Time in Belarus coming to an end.

So for those of you who know me you'll know that I'm now happily married and now the time is coming where I'll be leaving Belarus and going to a different country to teach English or maybe even start a long term career.

It's been an interesting time here and a lot has happened while I've been here. It's strange how people seem to react to situations I hoped I'd never be in the middle of though I'd rather not go into detail what they are because of my own fear of suppression. People in Belarus seem quite resigned to the fact that things here will never be perfect. It's amazing how regardless of what the news says about finiacial crisis etc. how everything essentially remains the same and the only thing that I notice is the price of things increasing on a daily basis and the mood of people staying gloomy even though it is summer. It's a terrible shame about the events here that have unwound and I really hope that things get better here in Minsk in some way for the population that are struggling on after a 50% pay reduction.

As for my wedding it was magical. I was always a bit cynical about weddings but mine seemed to be brilliant for me with all my friends surrounding me and many people wishing us well and offering their support for our marriage. Thanks so much to everyone who came and thanks to everyone else for your messages of support and for wishing us well. I really hope we are able to keep supporting each other and get through the issues we have.
The current ones for us are where we go and how we avoid Nika having to work in a remote village in Belarus. This would be a terrible situation to be in as it would mean I'd either have to stay in the UK and find a job and wire money to support her or go with her and support her with a menial job (street sweeper or worse) in a small village. Obviously this is the last option though I would be willing to do it if it was the only solution for us to stay together. I'm sure people throughout history have gone through much worse to support and protect their partner.

Anyway I hope all is well with everyone else. We'll soon be setting up a photo website on picassa so that everyone can enjoy the photos online we took at the wedding. Once we get all the official photos as well we'll be able to show them.

Ok so Nika told me to blog some things about Belarus so I'd better start. First off well...


I'M GETTING MARRIED

It's scary and it was more we decided to marry than me doing some great things to impress Nika to convince her to be with me. I suppose I've never been traditional but hey!
So I'm now rushing round Belarus doing many things while still trying to teach people English and find a new place to go after this contract finishes. It's a pretty intense world now and I don't things are going to stop spinning for a while but we're so happy together that we're ready to go through the process and we also have fun planning everything together and looking at where to have the venue etc.

Soo what can I say about Belarus well.......it's clearly a socialist country that sort of ignored the Berlin wall falling down and just carried on the same way. Some things have changed but in reality everyone just prefers to carry on living the same way they did before. I'm not sure if I really fit into the place and I think I'm more a unique flair to the classroom and my job than an integrated member of society in Belarus.

I think we're both fed up of the cold now as it never seems to stop and I feel ill today so I've decided to stay off sick and recover before I organise a quiz for my students in one of the few 'Western style' pubs in Minsk. My part of the organisation seems to be to produce a music round with a few different tracks. I'm thinking of adding a few popular (and unpopular) classics instead of delving into my more unique music collection.

What else can I say? This is the start of a big change for me and Nika and we're starting to plan as quickly as possible. It's more a case of quickly finding places and getting everything organised than creating a magical dream day that could be reproduced as a movie in hollywood. If a film was ever made about our lives then I'd intend for the wedding part to be a 10 second clip with maybe some nice picture rather than one of those long drawn out parts of the movie.

Well I'm promising myself I'm going to write more here so I can look back in the future maybe and see how things were going at this time. I'm guessing this is one of the key times in my life.

Soooooo yes it's true I never post on this blog and I'm awful at updating people about my whereabouts and what I've been doing.
It's been over a year in Vietnam since I bothered to post here and many many many things have changed. I met Nika for a start and she has really changed my whole direction and plans for being in Vietnam. So soon I'll be leaving Vietnam and moving onto Belarus. It seems like a really complicated move though. I'm first having to sell everything I own and find myself constantly taking calls for people wanting my things for half the asking price I put in an advertisement and then berating me for being unfair when I tell them not to bother me.

The other thing I'm trying to do is to get my motorbike repaired so that I can sell it for a reasonable price. I went to one mechanic who looked at it and looked at me and decided it was a job worth 2 million VND ($110) (That's a hefty sum considering the bike is worth $250)
I declined his 'foreigner rate' and went to another repair guy who offered to do it for 400,000VND ($22) but later decided it was more expensive because he had to refill the engine with oil. I'd say that's quite typical here that you ask to get a job done and end up having to pay 'extras' that are always added on in a cheeky fashion in the way that they are saying 'pay this or this motorbike won't go anywhere'

As many of you know I'll soon be going onto Belarus where no doubt some government office will find my blog and restrict me to saying 'life is good here and production is fruitful' as the government is pretty keen on cracking down on....well......everyone who even tries to comment on the way they do things. It looks like quite a cold place with no hills and very few tourists. It also looks like the kind of place where things are quite expensive if you don't tow the line. What I mean to say is a cheap night out would probably involve going to a ballet concert followed by eating potatoes and some vodka at home with possibly some meat as well. Otherwise I think you have to pay western prices as many of the clubs demand $10 just to enter. This isn't an attractive idea considering I'm only going to be getting $700 a month so it looks like I'll have to find substance in more proletarian activities rather than eating out and going drinking.

