Around the neighborhood

Dobrae Utra! I thought this morning I would take you on a little tour of my new neighborhood. I have just begun traveling around it by myself, and this is actually quite an accomplishment.

You see, everything here pretty much looks the same. Remember, the Soviet system was all about producing things as quickly as possible. You can guess how that impacted the quality! So there are dozens of buildings in every neighborhood that look very similar. They are all sort of, well, falling apart. It is really quite ugly. So you can imagine that it is hard to get around town when you can't read the signs and everything looks the same.

Another neighborhood feature is the big pipe. There is a huge pipe, about two feet in diameter, that runs above the ground through most neighborhoods. It is about one foot off the ground. It looks quite old and I have no idea what it carries, if it even carries anything anymore. The neighborhood people use it as a sort of bench when they are chatting with their friends or waiting for the bus. It's weird to see a big pipe above ground.

The roads and sidewalks here are in terrible shape. You really need to look where you are going or you will end up covered in mud or with a twisted ankle. One of the men I am traveling with says he is going to recommend to his students that they become ankle specialists and move to Russia - they would make a fortune on all the sidewalk injuries!

My neighborhood is right next to the military post. In fact, the street I live on is called "Red Army Street." So we see a lot of military men in the neighborhood. We also see a lot of stray animals. There are many dogs and cats that roam about.

You are thinking, "this sounds terrible." But not really. All you need is to actually go into one of these Russian apartments. You will see that the people take care of their homes even more carefully than most Americans do. They cannot do much about the ugliness outside, so they make the inside beautiful. The apartments are small, yes, and perhaps the furniture is old. But there is always something warm and delicious cooking, not a speck of dirt in sight, and lots of conversation, even with a guest like me who speaks no Russian. You may look at my pictures and think that this is a very different place I am living, and you're right. But the important things, the relationships between people, are the same. I bet you would find this is true in homes almost anywhere in the world.