Imagine this scenario: you are a well-educated young lady. You study to become a doctor and conduct a research for your PhD on HIV prevention. And now imagine the first question that your family, friends, or colleagues ask is not about your studies or your career but instead is: ‘when are you getting married, the clock is ticking’. And now you start to panic and think ‘what the hell is wrong with me, where is my good looking prince in a convertible, with a shiny diamond ring and a nice house?’

This question can be asked in any private or professional context in Belarus and usually by 50+ people in your network. Taking mostly our female counterparts, there is the feeling that their measure of success in life is counted by whether they are married by 25 or not. However, men also undergo the same measurements but they have a little more time before the society starts to ask the BIG question.

We have experienced this situation more than once, and usually can laugh about it.  Probably this is because we know that this is the older generation talking who have not experienced the change in times and perhaps don’t understand that today ladies and gentlemen would like to work on their careers and build up a stable home for their kids to grow up in. But of course secretly hoping that the prince in a convertible will drive by soon, Eto Belarus Detka!

Feel free to share your thoughts on early bird marriage with us!

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You can’t visit/live in Belarus for long without stumbling across the famous … Bulba. Bulba is the Belarusian word for potato and is used more often than the Russian word for potato. It is clearly a term of fond affection more than a simple noun. Belarusians love Bulba - in every way and every form and it is hard to imagine any meal without them! You love bulba so much that the neighbours have nicknamed you as Bulbashi and Belarus is often refereed to as Bulbaland.

To reinforce the love a bit more we dug up some facts: Belarus takes the lead in the world capita potato consumption and production. They eat 173.8 million kg of bulbas per year!  We wouldn’t want your brains to explode, so we’ll kindly do the maths for you: that equals 18.5 kilos of potatoes per Belarusian per year! Oh my!

Most famous dishes made from bulbas are the delicious potato pancakes called draniki, Borsch (a beetroot soup with meat, fat, vegetables and of course bulbas) and the dumplings stuffed with bulba. You will also find baked, cooked and fried potatoes in almost every household and restaurants.  



















Although originally from South America, potato found its way a long time ago into the Belarusian lands, houses and hearts. The Bulba was used by mainly people living in rural communities, because for those living close to the land, this type of dish made good use of produce that was grown locally. Its contains a lot of carbohydrates and therefore suits the cold winters. We are quite sure that the Bulba saved many lives during the harsh economical times especially in the winter  because of its nutritional value. 

The potato is considered part of a healthy diet as its a great source of fibre, vitamin B6 & C, low on cholesterol & salt. HOWEVER, could the potato also be the cause of the rise of the body mass index in Belarus because of the way the potato is prepared: swimming in butter or eater with a sauce that contains a lot of fat (Machanka, mayonnaise or Smetana)?

Share with us your Bulba experience!

Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!

You have heard the rumours, the stereotypes and the clichés, and we are here to tell you, that the majority of gossip, they are, in fact all absolutely true!

‘Treat your customer like a king’ is not really how the service is organized in many shops, institutions, transportation or restaurants in Belarus. The occasionally bad service can spawn some nasty feelings of mistreatment and surprise, for example if a cashier barks at you with a pretty harsh tone ‘what do you need???” or a taxi driver who looks angry at you, leaving you with a feeling like you just killed his favourite cat, it’s nothing unusual If you plan on spending any time in Belarus you had better get used to this treatment, and fast.

It may appear that everyone got used to this form of service and that you are the only one left with a feeling of surprise. Well, let us reassure you that the Belarusians are maybe used to it but definitely are conscious about this bad service.

There are actually many Belarusians who try to change the service and battle this with humor and smiles. A friend of ours has made it his mission to improve the service by smiling and joking with these angry looking ladies. And we can tell you sometimes it really works!

This low service mentality can be explained somehow. Its not because the cashier woke up on the wrong side of the bed, well... in some cases it might be, but we believe the roots of this trait lay deeper. Maybe because we are dealing here with mostly publicly owned services, the cashiers, receptionists and sellers lack incentives to sell, and therefore don’t feel like they need to be friendly to the customer. For now, just remember that it is not a personal attack, the angry looking lady in the supermarket will probably like you and even bake you a delicious apple pie, if you have met her in other circumstances.

