Screengrab/BelTA
MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – I had business issues with my brothers in Italy, so we decided to move to Belarus to give our family a better life, chef Paolo Antonio Vene and his wife Alina Klemantovich said in the latest episode of the Honest Story project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
A resident of sunny Italy met his future partner on the vast expanse of the World Wide Web. “I first came to Belarus in November 2009, when my future wife Alina and I had just met online. At that time, I stayed in your country for about 3 or 4 days. Later, I visited Belarus several more times until Alina moved to Italy to live with me. We had had children. For some time after my wife's move, everything was great. I was working in my father's family business. But after my father passed away, I began having problems with my own brothers, which led to financial difficulties for our family. Since Alina and I already had two children, something had to be done, and that's when we thought about moving to start a new life. As the head of the family and a man, I wanted to make life better for Alina and my children. Since my wife is Belarusian, I decided to move specifically to Belarus. Here, it would be easier to integrate the children into society, and Alina could teach them the language. Of course, I understood that without knowing the language, it would be difficult for me to adapt, but I was thinking about myself the least, Paolo said.
After moving, the Vene family settled in the Belarusian capital. “Initially, we lived in Alina's small apartment in Minsk. We dealt with paperwork to obtain a residence permit. We moved in our Italian car, so we had to change the license plates. Then there was the test in Russian. How was I supposed to pass it? After sorting out the documents, I sold the apartment in Italy and transferred the money to Belarus. There was also money my mother gave us for the children. And Alina's money as well. With all these funds, we bought a plot of land in a Belarusian village. I decided to give my family a better life and to build a big house. I didn't want to stay in Minsk because I'm used to space, and Alina's apartment seemed too small to me. Also, I wasn't yet accustomed to the crows that are always talking and to the noisy trolleybuses. They kept me from sleeping. I found a village I liked that was close to the capital, and gradually, we started building our house. A year and a half later, we moved here,” Paolo continued his story.
His wife Alina noted that the construction continues day by day. “We even worked on the house during New Year's time: we came here on 31 December and 1 January. Paolo simply couldn't and didn't want to take a time off,” she noted.
After moving, the Vene family settled in the Belarusian capital. “Initially, we lived in Alina's small apartment in Minsk. We dealt with paperwork to obtain a residence permit. We moved in our Italian car, so we had to change the license plates. Then there was the test in Russian. How was I supposed to pass it? After sorting out the documents, I sold the apartment in Italy and transferred the money to Belarus. There was also money my mother gave us for the children. And Alina's money as well. With all these funds, we bought a plot of land in a Belarusian village. I decided to give my family a better life and to build a big house. I didn't want to stay in Minsk because I'm used to space, and Alina's apartment seemed too small to me. Also, I wasn't yet accustomed to the crows that are always talking and to the noisy trolleybuses. They kept me from sleeping. I found a village I liked that was close to the capital, and gradually, we started building our house. A year and a half later, we moved here,” Paolo continued his story.
His wife Alina noted that the construction continues day by day. “We even worked on the house during New Year's time: we came here on 31 December and 1 January. Paolo simply couldn't and didn't want to take a time off,” she noted.
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