Expats moving from Dubai to Minsk - we have some questions:)

Hi!
You can walk your pooch almost everywhere you'd like and do not need to pick up after .. Parks are plentiful, although certain districts have designated areas for dogs' playground.. There are few vet clinics, one is open  24/7. Make sure you have all proper vaccinations for your dog, although here rabbies are the only one which is required, I am not sure about  requirements on entering the country.
You would expect younger people to be more communicative in terms of English, but groceries are stress free if you pay by card , although you'd need some practice in reading local labels since very few have info in English. The best place for local produce is the central market where sometimes you can hear THANK YOU in English from sellers! Banks are everywhere, ATMs too,  but staff MAY have some basic English knowledge only at major branches.. Anyway, I'd be glad to give you some crash course and introduction to the city and local habits/life/customs etc.

Hello.  like dimetr said you can walk everywhere with your dog,  except some Parks in the center of city.  As for english it can be problem,  cos very few people have good level of language. And btw if you are Muslims you have to know in Minsk no mosque and you can find halyl products only in two places. But it you asked about walking with dog, i donno.  Anyway Minsk is boring city with unfriendly people.  U will see by your own eyes.  Good luck and text if you need smth.

Thank you all so much. We'll be getting there around 25th July. What about the night life? Nothing crazy though, just a nice Jazz clubs. Do they exist and what is the music scene in general?

We're not muslims, we're Orthodox from Serbia originally so we hope to catch up the language pretty soon. one more thing. Do the City folks tend to go to nature outside of the city? How's that like? Any interesting spots?

Hi again! Night life is not as diverse as in Moscow or to the west of Belarus but I am not sure about 'jazz' club even! The best approach to this side of acoustic ocean would be watching for events at Philarmonia or Concert Halls for classical or visiting jazz bands. Recently, I've seen several ads about American and european jazz artists/bands performing in the city and this summer there were open-air jazz evenings at City's Hall Square. There are three classical Saturdays' evening at City Hall Square coming this summer , you'd catch at least one of them. I can say that clubs are far from any modern serious electronic, IDM scene.
Mostly people leave the city for their dachas, country houses. Many spots within 50 kms from the city that are easy to drive to and you'd find yourself in a forest, near lake, river, small town with local market. 3 large parks in the city, many small green spaces, one large forested protected - natural Reserve area (Stiklevo) is right at the south-east edge of the city where you can bike/hike and even pick mushrooms, large water body with swimming in the city's north (Tsna) - all reachable in 40-50 minutes from city's centre. The city itself was re-designed in post-war period around central water artery (river Svisloch) with green zones and biking routes along it. It helps to funnel volumes of fresh air through city's core - in its area there are 200+ types of birds(nesting and visiting), beavers and adders among others live there too. I don't think you can do bbq in city's parks, but just outside it is all doable, although , watch out for neighbouring alco-consuming parties. Conflicts aren't likely but possible. 125 km from the city there is one of the biggest natural reserves in Europe, with local swamp/river/forest ecosystem and about 40 living brown bears(Berezinskij Reserve)- accommodation is possible too. Mushroom picking is a national sport and all neighbouring forests in the season usually become quite populated with those pickers.
Serbian is closer to Russian/Belarusskij than you may think!

Thanks Dimetr,

That all sounds lovely. Will get back here once in Minsk, we may catch up. Lots of packing to do by then:)