On a more cheery note, to experience some good service visit the market. Yes, this is the oldest form of trade and the service spirit is kind! Probably this has to with a very visible competition and sellers consider themselves as entrepreneurs. They want to attract customers to their stands by using their charm and smiles (and shouters). Try it out at Kamarovsky Rynok, for example (Metro Jakuba Kolasa)!

We look forward hearing your experience on the Belarusian service, or maybe your thoughts, theories about why the service is the way it is.

​Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!

In summer, there is a moment all Belarusians are waiting for, prepared for and, strangely, not afraid of. The moment when in the summer the hot water is turned off for 2 full weeks. All parts of Belarus need to take their turns to go through this severe procedure in different weeks and the temperature outside is not taken into consideration. What surprises us most is the way Belarusians deal with this matter.  Belarusians are apparently not bothered by any of this and when asking them why this is happening they simply say with a smile ‘Eto Belarus Detka!’ or ‘this happens every year’ - no argument, no sad faces, no shivers, nothing…

A foreigner might react to this quite differently; he may start to ask why is this happening to me, why do I have to go through this torture, what is the reason for this and is there any escape? Well, we can’t really give you an escape plan, we would not even want to. Why? Because it actually has something unique about it and we recommend going through this summer surprise and embracing it, at the end you will appreciate hot water so much more than you used to. And that’s a promise! But we surely can give you some answers on all your other questions. 

First of all let us start by saying that this is definitely not personal, you just found yourself in the regional water system maintenance period. The hot water in most Belarusian cities and towns is centrally heated and then pumped to individual houses. In the summer the government water officials must be working on maintaining and cleaning the hot water system to prepare the network for the winter season and make sure it will operate smoothly. During this maintenance the hot water is turned off 100%.

So what can we advise on how to deal with the summer surprise? 

Basically you have several options, lets start with the water boiling ritual. This one is for the ones who really don’t like a cold shower (most of us), and who want to experience the most common way Belarusians cleanse during this summer surprise. Tools you need are: minimum of one bucket, preferably two, a water cooker or a big pan where you can boil water in and a smaller pan. 

The steps are as follows:

1. Boil water: around 5 litres.
2. Fill each bucket with 30% boiling water and 70% cold water. 
3. Mix the water using your hands
4. Step in to the shower or the bathtub and rinse yourself with the perfect mixture you just created using the small pan. 
5. Wash your body and hair. You may wish to wash your hair first, dry it and wash your body after that. However this is all optional and we recommend you to do what you feel like. 

The more extreme option is to man up and shower with cold water. Yes! Remember the ice bucket challenge? Well, this is quite similar but now you have the chance to impress Mark Zuckerberg with your more frequent ice bucket challenges. This is not recommended and you will be declared as a total fool by Belarusian as very cold water can cause some health problems, but if you really don’t have the time for the water boiling ritual, then a quick cold shower might be your only solution. There are some tricks that can help you go through this one: 

1. Sing! Yes, singing loudly while entering the shower helps to mitigate the shock of first contact with cold water.
2. Convince yourself that it’s actually not that cold and how proud you will be once this hell is over. 
3. Short showers and don’t take breaks. 
4. Keep your head and face for last. As these parts are the once you’ll dread the most, so save it till the end after you feel like your body temperature going down. 
5. If you have time do some exercise before, it might help making the cold shower experience feel like a relief instead of a shock (not guaranteed).

Of course there are always other options. For example you can choose the deodorant shower, however it is not guaranteed that the deodorant would cover two weeks odours your body produces. You can also ask a friend or a colleague that happens to live in another area of the city to visit his/her hot shower. 

Our favorite option is to deal with the cold water by going to a ‘Banya’, the typical Belarusian sauna. But we’ll come to cover the Banya later. 

