Shortly after arriving in Minsk, Belarus, we found ourselves learning traditional Belorussian dances and eating traditional Belorussian food...

...with three beautiful and fun Belorussian doctors.

They were gracious and interesting hosts. They showed us the sights and sounds of Minsk nightlife.

Our trip was far too short and we were too jetlagged! Next time we will have to stay longer.

From Minsk we flew to Kiev, Ukraine. Our apartment was a block off of Maidan square. At the end of the block you can see the sandbag walls which were built to contain the protestors if violence ever broke out.

The protests had been going on for a few weeks before, but as of yet no one was getting killed.

When asked what we should do in Kiev, our cabbie told us to "Go to Maidan and Fight, Fight, Fight!!"

The military was controlling who was able to get into and out of the square, but really weren't interfering yet with what was going on.

Kiev is an very impressive city, I'd like to visit again when things have calmed down a bit.