peacetraveler22 | Entries tagged with village

The problem with Russia - fools and roads. I heard this phrase so many times when I first started reading LJ a few years ago, but never understood it until I visited the country. Fools, they're found everywhere on the planet, but the roads in Russia remain a mystery to me after so many visits. The answer to yesterday's game - the Kursk villagers had a huge celebration because the dirt road in their neighborhood was finally paved. According to my reader, the villagers had been waiting for this day for over 85 years, and now live in happiness over something as basic as a proper road. For me, it's almost incomprehensible that such a celebration would ever occur in the U.S., because good roads for us are the norm. Even in small towns, with few rural exceptions. The only time I've seen a lot of dirt roads was in rural parts of Kansas, but such pathways were usually leading to privately owned farmland or very remote areas, not neighborhoods where many homes and people are located. Rural roads in the U.S. look something like this.( how roads should look! )

On a rainy summer day, local villagers gather in Kursk, Russia for a big celebration! Watermelon, peaches, and tasty fruits are sliced to celebrate one of the most exciting events in the history of the village. What are they celebrating? Let's play a game, turn on our creative brains and have fun. :) Readers, please guess the reason for the party and gathering. If someone guesses correctly, I will send them a prize from Maine! This photo was posted last week by one of my readers on Facebook, a lovely lady who told the amazing background story behind this photo. I will announce the answer tomorrow evening. Btw, I don't know anything about Kursk, what is interesting there? Should I visit?

Hello! My name is Shannon, and I’m an American traveler. I write a blog on LiveJournal in English, and communicate with only Russian speaking subscribers there. I’ve traveled to Russia four times in the past two years, visiting different parts of the country. Today, I’ll tell you about the day I spent in a Russian village on 1 March 2015. I hope you will enjoy it!

During my first trip to Russia, I was shocked by all of the sad, depressing villages I passed in Central Russia. But on this journey, a slight glimmer of hope! I spent a day and night in a colorful village in the Kostroma region, meeting kind and thoughtful residents. For the most part, they take pride in their homes and community, and one person is even dedicating his financial resources to attract other visitors to the region, including foreign guests like me. Let's take a closer look...( Read more... )

In the Kostroma region I met with many villagers, but I'll always remember Nadia because she was different from the rest. First, she was younger than most of the other residents, who were typically pensioners. Second, she greeted me with hospitality that exceeded all expectations. Our car pulled up to the house, and out walked a pleasant, smiling woman carrying food. Sitting on the decorative cloth is fresh baked bread and dipping salt.

Nadia and I share many characteristics - a strong, independent and hard working woman. She doesn't sit around, waiting for a man to come along and rescue her, pay all her bills, or carry her off into the sunset. Each day, she rises early, goes out into the fields and engages in hard labor, with dirt under her finger nails to prove it. Nadia - a village farmer, the proud owner of many acres of farmland from which all of her family's material wealth and pride have arisen...( Read more... )

To be alone is absolutely ordinary for me, but the familiar feelings of solitude and isolation take on an entirely different meaning in the Russian forest. During the recent journey, I visited the village of Astashova in the Chukhlomsky District of the Kostroma region. About the village I'll write a separate post, but today I'll show you the house in which I slept, deep in the woods on a cold, snowy night.

I've seen so many abandoned, sunken homes during various road trips in Russia, but in this village there is life! Our village host had a full house, each bed occupied by men who were helping with local construction projects, or out of town guests. I could either sleep on the hard floor, in the company of four Russian men, or go to an empty home a few kilometers away and have an entire house to myself. After inspecting the old, wooden structure, I picked the latter option. During the day it seemed charming, like something out of a Russian fairy tale with its colorful blue windows and snow-capped roof. When I returned late at night, in utter darkness, the old home took on a different aura. A sort of spooky, far-off cabin, where no Internet or phone existed. Something out of a horror movie, where the victims never see the light of day again. I suddenly realized I would be by my lonesome, many kilometers away from the few humans I knew in the area, and an uneasy feeling overtook me. A slight fear of being alone in the middle of nowhere, in a distant country...But I sucked it up, and carried on into the night. Let's take a look inside my sleeping quarters...( Read more... )

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In the end only kindness matters...

Entries tagged with village

Россия: дураки и дороги

Village Party - Kursk, Russia

Мой день в русской деревне

Nadia - Village Farmer

Одна в русском лесу

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