Ep. #32 Belarus with Alesya Bernatskaya: Getting Through Hard Times with Humor

Stories of New Americans Podcast with Ron Klutho on NewsTalkSTL

Ron Klutho talks to Alesya Bernatskaya from Belarus

MUSIC: Касіў Ясь канюшыну (Yas mowed the stable)” by Песняры (Pesnyary)

Next week Ron will talk with Lucrecia and Marcelina DaSilva about Angola!

Stories of New Americans can also be heard Saturday nights from 10-11pmCT on NewsTalkSTL

Find out more about Ron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newstalkstl.com/stories-of-new-americans-with-ron-klutho/⁠⁠⁠

0:00 SEG 1 Where is Belarus on the map? | invasions of Belarus, dictator of Belarus aligned with Putin | Why is Belarus its own country | Belarusian language | How is it different from Russia | the USSR and the Soviet era | History presented differently, Russiafication | Belarusian language not taught in elementary school | losing a lot of population during ww2 | visiting Minsk memorial in 2011 showing how Nazis burned villages | Minsk ghetto | grandparents fled while others were slaves | Belarus became independent in 1991 | being 12 years old in 91 | parents discussed politics after kids went to sleep | Chernobyl accident in 1986, the wind carried the nuclear waste to her town | dad was going to be sent to rebuild Chernobyl. People passed at the age of 40 of cancer | Father was a civil engineer | Were there celebrations for Belarus' independence? | Changing the name of Belarus | What does Belarus stand for?

17:40 SEG 2 the unavailability of necessities | reselling items to make money | rations and coupons | freezers were small | ice cream | Lukashenko | laws change all the time | falsifying elections | Lukashenko assisting Putin | childhood, living with parents and grandparents | parents sent to Siberia for internship | 35 kids go through the entirety of school together | no variety in what subjects are taught | how America was presented. Movies 'Red Heat', 'Weekend at Bernies', people would line up to watch vhs cassettes | Americans were presented as spoiled | no diversity. Everyone looked alike | being curious about America and Europe | Manhattan represented America. St Louis was like a camp | How she moved to America | St. Louis was chosen for them | Moving in 1996 at the age of 15

34:27 SEG 3 going to the refugee office, any backlash from employers or friends, keeping it a secret | anti-Semitism | religion not allowed, baptized in secret | did not speak English | E.S.L. classes at Parkway Central | pavilion apartments in Creve Coeur had other immigrant kids so she didn't feel weird | started 2 years back in high school | do her own kids speak Russian? | trying to keep the culture alive | Russian pop culture | Ms. Anna was like a 2nd mother | Russian foods | working at Wash U now | would probably be in jail if never left | best and worst things about America | final words of wisdom