Hi friends,
I guess it’s time for an update although not much exiting is
happening. The hard work period has started and it is as feared. The brain
doesn’t absorb as much and as quickly as it used to (well, it never really was
that quick anyway). But I knew it wouldn’t be easy anyway. Thank God my teacher
is blessed with patience…
Last night I had a break in form of an invitation to the
National Theater, which is the equivalent to our State Opera, and it is in size
and in terms of the quality of the ballet it must be too although admittedly
I’m not the expert. But the Swan
Lake I saw last night must have been
as good as anything you get in Vienna.
It was really great both from the dancing as well as from the music point of
view. But then again: Swan
Lake is one hit after the
other….
Otherwise Minsk
grows on me. Once one gets used to some of the atrocious 60s and 70s
architecture (just like in Vienna)
one starts appreciating the many parks everywhere and the intelligent way housing
estates were designed. Many are within or around parks must be real nice to
live in. I haven’t seen any from inside but I guess some of them might be in
need of renovation but then again there is building and renovation everywhere.
From my city-side windows I counted about 25 cranes and in the streets (which
already aren’t bad) I have gotten used to finding new ways around blocked roads
as practically every other day another road is being blocked to be resurfaced
(no, this time I’m not exaggerating)
Even the way of shopping I have gotten used to. Today I
discovered another ‘Hypermarket’ which is as good as any in Austria and I even found mechanical
pencils (I had forgotten mine) which I was looking for the last few days. And
then you find things you don’t find in Vienna
(or anywhere else as far as I know): beer in 1.5 l and 2 l plastic bottles. I
didn’t go for the 2 l ones but the 1.5 l is quite good an idea I find… and it’s
quite cheap (1 eur) and tastes very
good. Talking about cheap, eat your heart out: 1 l of gas or diesel is about 0.60 eur! No wonder people drive like crazy. Technically there
is a 60 km speed limit in town, technically… the reality is quite different and
they are driving more aggressively than in Austria so I have to be quite
careful on my little bike.
Once you know your way
around you find really everything (including Porsche Design). Well, almost: I
still ha ven’t found rain trousers for
riding on the motorbike and thank God I’ll hopefully get Leo’s from Vienna once the next people are coming from Vienna. On Tuesday and
Wednesday I got quite soaked but at least found some nice rubber motorcycle
boots. The problem only was that it rained so much that the water was coming in from the top…. yes, there is supposed to be
a good public transport system, but you know me…
And the other night I discovered that around the Swobody Sq.
the motorcycle crowd is meeting in the evening. Amazing the tools they are
showing off. Nothing less than 500cc and quite a few Harleys and Gold Wings
including custom neon lighting and blasting stereo…yes and sexy bride, of
course… Naturally with my 125cc I stayed out of their way…
Today it was beautiful so I took my Yamaha and went to look
for t he memorial for the about
60000 mostly Jews from Austria
that were murdered in Mala
Trostiniez between 1942 and 1944. It took me a while to find it as it isn’t big
and there is no real explanation except a sign in Russian which talks about
206000 killed. T his, however, is
historically wrong and probably the figure of all people murdered in the Minsk
area, including about 100000 Russian prisoners of war. But what do figures mean in this context anyway? The atrocity of
these crimes is anyway difficult to imagine… This country definitely has
suffered more than their share. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maly_Trostenets_extermination_camp
With this sobering sight I leave you for today, more when
there will be something to report…
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