A story about a foreigner who wanted to see Belarus

At Minsk motor-coach terminal on Bobruyskaya Str. Yuri, a resident of Minsk, saw a confused guy near the booking office with a piece of paper in his hand: "with eyes full of sorrow, he asked, "You speak English?" And then all at once became clear".

To the new bus station, Yuri came in company of his colleague. At one of the booking offices was only one person, of course, guys came to that window, writes TUT.by.

- When the cashier saw us, she, not paying attention to that guy, who was standing at the window, asked us about our destination, - says Yuri. - Then the guy turned around with eyes full of sorrow and said, "You speak English?" And then all at once became clear.

As it turned out, the young man arrived from France for a weekend. It was his first time in Belarus and he really wanted to see local sights.

- He already had a ticket for a train Minsk-Grodno, so he wanted to buy tickets from Grodno to Niasvizh, from Niasvizh to Mir, and from Mir to Minsk, - says Yuri. - All these wishes were written in Russian on the piece of paper he held, but, obviously, the one who wrote it could not imagine how difficult everything will be.

The "deeply middle-aged" cashier was replying to the foreigner in Russian, which he did not know.

- The most amazing thing is that no one thought to call English-speaking staff from international booking offices! - Yuri wonders. - There is a travel agency nearby!

There were tickets from Minsk to Niasvizh, but the return route…

The language barrier was only the first challenge for a foreigner who wanted to see the beauty of our country.

Jury decided to help the guy and asked the clerk about the route Grodno- Niasvizh -Mir- Minsk.

- It turned out there was only one way to get from Grodno to Niasvizh: about 6.5 hours by bus through villages and other pleasures of rural life. And it is in 32-degree weather! I felt sorry for the tourist, and we went to the Information Centre, where we were advised to return from Grodno to Minsk, and from there to plan a trip to Niasvizh or Mir, - sighs Yuri.

After considering the route, the foreigner had decided to go only to Niasvizh and look at the castle. But if it was so simple...

- There were tickets from Minsk to Niasvizh, but the most stupid was that no one could guarantee him  that he will return from Niasvizh. They were saying that Niasvizh was not the end point, and thus there is no guarantee that there will be tickets from Niasvizh to Minsk! I told this to him, the guy was in a quite shock from the perspective of staying in Niasvizh, - says Yuri.

According to the reader, he spent 40 minutes with the Frenchman. After that he helped him to buy a ticket from Grodno to Minsk. The foreigner said that he will think about the trip to Niasvizh-Mir later.

- Before leaving, I told him to go to the travel agency near the international booking office, if anything will happen. There is surely someone who knows English - sums up Yuri.

The journalists addressed to the Minsk motor-coach terminal on Bobruyskaya Str. At the reception the question "Is there anyone of your cashiers who speaks English?" has been replied:

- Hardly, but they will sort it out at the booking office. You just write on sheet of paper, what one needs, and give it to the person. There is an employee in the department of tourism, who has a BA in English, so they will help you somehow - were "encouraged" the journalists.