Window on the World

Our Qvatera in Lugansk overlooks one of the main streets in the center of town.  Buses come and go at the bus stop just across the road from long before we awake to long after we have gone to bed.  Sometimes there are five buses lined up to gather passengers, sometimes one or two, but the average is a bus every eight seconds all day long.

It is interesting to look out on the world from this vantage point and wonder at the amazing numbers of people walking, riding, waiting, coming and going.  Where are they coming from and going to?  What are they  looking for?  |They must all come out into this world of ice and snow, just as we do, from tall buildings, down flights of stairs or crikety lifts, from behind closed and locked doors.

Two days a week a young mother from our prehode (branch) tutors us in Russian conversation. 

This week she introduced us to weather conversation and we were gratified to be taught why everyone speaking to us about the weather begins any statement with, "on the street" . . . as in, "On the street it is cold" . . . "On the street it is snowing" . . . "On the street is freezing."  They are not REALLY saying "on the street" . . . it is just that the same words that I would use to say "on the street," a Ukrainian uses to say, "outside". 

"Oh!  I get it!"  Elder Hatch shared his epiphany!   Because 90% of the people here in Ukraine live behind this kind of window looking out on this kind of a world, "on the street" means "outside" and as soon as you go "outside", you are "on the street!"  For an old farm couple not so used to streets this is an amazing new concept!

For this sweet young tutor who is the Primary president in our branch, the comfortable and safe way to look out on the world is this "window-view".  As she got ready to leave our apartment we were talking about schedule...which days we were free, which days we had our home scheduled for discussions, meetings, home evenings.  Amazed that we were offering to share our privacy with people we do not know well or have not yet met, she left us with a parting comment of genuine concern: "Please remember, you MUST be careful!"

Elder Hatch had pulled out his gigantic gangle of keys to unlock first the heavy wooden door, then the formidable metal one, both of which close us in, safe from whatever might be outside.  We both had the same thought as he sorted through these marvelous metal creations that lock or unlock the big gate to the outside courtyard, the small gate into our complex, the two big doors that close off our own private living space after we have passed through the two metal doors that allow us to enter our building.  He turned the first key one...two...three times to disengage the three deadbolts securing the wooden door, and then he turned another key one...two...three...four turns to disengage the four, even larger deadbolts securing the oversized metal outside door. Our eyes met as he pocketed these symbols of safety:  How many generations of fear are wrapped in this prevailing feeling of insecurity? 

 (And how hard it is to keep your pants up when you carry this many keys in your pocket.)

On the building directly across from our window is a large digital clock that we check often to verify that it really IS as cold outdoors as it feels to us from our indoor vantage point.  I keep telling myself that the -21 degrees I am reading is celsius and we are used to measuring our comfort in farenheit.  Somehow, it still does not make it feel any warmer.

 

We enjoy observing how the toddlers here are bundled against the cold.  We see strollers and buggies and sleds.  Babies are wrapped and bundled with just their little noses exposed.  It is not just the mamas who pull sleds.  Often we see babushkas walking home from the market with their purchases loaded on one of these little sleds.

This very cold weather has a great impact on how everyone dresses.  The young missionaries who come into our home for discussions, home evenings or district meetings arrive and depart well-wrapped against the weather.  They all wear sweaters under their coats and fleece pants under their slacks, in addition to whatever thermal-wear they have been able to acquire. 

In this weather sometimes a missionary's goal for the day is to just make it through. I (Elder Hatch) forgot to wear my snow chains for my shoes (Yak Trax) on our long walk to church Sunday.  I was slipping and sliding all day but Sister Hatch was always ready to catch me.