explodes in neighboring Ukraine, polluting 23% of Belarusian territory. August 25, 1991-Belarus declares independence from the USSR. June 23, 1994-Former collective farm boss, Alexander Lukashenko is elected president on a pro-Russia platform with 80% of the vote. December, 1994-two major papers critical of the president are closed. November 28, 1996-Lukashenko signs his new constitution, extending his term from 5 to 7 years. September, 1999-opposition ...

... this.. http://www.angusjjbell.com/mediac/400_0 /media/Mini~$27We~hav e~herpes$27.jpg ) Arrival in St. Petersburg was a testing experience, the first real taste of Russia.. Heavy eyed and still a little out of sync we ventured on to the platform at 6am local time and headed to the metro.. A lengthy queue greeted us, but tokens were purchased and down into the depths we went.. their ...

This morning when we got up most people were in rough shape, although by some strange twist of fate I wasn't feeling too bad. After breakfast we all got on the bus and went to a church just outside of Yartsevo. About a mile from the church we pulled over and met Dodgy Michael who was selling t-shirts, vodka, and porn out of the back of his car. After everyone had purchased everything they wanted we continued to the church. The church was nice, and apparently had just ...

Saturday and Sunday we had Marie and another of Jeanne's friend's "Alvan" Fu around. On Saturday the three of us went to the large indoor market and then came home to see a Man United game was on TV, live (on the ЛAД channel of Belarussian TV). On Sunday morning me, Jeanne and Alvan, a Taiwanese fellow student, packed into a bus with a guide with Russian verbal diahorrea and with Jeanne's room-mate during the time she isn't with me, a Mongolian woman named ...