Babysitting and Breaking Bad but Winter Is Coming

Almost a month into my stay in Minsk and I’m settling in. The pictures aren’t on the wall yet, but the floors are full of rugs and the fridge is stocked with magnets, if not food.

I’ve explored on foot in my area, but there’s a lot more to see. However, winter hit here, or at least what I’d call winter hit here. Last weekend, it was in the high 40s but on Friday it went down to 20. And that was an all-day 20, not a low.

The baby in babysitting.

The walk into work isn’t bad; it’s about a mile and I have varying routes I can take. There are several big roads, so the alternate routes vary in which road I cross, go over or under, how many staircases I go up and down and on which side of the road I cross the river. 

Although Belarus is a pretty flat country – cross-country skiing is apparently the thing to do once the white stuff is on the ground – I feel like I walk up and down a lot of stairs on the way to and from work. Now, that’s not so bad but once ice gets on the ground it’s going to freak me out.

All of my shipments came already and in the process of unpacking everything, I found the “Breaking Bad’ DVDs and binged. It’s my third viewing, and I think it was worse the second time but better the third. You just have to accept that Walt is the most abusive boss ever and you’re fine. I also liked Marie a lot more this time around – her character is about the only one with pure intentions. I also went down the bunny holes on color as it relates to BB and wow, the writers were absolutely diligent in how they presented the show, to the point of people’s names adding up to numbers that translated to whatever colors. That show is truly a study in many different topics.

On the Isle of Tears

Right when my big shipment came, I also got custody of a sweet dog. Shelby’s owner had to work over the weekend so I got to babysit a sweet pup. Shelby, who was, in her youth, a Ukrainian street dog, is now a collie-ish sweetheart who knows how to shake hands and dance and howls in her sleep. (She woke herself up with that one.) We had a lot of fun and I really miss having a dog, but keeping her – and walking her in the 40something-degree weather – reinforced the fact I am not ready for my own. Hopefully, though, I will get to babysit Shelby again. She will leave in spring.

In settling in, someone gave me a TV, for which I am thankful. It’s an older one but seems to do everything I need it to, but I haven’t figured out all the right combinations. I get cable TV but I have no earthly idea of how to get that to the TV. There’s only one reliable channel in English, but I had been watching “Bones,” now and then so I’d like to figure out how to get that back. But in the meantime. I’m still good with AFN and my DVDs.

At some point, they’re going to come and take the “welcome kit” back, which includes the old TV as well as the vacuum, so I spent this cold weekend vacuuming and trying to get the rugs laid out. If I counted correctly, I have nine, but not all are large, and none of them are room-sized. Some are lying on top of the pre-existing rugs that came in the apartment.

I love the apartment; there are some quirks, of course. Every kitchen should have a drawer for junk and mine doesn’t. I also think I have about three heating zones through the house. The extra bedroom I’ve marked as my study/gym is super cold, but the bathroom is nice and toasty. I’m not sure I have control over the temperatures; I think the city regulates the heat.

Yes I do.

I’ve been to a couple restaurants nearby, but not TGI Friday’s. I will at some point just to be geeky but I’ll be here two years so no rush. I discovered My Thai, which has amazing dumplings, and there is doner place that will likely be my go-to. A decent-size schwarma is about $1.50.

Also started on Russian lessons, and man, it’s a tough language. I really want to learn a language, though, and a head start on this one would not only help me communicate (duh) but maybe give me a leg up down the road.

God knows I don’t think I am going to be venturing out much this winter, so I am glad to have something productive to do. I feel like I did in North Dakota; I am rooting for December 21 to get here more so than Christmas. The sun is coming up around 9 a.m. now and setting before 5 p.m., and we’re still about a month off from the shortest day of the year. I leave for work in the morning and it’s still dark, then I walk home in the dark. Today I went into work to run on the treadmill and it was sunny, nice and 21. It makes such a difference when it’s sunny out! But I won’t see that for a couple months.

It’s supposed to snow this week, which probably means it’ll be here to stay until March. I am not looking forward to it. I have lots of winter clothes, but I’m never going to be ready for it.

To get into the winter mood, I got “Game of Thrones” in audio book. I didn’t see the HBO series and the book was over 30 hours long. I listened to the entire thing but only have the vaguest notion of what was going on. Fantasy aloud is hard, but I am going to plug along. It gives me something to listen to on the half-hour walk to and from work.

So yeah, winter is coming. I hope I make it.

As the days go fly

It’s been a week since my arrival to Minsk. The very first day, I opened a window and three flies managed to get in. I thought the average life span of aa housefly was 2-3 days; whenever one bothers me, I think, “In four days, max, you’ll never annoy anyone again.”

But Minsk must have superflies. On about day, one flew too close to the sun in going too far down in the plastic trash bag. I snapped it shut and smothered the pest. A second one died a similar fate, but not on purpose. I meant to smack it down, which I did, but it didn’t die instantly. It buzzed a bit and then I stepped on it and thought I killed it, so I picked it up with a piece of paper to toss it in the trash. As I did so, it rebounded like Adonis Creed, but I zipped him in the plastic bag and never heard those wings buzz again.

But holy smokes, it’s now Day Nine and I’ve still got one flying around. I’m torn between being impressed and utterly annoyed with The Last Super Fly. I don’t own a flyswatter, or I don’t think I own a flyswatter. I might, but as I’ve only received one of my three shipments, I don’t have one with me.

They’re hard things to track down, flyswatters are. I’ve gone through this before, when I tried to buy one in another country, though I don’t remember which one. Honestly, when was the last time you bought a flyswatter? Where did you get it from? And in which part of the store? Stick me in a Publix, Target or Walmart, and I’m fairly certain all would carry at least one kind, but where would it be? Pest control? Plastics? Outdoor-ish stuff? It’s a little scavenger hunt.

Then add the wrinkle of another language. It’s not something that translates easily. For one thing, is it one word or two? And would this be a literal translation? Today, I tried to order some office supplies and, having virtually no Russian to speak of, relied on Google Translate, but I came up empty in some searches.  “Desk organizer,” “bulletin board” and “whiteboard eraser” didn’t pan out, so I’d really have no hope for “flyswatter.”

So now I’m waiting on nature to take its course and have Super Fly die of old age. If not, I’m going to have to go to a store and do it the old-fashioned way, with old fashioned body language and a buzzing noise.

Besides the fly, which is really only a minor inconvenience because my apartment is so big I don’t see him often, things are just fine. Work is a bit overwhelming because I don’t know where to start; there are a lot of big projects and it’s a matter of prioritizing.

I’m now walking to work, which is enjoyable if cold and/or wet and getting colder and/or wetter. Luckily, one of my shipments arrived, and it was the one that had both my warm stuff – hats, gloves and some scarves – and my raincoat.

Over the weekend, I walked a ton and explored the area. It was much chillier over the weekend than it’s been this week, but I took off in all directions and poked around. The city seems to be nice and compact, very walkable. There is a metro system, though, and I’ll have to get one of those cards.

I hadn’t realized last weekend was going to be a three-day one, and I realized yesterday that this weekend is, too. I’m a little bummed because usually I like to do road trips but it’s just too early in the game for me to get out.  I hope to do a little more than just walk – there are lots of museums and such – but all in all it’s been a nice, slow way to start a new assignment.