We flew into the concrete bunker architecture of Minsk airport. Some of you may recall my meeting with the passport woman in Minsk last year (For more on my past relationships with the Passport women of Minsk airport, scroll down and read PART II [JULY 8, 2005] HERE). My goal is to make them smile, a kind of detente. Anyway, I went up to the passport window, said, “Здравствуйте” and smiled at the woman behind the glass. Reflexively, it seemed, she smiled back. There were no teeth with it, but it reached up, gently, to her eyes. I got my passport back, thanked her (спасибо!), and smiled, which she retturned, even more the second time. It was a beautiful thing.
4 comments:
My favorite part about the Minsk airport is the ransom you must pay in order to leave.
Fortunatley for us Pastor Michail was there to explain to the hapless customs guy that he "will let this group pass" - or he will have big problems with the big boss upstairs!
The poor Customs guy seemed to eventually realize he was totally outranked and/or outgunned by the Pastor !
It was sorta like Obie-Wan Kanobie(sp?)in Star Wars putting the wama jamma on the storm trooper outside the Mos Isely Spaceport ..."these are not the droids you are looking for..."
Oh yeah..and another thing.
The Minsk airport has the opposite problem as the Warsaw airport. Its the size of O'Hare with the traffic of the Hooterville airstrip.
If or when Belarus ever joins the rest of the free world - it has an airport big enough to handle the activity.
In the meantime - most of the airport staff seems to have been instructed to make the few intrepid souls who dare to darken the doors of Minsk International feel as unwelcome as possible!
The shakedown STARTS with the obligatory health insurance and the experience degrades from there.
...other then that it was a delightful experience! :)
...and that is all
The Obi Wan Kenobi reference is EXACTLY how I thought of the incident. The "Force" gives him powers over weak minds....
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