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Today we are finally getting to go away without the kids. We tentatively separated ourselves with them over the course of 24 hours, until to be honest we had no concerns at all about leaving them. Yuliya spent the majority of the morning choosing her 4 outfits for this 22 hours away. Travel clothes, going out clothes, sleeping clothes and finally travelling home clothes. I packed an extra pair of underpants into my man bag. The kids were totally loving spending time with Sergey, who despite not having his own young children is an inspiration in terms of love and patience for ours. I feel these children have brought out a side to Sergey that Yuliya maybe didn't know was there but she loves.
At 1.15 our train arrives. We have had a lift by Victor after sneaking out under cover of Jamie's afternoon nap. We enjoyed a drink and an ice cream before boarding the Minsk train. We have booked first class tickets on both journeys which mean we have a 4 birth cabin which if the train quiet we get to ourselves. On this journey we have the cabin to ourselves so out comes the Bose system and we turn off the in car speaker system and settle back with some of our tunes whilst talking and watching Belarus pass by our window. It's amazing how little time we get to actually talk as parents and it is nice to catch up with each other and plan for coming events and get our heads around general life. We go down to the bar car and buy ourselves a bottle of champagne and get 2 glasses. We return to our cabin and proceed to polish it off, with a bag of crisps on the side. After 3 hours we pull into Minsk. From the quiet of Beryoza, Minsk is a bustling capital city and it takes a while for my countryfied brain to process all the sights, noises and general hustle and bustle.
Dima picks us up at the station as Iras mother has caught the same train as us with Dima and Iras son. We head out and arrive at Ira and Dima's flat centrally located in Minsk. It is not only beautiful but has accessible wifi. I settle down to download my latest podcasts and newspaper, when Yuliya tells me it is time to go as Anya Ginger has arrived. Great only one podcast and half a daily mail downloaded.
Anya is another of Yuliyas Beroza friends who she went to high school with. Her, Yuliya and Ira and Dima have remained close for 2/3 of their lives. Anya has always been unlucky in love and we arrive with news that she is in a relationship and we shall be meeting him tonight. Anya looks great at the moment, she has dyed her ginger hair out and is blonde, she looks healthy and happy. Anya drives us to her flat on the outskirts of Minsk where we get ready and then head out to meet her boyfriend Tolik at his flat on the other side of Minsk. We find out that Ira and Dima's son has come down with a temperature and therefore they will not be coming out tonight. Great! What was going to be a group of us has now turned into a intimate dinner for 2 couples and I have no idea if Tolik can speak English! This could be a long night!
I needn't have worried Tolik turns out to be a really nice guy, he is a lawyer and appears to be completely head over heels in love with Anya. He is good for her as he is down to earth and a really sincere man. He also likes Formula One which was an added bonus for me.
We started the night at a sushi restaurant which apparently did not have any sushi chefs working that night and out of the 20 couples we were the first to be served our food after a 2 hour wait. At least it gave us the opportunity to bond over a few drinks but honestly the service was the worst I have ever experienced. Even getting a drink took 20 minutes and when they got that order wrong it took them a further 20 minutes to rectify it. The food was not any good and fell apart as soon as you picked it up. Anyway after that disaster we headed to a new pub near by which has live music, food and brews its own beer. Now this was my sort of place good band and beer. Unfortunately the girls insisted on sitting out on the balcony where we could not hear the live band but at least they could talk in peace. The food is good (we have a mixed platter for us all), the beer is great and I sampled 4 different types before getting a litre in a massive drinking mug of my favourite one, and the service was outstanding (our waiter was friendly and service was immediate). Ira joined us and therefore 95% of the conversation was in Russian. Yuliya did try and translate but it was the usual case of a five minute conversation with a "we are talking about school" translation at the end. I still had a good time and it was good to see Yuliya catch up with her girlfriends. I know she misses them and it is difficult being so far away but she makes up for it in talking and drinking every time she is in Minsk. We arrange to go on a four day break with Ira and Dima in 2 years when we return to Belarus and she heads back home as her boy is still poorly. Anya and Tolik stay for a couple more drinks before we say our drunken goodbyes outside. I hope Anya gives this one a real shot as he seems lovely and good for her.
We head back to Anyas flat (Anya is staying at Toliks) and battle our way through the door like two drunken loons before falling into bed at 3am. We are awoken at 6.30am by our alarm clocks as we have to be on the train at 8.30am. Yuliya is worse for wear and still pissed, I am extremely tired. We manage to wash, dress (although we both have trouble standing up right) , pack and get into a taxi in one piece. All around us there is a thunderstorm brewing, and as we arrive at central station the heavens open in an apocalyptic downpour. We dash the 30 metres to the entrance and it turns out we would have been less wet jumping into the lake, at least it was refreshing and sobered us up a little. We hopped on the train hoping for a cabin to ourselves but unfortunately we were sharing. Not that it mattered for as soon as the train left the platform than I climbed onto the top bunk and full into a deep sleep. Only being woken by Yuliya 15 minutes outside of Beryoza. I felt refreshed and healthy.
We get picked up by Victor and head back to the farm. Although the kids have obviously missed us we could have stayed a couple of days and probably will do next time. Sergey looks happy and tired! I say to him he makes a very good uncle and he says "children are the flowers of the life", I think he means by this that they must be helped to grow and flourish by tending to them and nourishing them with food and intelligence. That's what I get from it anyway, although I may still be a bit pissed.
Whilst Jamie was asleep Yuliya went to buy gifts in town whilst I looked after Jamie. Yuliya woke us both after 2 hours. I have a really good idea for a movie script from my dream, I may write a draft later. This afternoon we went down to a small lake with Maia, myself, Sergey and Victor. Here the boys jumped in, and using a net caught several dozen crayfish. After heading back to the farm we all relaxed again this afternoon. Sergeys girlfriend Galia arrived. She is older than him but he is very much in love. She is lovely and brings gifts for the kids and a beautiful cake for the rest of us. We all spent time playing with the kids. Maia went to help Victor and Sergey out the fishing nets out in the large lake.
The crayfish were plopped into a pan of boiling water and we ate them at dinner that night. I must say they were delicious. With only one more whole day left, most of which will probably be spent packing for the return to Blighty.
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