the changing seasons

Before leaving Australia I worked in the drought affected areas. One day I found myself sitting by a river bed - which was drying up because of the lack of water. As I walked along the river I discovered all sorts of interesting things. Old bikes, shopping carts , drink bottles and in one spot I even discovered an old cash tin. Obviously stolen and jimmeyed open and thrown away - only to be revealed when the water line had dropped to its low point. It is an interesting parrallel in Moscow at present as the layers of snow melt away. Months of refuse build up is being unmasked. All the human trash that has been discarded and covered by snow is now reappearing. Drink bottles, papers, general trash. Standing by the bus stop i realised again a big problem in this culture. Smoking. The amount of cigarette butts just thrown on the ground now being unmasked as the snow melts. There are no smoking bans here as we see in Aus. Smokes are really cheap and the majority of people smoke. Smoking is still permitted in resaurants, people smoke in the streets, just everywhere. This has taken some getting used to and you appreciate the regulation we have at home to give us free air.
It is also a reminder of how far behind this country is in valuing the environment. There is no sense of the damage that discarded cigarette bring to the environment. No fear of damage to others, to children who might pick up butts. No worry about the butt washing down drains - we dont have them and we are too far away for them to wash into the sea. Still a long way to go to bring change in this way of life.
Recycling is a non event. I have not a clue where the trash from 15+million people goes. we just put ours in a dumpster at the back of the high rise and a couple of times a week it is emptied.
Life is different in many ways.

We live in a 15 story building - 4 apartments on each floor. Our neighbors took over the passage way for a month to care for their farm animals. 6 rabbits and 12 turkeys. Finally some pressure must have come to them as they cleaned up the mess when the smell began to consume the lifts and could be smelt all the way to the top floor!!! I am sure the animals will be relieved as they can at last see daylight and have room to move - but then we begin to think - maybe they just moved into their flat and have taken over a bedroom?? There are some smells that stay with you - and unfortunatley that one will. But for now they are gone and we can again reach the fire escape. neighbours are interesting. the people below us play at least 4 instruments - must be a musical family or they conduct music lessons. We don't hear much from above.

Communal living Moscow style!

6 month anniversary

Friday just past marked our first 6 months in Moscow. we celebrated with a long weekend! Womans day! quite significant here and the role of women is acknowledge and the most popular way was the giving of flowers. Friday evening I was invited to the Australian Ambassadors residence for supper with women of significance to the embassy. nice food and the ambassador is a nice lady to sit and chat with. Saturday Ron & i investigated a new market area - commonly called 'the black market' it was huge - we walked 3 hours and did not cover it all. We did not spend much - but enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells. The crowd got a bit hard to handle by mid afternoon - so we found an easier back street to the station - and also found the best bargain of the day.
Sunday worship was at Taganka (Moscow Corps) also womans day - a near to 3 hours service. Some good singing, a short drama lots of prayer and testimonies and an interesting message from the word.
Today we caught the metro to investigate a park we have not yet been to. So a couple of hours wandering through the snow, along the river, around churches it was a beautiful place to discover.This will be the place to come back to to check out during the different seasons. The summer with green foliage on the trees and then the spectacle of autumn will be very enjoyable. We also discovered the best toboggin run so far, so when we do get visitors we know just where to take you. The winter snow still falls and the heavy dump last night made the ground pure white again. The slush and ice can be a challenge and so we walk with care. I am appreciating the snow boots left by the departing aussies late last year and a donated winter coat also makes for a warmth when out and about. The long johns are not needed inside but when you venture out on days like today you appreciate them. It has been a new experience learning to manage clothing and footwear for the seasons. And while the experience has been good I know I am a summer person - so enough with the snow - bring on the sun!!!
Through life you encounter people who work hard and may not be given the appreciation they deserve. These people of Moscow are the over 10,000 who have the job of sweeping the snow & ice from the paths. When we wake early in morning you can hear the scrape , scrape as the path is being cleared - many different hours day and night the hard working people are out there. A few have the luxury of tractor - but most is done by hand - the wide bladed shovels scraping and lifting the snow and ice to clear the paths we walk on. They would be amoungst the lowest paid people - but I guess they are glad to at least have a job. At this time, the water freezes over, it is heavy work as they chip away the ice. Some do not have winter boot - just runners and very often no gloves. I walk by rugged up in my snow boots and thick woolly coat - I try and give them a smile and say thank you. But they have their heads down just doing their job. I am glad they are there - doing their job and making it safer for us all.

It is back to work tomorrow after this long weekend break. We continue to build on the work done so far and consolidate the various projects that are happening. I am preparing a newsletter to share the stories of what is happening in the territory and some work is also being done to update the webpage. I am missing the support people of past times when this could be handed over to someone else - but no such luxury here - It is role up the sleeves and do it yourself.
So we end our first 6 months - a bit like the kid after the first week of school wondering why he could not read yet - language takes time - but we are more comfortable with managing to live in this culture. As I have said before - we are eating, shopping, working and worshipping and today we even touristed without the language - so it is all good.