Business up front, party in the back.....

After a brief lay over in the exceedingly depressing Frankfurt airport, I have arrived in Belarus. Without wanting to be any kind of cultural elitist, let me just say for anyone who was worried, the mullet is alive and well in Eastern Europe. :-) Team BL is a stylish bunch and as you would expect, mullet free.

The good news is that the images on Google earth are very outdated. Belarus is very green, even lush in some parts. Flying in I observe miles of open space and farmland. There are very few cars on the road and I'm not able to make out anything resembling a population center. The heat wave has broken and it's a breezy 19 degrees C. We land at an airport that was developed to support a travel boom that never happened. The dissolution of the Soviet Union just happened to coincide with the completion of construction. The airport is quite large but now is populated mostly by rusting Russian cargo planes. The terminal is huge, but there is only one other plane docked, a Belavia 727 that looks to be about 40 years old. I'm seated in the last row of the plane and the woman on the aisle has some physical limitations that cause here to walk VERY slowly and hence I'm the last person off the plane. We make our way down a non-descript series of hallways, tailed closely by a customs officer decked out in classic Soviet-style military garb. They still wear the hats that resemble the one worn by the gate guard Tim in the animated movie Robots.

My understanding from my trusty VP of Engineering, Eugene, is that there is a visa waiting for me at the consulate. When we reach the entry point, there are a series of tables and one window manned by a single gentleman right out of a Monty Python sketch. There is a giant, red sign over his window: VISA. No one speaks English, I'm not sure if I have to fill out the application again or what. So, I buy the mandatory health insurance for $2 because I'm positive that I need that. Eventually I wander out to passport control to see if anyone can tell me where the consulate is. I'm lucky enough to find a young woman who is bilingual. Turns out the little window staffed by grumpy old man IS the consulate. The pace of processing is painfully slow. I fill out the visa application with the help of a woman dedicated to the task. Several of my new friends from passport control wander back to check on me, which is fine (they are a collection of very attractive young women dressed in well fitted military style uniforms).

Finally I reach the window and apparently I'm not moving fast enough because the little man is shouting at me. Apparently I was supposed to bring a photo of myself and this guy is shouting at me "photo!!" "photo!!". Uh, yeah, I know what a photo is, what can I do for you? Eventually they make a copy of my passport photo and go with it. That only cost me an additional $40. $180 for a visa to Belarus when I can enter France for free. Se la vie.

Eugene and his father are here to pick me up. My luggage made it in one piece (they made me check it in San Francisco). We made the 20 minute drive to Minsk on mostly deserted roads. The highways are nice and well maintained. Eugene is pointing out the relevant sites. Belarus is the 5th largest producer and seller of arms in the world, it is the largest manufacturer of refrigeration equipment and televisions for the former Soviet union. There is a tremendous amount of construction going on in Minsk at present. Mostly housing but there are also some impressive public works projects, like the new national library that is shaped like a diamond. It is absolutely ginormous. The world war II museum is directly next to my hotel. I'm going to check it out today.

I'm staying in the finest hotel in Minsk. It is a hotel, a restaurant and bar, and has it's own casino. After checking in, I sacked out for 4 hours or so before meeting Eugene, his brother Viktor, our support engineer Sergey, his wife, and Dave for dinner. Dinner was great. I allowed Viktor to order for me. I want to experience the local culture as much as possible as I'm not sure when (or if) I'll ever be back. I had a traditional dish made from sausage and potato pancakes. A little on the greasy side but otherwise very good. During the meal, we were treated to a show by a troupe of gypsies. I'll post photos of everything later, I keep forgetting my camera. Afterwards, we went to a club called The Bronx where we played some pool for a while and sampled some of the local vodka.

Ambien took care of my first night of sleep. 2 until 7 straight through. Popped out of bed and went running around the park. 4.5 miles, perfect weather, not many people, lovely. So far, my impression of Belarus is very favorable. The people who are taking care of us and the people we've met are wonderful. More later....