by axxxm
Belarusian Pokémon
6/October/2024 in Kraków
Every time I happen to meet a Belarusian person,
I still feel like;
"I found a rare Pokémon"
Thursday afternoon
In a post office
Waiting in a queue
Talked to a girl in front of me
"I just moved to Kraków for study"
"From where?"
"Brest in Belarus. Do you know?"
Thursday night
In an art exhibition event
Had a chat with a woman
"Where are you from, by the way?"
"I'm from Belarus"
In Poland
Meeting a Polish person is nothing special
Meeting a Ukrainian person is also nothing special
Yet, to me personally
meeting a Belarusian person still feels somewhat rare
In Japanese media,
Belarus used to be (probably even now) described
"North Korea in Europe"
since they had/still has a dictator
But, one big difference would be
North Korea is far more closed than Belarus
While it's nothing extraordinary to meet a Belarusian person in Europe,
I've never met one single North Korean person in Japan and I don't know anyone who has such an experience
Fair to say,
I've met a number of Belarusian people so far
I visited their country
I was dating a Belarusian woman
Yet,
somehow,
to my "delusional" eyes,
Belarus & its people still keep some mysterious aura
Still covered by dense mystique mist, and yet dissolved
"I'm from Belarus"
This line still brings a fresh, and pleasant, surprise to me
as if I bump into a rare Pokémon
