What a Week

Last week was a doozy. I decided to take a vacation and see a girl I have been talking to for almost 8 months on the internet. She lives in Belarus, aka “the last dictatorship in Europe”. It’s a former Soviet State which still retains that flavor. It has statues of Lenin and Marx here and there. And Communist symbols abound. I thought it would be an interesting and exotic experience regardless of what happened between me and the lady. I mainly just wanted to meet her and see if it would work out.

Well, almost as soon as I got there I realized she wasn’t for me. And she seemed to decide the same thing. But we’re still friends and she has written me several times since I got back, so I won’t go into details. Suffice to say she was much younger than me and the maturity difference kind of spoiled things for me. On op of that, the local cabbies gouged me to an embarrassing degree and she didn’t help. I also felt very isolated because I didn’t speak the language, couldn’t read the sign and could figure how to dial numbers on the phone. Every time I tried to make a call I got some phone company message. So I decided to leave early. And I wish I had stayed a few days in Minsk, which is the capital. She lives in the remote town of Homel, which is a five hour distance from the Minsk airport. I spent my last day in Minsk, which is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. It is like a dream of what always wanted a city to look like. Wide streets, lots of parks with rivers and lakes. beautiful, ornate old buildings. Large statues everywhere. It was kind of like Vienna, but with a Communist flair.

Unfortunately I was bone-tired from lack of sleep. I did not sleep the night before I left. I barely got any sleep on the plane. The bed in my flat was too hard to sleep decently on and then the next day I spent almost 12 hours in the Minsk airport waiting for the airline office to open only to find they could not change my flight for another day. So I went to Minsk for a fight, but slept most of the time. It wasn’t enough sleep. Didn’t get much sleep on the way back. So the last few days have had me sleeping in till 3 in the afternoon. Then I try to catch up to my work and Tivoed shows.

My impression of Belarus is different than what I read. It may be a dictatorship, but it seemed like a nice place from what I saw. Very clean. Well maintained. The most beautiful countryside imaginable. Endless forests and fields of wildflowers. Quaint villages with gingerbread cottages. Cities with buildings painted in bold pastels, but not garishly. Fantastic Communist art on the apartment blocs. Yes, I am not a fan of communism, but I appreciate good art when I see it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there long enough to take any pictures. I wanted to spend a day doing that but that day never came. I can offer this shot of Minsk from my hotel room. You can see the park (one of many in that city) the dense forests, which cover much of the country.

It’s a hard place to visit. You have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get a visa. As a result, it is a place where few tourists venture, and therefore it isn’t commercialized. There are no McDonalds or Starbucks. Hardly any billboards. In some ways, it’s like going back in time. I liked it, and wish I spoke Russian so I wouldn’t have felt so out of place. I would like to go back someday and spend some quality time looking around.

Well, at least she was mature enough to realize the same thing you did. Hopefully, in the long run she doesn’t hold that against you, and it sounds like she won’t.
And I’m only going to Las Cruces, NM next weekend for the same thing....

Posted by Macker  on  05/20  at  02:23 AM

I can’t view Minsk.  It says I need log in.

I was interviewed on Wed. for an article about internet dating.  The owner of the website (PrimeSingles) where Rod and I met asked me if a reporter could interview us for a success story.

I’ll give you the link when it’s published if I don’t come across as terribly mushy and stupid. <grin>

Posted by  on  05/20  at  06:46 AM

The same thing happened to me once, but she was Canadian.  That was one of the weirder experiences of my life; Canadians are just enough like us that you can get tripped up by the differences, especially with what is or is not considered funny.  The Quebecers were making noises about independence at the time, and my little quip about teaching them to sing Dixie in French did not go over well at all.

Posted by  on  05/20  at  10:49 AM

Well, since we are discussing online dating, I’ll share my e-harmony one.  One guy I started communicating with turned out to be a registered sex offender.  I reported him to e-harmony and discontinued my account with them.  I did get an email a couple of weeks later telling me that they had removed him.

This has soured me on the whole experience of online dating.

James, be careful out there--channeling Phil Esterhous (sp) from Hill Street Blues.

Posted by  on  05/20  at  01:28 PM

I tried e-harmony, too. I made a couple friends. Nothing much else. A lot of the people they sent me were completely wrong for me, so those commercials are a joke. And I really can’t stand that dufus who runs the thing.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  05/20  at  02:50 PM

I can’t access pic either.
Welcome back Hud.....we missed you!
Sorry your trip was less than you expected but if you hadn’t gone for it, you woulda always wondered...what if...? Sounds like an adventure to me....better than sitting in front of this computer for the last week, alongside disgruntled coworkers and answering to never satisfied engineers day after day......I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...........

Posted by  on  05/21  at  02:19 AM

Hud,

Were you away from work and not thinking about it?  If the answer is yes, then your trip is a success. 

Worse things could have happened to you over there especially when you don’t speak the language.

Welcome back!
BeachBumBill

Posted by  on  05/21  at  10:53 AM

Oh, I am glad I went. Seeing a place like Belarus, which is off the beaten path, was kinda cool. Things weren’t horrible between me and that girl, it just wasn’t to be. But we had some fun. She took me around to see a lot of stuff and we parted as friends.

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Imay write about that later as it’s interesting.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  05/21  at  11:49 AM
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