Please share with us your experience with this unexpected summer surprise!

Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!

Every country has its own rules and customs to follow when it comes to public transportation, and Belarus is no exception. Get prepared for the Belarusian public transportation. It's quite an adventure and definitely a top priority to get to know the country better. To a foreigner many things may come as a surprise; things like the little red token that you buy for a single metro ride in Minsk. This token actually makes a great souvenir from Belarus: it is unique, it screams history with its  worn out look and you can probably use it as play money (or as replacement of the coin for the shopping trolley). Also the Cyrillic alphabet used on transport can be quite a struggle for most foreigners. And not to forget the big crowd during rush hours that can make you feel very small and make you wonder which technique to use to get in/out: push, scream, cry or simply ask? 

To help you get started, here are 6 guidelines to follow when traveling for the first time by public transportation in Belarus:

1. Find local help
Having a Belarusian friend or colleague to show you around is a life saver! Be kind to him or her, as he/she will be your guide in the Cyrillic labyrinth.

2. First let out, then get on
When the transport has just arrived, you have to patiently wait for everybody to get out first, and only then get inside. Minsker courtesy!

3. Get tough
If someone ‘gently’ pushes you out of the way on the metro without saying “excuse me” – do not be offended, they are just trying to be polite and not bother you with words. Think fast during rush hour, or you might simply get carried out of the wagon. Being anonymously squeezed farther into the wagon to create more space for the people trying to get in is also normal, just go with the flow. "There's no more space for me to go!" is not a valid excuse.

The transport face:
A lot of foreigners seem to notice, how mean everyone looks when riding the metro. That is the Belarusian transport face, it is actually relaxed and indifferent, not mean. It is designed to create a feeling of more personal space due to the lack thereof during rush hours. The face should read "I might be squeezed in here tightly, but there's actually a whole kingdom around me and I am the king!" Practice at home with a mirror.

4. Terminal stations
Watch out for the crowd getting on a bus at the terminal stations or first stop of the route. If this route is particularly long and popular, people are going to be scrambling to get on and grab a seat, sometimes even forgetting to let people out. After securing a seat with their behinds, the same person who just stampeded you on the way in might ask you to validate his pass, since he is already sitting, and you conveniently happen to be standing by the validator.

5. Give up you seat!
Offer your seat to the elderly, pregnant women, and people with small children (that is, by the way, one of the things that frequent announcement is saying). If you don’t - the entire bus or metro will look at you as if you are a criminal. Even young women are offered seats on public transportation, but that’s optional, more of a chivalric gesture. Getting up and offering a seat to an elderly person, on the other hand, is a must. In many Western countries this politeness is slowly disappearing, because on one hand the youth is becoming more asocial and on the other hand because the elderly people are often offended by this polite gesture, probably they feel younger than they appear.

6. Surf!
When riding the metro for the first time make sure you take a seat or have a railing to hold on to, otherwise you will fall down. With time, you will learn to keep your balance and “surf” like Minskers do.

The metro in particular is a highlight in itself. It is super fast, clean and impressive. Some historical facts: During the Soviet period there was an unwritten law that only a city with over 1 million residents could start building a metro. The city of Minsk did its best to attract people from villages and created favourable conditions for their resettlement. And finally in 1972 the millionth Minsker was born. The first eight metro stations were finished in 1984.

The different styles of the metro stations cannot go unnoticed. Every station is designed and decorated according to a specific theme: Lenin, Proletarian revolution, Sports, etc. Other more modern stations are a treat to experience (when putting a bit of your imagination to work): Piatrouschyna metro station gives you a feeling of standing under a sky full of stars on a summer night, while Mikhalova station resembles a sunset in the winter, and Hrushauka may remind you of a sunny August morning.

A warning: do not venture when you have a wheelchair or buggy into the metro. Even if you can get on the metro in for example Uruchie metro station, it will be a very short ride as you won't be able to get out in any other stations as they don’t have lifts or ramps.

Have you had a strange/interesting/cool Belarusian public transport experience? Please share it with us!

Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!