Goal lines, groceries and goatees

 Happy post-Belarusian Freedom Day, which is an unofficial holiday that marks the declaration of independence from the Belarusian Democratic Republic, which lasted a year after WWI. The unofficial holiday is a big one for the opposition, and the opposition’s leader, who is still exiled in Lithuania, called for renewed protests following the fraudulent (legit fraudulent, not Trump-fraudulent) summer elections. People have still been protesting, but this past winter was super cold, with more freezing temperatures and snow than in the last 25 or so years.

Museum of Culture

 Now that the weather has improved (it’s about 40 and sunny today), some people are trying to get the protests going again, but Europe’s Last Dictator isn’t letting go. People are protesting on smaller scales, with basically people walking in small groups (think like 3-6 people) being considered a protest. And yes, these people are being rounded up.

 This weekend I have the duty phone and I’ve already had one call from the relative of American citizen who apparently didn’t know that taking pictures of what’s going on is a bad thing and got detained for a couple of hours. Hopefully there aren’t any more calls.

 To stay out of trouble on protest days, it’s best to not wear white and red, as these are the colors of the opposition. I have a Red Wings knit hat that Dana gave me (Hockey is for Everyone-themed) and people here love it, but I can’t wear it on Sundays. That’s been the main protest day.

 

The hat is a nice conversation piece, although my Russian stinks. (And always will, a fact I’m coming to terms with.) One of the groundskeepers at work and I have a friendly attempt at a Russian/English lesson whenever we meet. He knows I’m awful in Russian and we’ll stay “good morning” and try to do short conversation or something. I’m terrible. I can’t even say “have a nice day correctly.”

Anyway, he noticed my hat one morning and asked me something about Detroit. Although I wasn’t sure what he meant, I said yes and asked, “And you?” He said yes. Then I tried to asked if he played and thought he said yes, so I tried to ask what position. Well, I can’t remember the words for “forward” and “defence” (they’re in a script I’m trying to memorize), so I said “Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov” and then “Slava Fetisov.” Didn’t work. He said, “Russian.” Not what I was trying to convey. Undaunted, I tried again and I first mimed puckhandling towards the goal line while saying “Sergei,” And then did the same thing going backwards and said “Fetisov.” It worked! Turns out, he doesn’t play. He’s a fan and sits in the stands.

Museum of Culture

It looks like I might be able to put the hat away soon. We’re finally warming up, and that means my time is winding down. I expect to be out of here around September or so, though that’s not nailed down. It’s not like I’m counting down, but I have come to realize that I have way too much stockpiled food and need to start eating. Somehow, I have maybe four more bags of grits and I have only been eating them maybe once a week. I don’t think I’ll have to buy juice again, either. Some stuff I need on a regular basis, like fresh veggies. But what I have I am loading up with spices, because I overestimated the amount of this and that I’d be using. Some stuff I’ve been saving, like Jiffy cornbread. I bought a six-pack and have eaten three but since I’m down to three, it doesn’t seem like much so I haven’t touched them in a couple months. Same with the brownie mixes. I haven’t used a brownie mix since before Christmas, but the minute I make a batch, I’ll only have one left! It probably sounds very silly to people who can run to Publix anytime they want but it seems risky to me.

Also risky: COVID here. Belarus will start manufacturing the Russian vaccine soon and its residents will have options but right now, only medical personnel have been vaccinated. I think they’re starting another tranche. The virus just isn’t being treated like a serious thing here. We do finally have mandates to wear masks indoors and on mass transit, but when I go into stores, maybe 50-60 percent of people are wearing masks (not necessarily properly) and as I walk, I can see inside the city busses and trams with unmasked people inside. No one trusts the numbers here so I don’t even track them, but basically I wash my hands every time I arrive home or to the office.

Work is different, of course. We wear them indoors for the most part. I hate it and wish I could open a window, but it’s still pretty cold most of the day. My boss is a double masker and I rarely see him without one, although I’ve noticed a lot of people are closing their office doors lately because we’re allowed to remove masks if our doors are shut. (I had a door but it went away in an office re-do.)

A couple days ago, his door was open and I needed something, so I went in – and caught him without a mask. Not like I cared or anything, but what blew me away was that sometime in the past, oh, year since I’ve seen his face, he grew a goatee! I was utterly stunned. I had no idea.

I can’t imagine what the look on my face must have been, but he would not have seen it because I was wearing a mask.