Blocks of Fat.....

This is definitely the local cuisine that would push Abbott over the edge. At lunch today one of the hot items on the assorted appetizer tray is "salo" (AKA molded lipid blocks). See illustration. Adventurous as I have been thus far, I am not persuaded to indulge despite the encouragement and reassurance I receive from Sergey. Some things are just best left alone.

Despite the run in with the long chain carbons, lunch is yummy and for the most part, healthy, albeit served at the "French" pace (with the unfortunate absence of the many courses). The weather has turned to overcast and rain briefly today. No chance for site seeing yet, I finally collided with the wall at 33 hours and had to nap. I've had 3 wonderful hours of sleep now, just enough to get me through a birthday celebration at the office and dinner. No going out tonight. I have a date with my pillow.

Belarus is an interesting country and I'd have to say that on the whole I like it here. I could do without the state sponsored filtering of CNN, but otherwise, she has her benefits. Belarus as a whole has a population roughly the size of London (~10 M) in an area roughly the size of the U.K. You can feel it, the open space, room to breathe. The main drag in Minsk is populated at night, but you won't find yourself having to dodge oncoming pedestrians. There are a couple of areas where traffic gets snarled briefly, but user-defined driving rules generally have things cleared up in no time. The countryside is vast and as I said before, this country is green with abundant forests and rolling hills. Belarus, it turns out, has never managed to recover it's pre-war population levels. Belarus endured a particularly vicious battle with Germany from 1941 - 1945. Based on the average size of a division in the respective countries, it was Germany's 900,000 vs. the Belarussian 354,000. Despite being so outnumbered, no Belarussian frontier post surrendered to the enemy nor left their position without senior commands. Although ultimately overcome, the fierce resistance of the Belarussian army ruined Hitler's plans for a Blitzkrieg through Russia. After becoming the occupying force, Germany pursued a policy of mass extermination. Across the street from us is the site of one such mass extermination of Jews, an emotionally powerful place to stand to be sure. The history is extensive and I won't cover any more of it here, but it provides a backdrop and context for understanding the pride and connection the average Belarussian feels to his country. These are great people.

Minsk is a very clean city. When I started my run at 7 a.m., the park was full of workers (easily identifiable in their uniforms, easily mistakable for a Michelin sponsored pit crew) cleaning the sidewalks, picking up trash. Also, I'd have to say that Minsk has the highest concentration of beautiful women per square foot of anywhere I've been. Not necessarily the most useful thing for a married guy, but definitely a point in the plus column. Dave and I both agree that the commercial potential of Minsk is huge, only the administration stands in the way. But hey, Belarus is not unique in this regard. :-)

Gotta work now.

Out.