Dinner with the Ambassador

One of the most exciting nights of my Fellowship happened on Thursday, November 15. The U.S. Ambassador to Belarus, Karen Stewart, hosted a special dinner to recognize the important scholarly and teaching contributions of the Fulbright and English Language Fellow programs. As I am the only American not assigned to Minsk this year, I was placed at the Ambassador’s table during dinner. It was a wonderful experience as there were many interesting people at my table including the Ambassador and her assistant, a well-known Belarusian artist and professor, a Fulbright scholar, and someone from the State Department. I was very proud of myself for striking up the conversation when we first sat down. It took me awhile to adjust to working with the Ambassador’s translator as the artist and professor did not speak English. Once everyone had a glass or two of wine the conversation really got going. It was very interesting to hear all the different perspectives at the table and of course to get to know the Ambassador. I felt at ease and thoroughly enjoyed myself; I even asked the Ambassador for a photo! To end the evening we were treated with a private performance of the cymbaly, or hammer dulcimer, by one of the world's best players. The cymbaly is one of the many traditional Belarusian musical instruments.

On November 15, the temperature in Minsk dropped down to -10 C with the wind chill factor! This was a big wake up call for me…a sign of what’s to come. Minsk is always colder than Grodno and the 6 inches of snow were all the proof I needed. Despite the chilly temperatures I was able to do some exploring on Friday afternoon. Minsk is a big city (1 million) and has its advantages like a metro and more nightlife, restaurants, shops, etc. But Grodno (330,000) is calmer, has more character, and has more of the traditional, old-world feel. In fact, Grodno is a much older city and has almost all of its original architecture, which unlike Minsk's was spared during WWII.

On Saturday, November 17, I took the 4:20pm train from Minsk to Grodno (13,000 BYR; $6.50 USD) and arrived at 10:10pm. As I dragged my suitcase from the train station to my flat I had a weird experience, I actually felt happy to be “back home.” I was also happy to find the temperature was a warm 3 C and that the streets were ice-free. For more pictures go to “My Trip to Minsk” under My Photos.