Short shrift

I will give several topics short shrift in this entry because I’ve been too busy to write and I have a lot to talk about.


First we’ll start with the Holiday Pops concert at Philharmony. I was going to write about how much more serious (in general) the music was than at the Boston Pops, and about how much flashier the stage was in Minsk. Short on space, I’ll just post a picture and tell you that the curtain of lights around the stage presented moving images. Each sphere held multi-colored lights, and the lights switched on and off like pixels on a computer screen. The lights would change color and create patterns in time with the music.

After the pops concert and before the hockey game found ourselves very busy with health-care matters because Alla slipped on the ice. Fearing that she’d dislocated something in her arm, she phoned around trying to find a clinic with both an X-ray machine and a traumatologist. Among the fancier clinics, she found one or the other, but never both. Nobody except the State was licensed to offer both, so she opted for their clinic.

Once again, space constraints prevent me from saying much about this clinic. Let’s just say that they appeared to have a single wheelchair, and we saw a lot of people hopping around because they’d hurt a foot or leg in the same way Alla hurt her arm. My heart also went out to the patients there, who typically wouldn’t be there if they could afford a private clinic. One guy went home with no pants on, and I wondered if it was because he was unwilling to cut the leg off of his pants after the doctors put a cast on his leg. Or maybe it was just because the clinic was in such a hurry. And the lady in front of Alla had broken her shoulder and worried about the fact that the doctors may have to cut her sweaters and undershirt off of her. The sweater on the outside looked quite old and worn, and we doubt that she had many other options at home.

They told Alla that nothing was broken, and we certainly hope that this proves to be accurate. Her first 24 hours were very difficult, but now she seems to be on the mend. She did make herself an appointment with a traumatologist at a private clinic on Sunday morning, just to be sure.

Last night I went with friends to a hockey game at Minsk Arena. I really enjoyed it, along with the energy of the fans. We were seated not far from the “Fan Sector,” which felt a whole lot like the part of Fenway Park commonly called “Red Sox Nation.” As at home, the fans were roudier than the general populace and they got more police attention as a result. I wanted to post a picture of the police and fans together, but a cop came and told me it’s not appropriate to photograph Militsia on duty. One of my friends chided me for my silly American belief that I was free to photograph anything. So it goes. While reveling in cultural similarities, I was introduced to a new cultural difference. Just wait ‘til I tell you about my Turkish classmates’ attitude toward marriage.