However, when speaking English Belarusians often use the European system calling the first floor the ground floor and the next floor the first floor and so on. We ve tried to avoid floor references altogether, but when we do we stick to the local system. The water in Minsk is acceptable for drinking, but it doesn t taste very good and hardly ever looks good. Filters clean the water of visible particles and improve the taste. We recommend drinking imported bottled water as it's safer and not very expensive.
Smoking is popular and few places have banned the butt.
For a list of hospitals and clinics consult p.44. Don't drink the tap water in the contaminated region. Prior to the break up of the USSR, Belarus ranked as one of the most economically and socially affluent Soviet republics. Most of the economy was geared towards military production rather than consumer needs. Belarus is still struggling to overcome this legacy.