Then again I am looking forward to a change of scenery and a different culture to discover. I think things will be completely different. I'm kinda looking forward to ice skating again and the abundance of cheese that Vietnam is lacking. I know it seems strange but I've also missed using public transport. Again here it is a rather risky way of travelling unless you're taking the tourist train to Sapa. (2 weeks ago I was on the floor for a 22 hour journey back to Hanoi from Vientienne. The dearest bus driver had decided to sell my seat before I arrived.)

So now my main concerns are the best way to get a big box of clothes, trinkets and other various things to Minsk and how to carry my large sum of money into a country where I have no bank account and little desire to pay the huge western union fees that are no doubt charged for such a service. Therefore I purchased a fanny bag today and have decided to carry my life savings with me. Quite risky but I don't want to hand my cash over to the bank transfer service after last time (they overcharged me and almost refused to even deliver after the UK company had sent it)

As you can tell life is still hectic but I still seem to have a lot of time to just sit back and contemplate what to do. I hope all you in the UK are also having fun and enjoying life. I'll be back at Christmas (hopefully) so if you want to see me let me know.

Ok so I haven't posted on my blog as religiously as I should have done...

I've been spending a lot more time in Hanoi now and I am working every day in the week and earning a nice enough wage to keep myself happy but not by any means a huge salary just yet (that will come when more teaching hours emerge)
Once you are a qualified teacher out here you simply work a few hours and you soon find you are earning more than enough to fund alcohol and nice trips.

I have travelled around to a few places though I was very quick to start working in Oxford English VN so I did not have much chance to go round the whole of VN. I am trying to get a reasonable command of the basics of Vietnamese before I really start to go to the more remote parts of VN.

Well yesterday I went to a great expat concert with loads of bands and DJs playing music all afternoon and evening. It was great fun!
Today with a hangover I was taken round by my landlord's son in an imported car from Dubai. It was nice to see the city from the comfort of a big expensive car with russian music played and he proudly showed me some new parts of Hanoi that he had developed......They looked very err Russian and Socialist but he seemed happy when I said that to him. They were quite pretty regardless of the fact that I felt I was back in East Berlin or Sofia again.

Anyway here are some photos for you to enjoy from some other trips as well as some pictures of my new home. Hope everyone reading is well and please send me an email if you ever get chance.

My first trip out of Hanoi

At the weekend I managed to get out of Hanoi after a few failed attempts where I ended up lost in the suburbs on my bike. I did this by getting a load of my ex students from the CELTA course to take me out. It was brilliant to be free from the city and all the fumes. Though it was very misty I was able to see a few buddist temples and a holy cave complete with candles and various holy stones.

I also got the CELTA report and was quite happy to see it was really positive about me. It certainly means a lot and I've already noticed there are a lot of schools out here who seem keen on employing me. I realised how prepared I am when I met some other people from the UK doing something similar. One had actually managed to fail the CELTA or dropped out on his first attempt and the others were doing some kind of 'gap year' placement where they get a week's training and get paid a few dollars for their needs. It's certainly a far cry from the professional organisations that exist out here that I'm chasing after but it was positive to see that I'm a bit above the bottom of the ladder in the EFL world.

Anyway this week is all about applying for different jobs and trying to get some fixed hours for starting to work......

CELTA finished!!!

Ok firstly sorry for not posting at all but I have been very very busy and hard-working for the last few weeks. The CELTA (Certificate of English language teaching to adults) is intense and it is the most recognised qualifications for a reason.

I have now passed and been told that I'm going to get a good report. The next stage is for me to find a job over here....
Over the last few weeks I've started to really enjoy being up there teaching English and have really found it is something I can do for a while. The amount of response and interesting things you hear from people is amazing.

I've now got some time off to collect my thoughts and prepare for the next stage.....my first job. I haven't got any job 'guaranteed' so I'm starting to apply to various places to get myself on the ladder.

I've now got a motorbike and I'm riding round Hanoi as much as I can. Though yes it is a pretty scary experience once you get used to having to beep your horn and see people going the wrong way up one way streets it becomes quite routine. (well the Vietnamese seem to be relaxed with the whole thing)
It certainly stops me from getting ripped off (by Vietnamese standards) by the dodgy taxi drivers or motorbike drivers that decide the price depending on how much they think they can get out of you.

Last night's experience involved a prostitute hopping on the back and trying to persuade me to take the additional services of the taxi ride. It was actually hillarious because this all happend on the back of a small scooter with the driver, me sanwiched between them and this prostitute on the back trying to tempt me. She soon gave up though and found another bike back into the centre to find more customers.

Anyway hope all is well with you all and I will try and post more often now I will be touring round a bit more.

Right well things have been moving fast but today I decided to really settle in and managed to get the basics for my room and some basic food. It's amazing how long things take here to do basic tasks because I don't speak the language so I spent the whole day just going shopping and finding a place to eat on my own. In the end I have managed to get the things I need at a very low cost sum.

In the days before today I have learned how to ride a scooter, visted parks, seen the city and also managed to eat at many places. Everything is so cheap here. I can easily only spend 10 GBP a day and live quite lavishly. I'm sure this rate will go down once I know where to go, what to cook etc.

It's great as well how at every street corner there are people waiting to take you on the back of a bike for a price of around 20-80p (depending on the distance for the ride)
I've posted a few of my favourate pictures from the last few days to hopefully give an insight into what things are like here.

I wish everyone the all the best, especially those stuck in snow. It was a pleasent 24 degrees here but I hear it will get a lot hotter soon.