An Iranian woman opened an art café in Minsk. They sell handmade goods and serve saffron cappuccino
Parisa didn't immediately get used to the Belarusian capital. "Tehran is a very active city. You can imagine: people start their day at five or six in the morning and finish at 9-10 in the evening. But here everyone is very slow, no one is in a hurry."
Iranian woman Parisa Tavakoli moved to Belarus five years ago. This happened because her investor-husband's family has a business in Belarus, and it needed to be supervised. Parisa herself felt this decision was wrong at the time, but she agreed with her family, she told her story to mlyn.by.
The first years were difficult: a different mentality, language, and climate.
"You know, Tehran is a very active city. You can imagine: people start their day at five or six in the morning and finish at 9-10 in the evening. But here everyone is very slow, no one is in a hurry. That situation really bothered me," Parisa admits. "This calmness probably irritated me then. Because I came from a very big city, fast and stylish. But here I never saw such activity."
Moreover, the woman gave birth to her third child without knowing Russian. Now Parisa's eldest daughter, says the Iranian woman, is more Belarusian: she speaks Russian almost without an accent and sings Belarusian songs.
In Iran, Parisa ran three businesses: book publishing, home products, and an art boutique.
In Minsk, she teaches at the Faculty of International Relations. About three and a half years ago, she opened the art space "Mon Chalet," where Eastern and Western cultures merge. They hold master classes in ceramics and candles, and a boutique of handmade goods operates there. The café serves Iranian drinks, such as saffron cappuccino and masala latte.
Initially, the café was in the "Mayak Minska" area and wasn't particularly popular. A month ago, it moved to the historical center, near the Grand Theater, and now things are going much better.
"Probably more than a hundred people came to our opening. We didn't have any serious advertising, just a post on social media. I was shocked, even cried a little (which is embarrassing for me), when I saw so many people," Parisa shares.
The café has a piece of Iran: a book by the poet Saadi and copies of old Iranian paintings, brought from Parisa's homeland.
Parisa hasn't been to Iran for two and a half years and wants to return when the situation there improves. However, she doesn't regret the move: she says that in Belarus she has matured and become stronger. Now she considers Belarus her second home and misses it when she leaves.
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