“People of Minsk can be very rude”

Politeness is not a very popular thing in Belarus, Olga Laryvonenka, a successful American photomodel, says. Born in Minsk she moved to the USA and first settled in Boston. Then she went to Miami and since then she enjoys there a wonderful lifestyle full of sun, sea and parties.  Now when she is in her native Minsk she shares her impressions about the both cities: Minsk and Miami.

Let’s start from you. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?  What do you do in Belarus? And what do you do in Miami?

OK. My name is Olga. I live in Miami. I am a model there. My main work there is just lay down on the beach :) . Here I am visiting my mom, because I was born here.

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Official and unofficial holidays in Belarus

      Belarus has a rich and interesting culture. The main part of population of Belarus are Christians. That’s why the main national holidays are connected with Christian traditions. In addition to Christian holidays, national holidays are celebrated in Belarus, which came from pagan traditions. The most important of them  are  Kupalle and Maslenitsa. At these holidays people dance folk dances, sing special songs, make folk rituals.     

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Public transport in Minsk

No wonder that public transport is much in demand in Minsk for the city’s population exceeds 1,5 million inhabitants. Thousands of passengers travel daily by different means of transport including buses, trolleybuses, tramways, city shuttles, commuter trains. At the moment Minsk keeps on widening its boundaries and, therefore, the city’s public transport network expands its coverage. New routes emerge together with new residential areas.

Of all types of public transport the buses prevail in today’s Minsk. According to some sources the first buses appeared in Minsk in the 20s but they were not popular among city dwellers at that time due to comparatively high fare charged for a trip. So, buses started playing a significant role in the city’s public transport system after the Second World War only. The buses you may observe in Minsk streets are mostly produced at the MAZ (Minskiy Avtomobilny Zavod, Минский автомобильный завод cyr. Minsk Automobile Plant); you can easily recognize them for majority of them are painted green. However these vehicles are not fully Belarus produced due to obvious technological gap. Thus Belarusian producers have to equip the vehicles with imported from abroad details and mechanisms.

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