Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the days to come, the kitchen became central to our activities, the furnace
serving as a source of heat, therapy and oven. Between chores, Baba Galya would
often clamber on top of it for a short lie-down.
'It's good for warming my back and my arse! It's very kind, my furnace!' she'd
say.
After chores we would ask Tatyana about the day's schedule. Every lunch and
dinner was booked with a different family. One day we were guests of a local
school teacher, on another day we visited a forestry worker. In the week to come
we familiarised ourselves with many other families who were keen to spend time
with the infamous 'Australians with frozen toes'.
In their company we enjoyed many celebratory rounds of vodka and it occurred
to me that the culture of drinking in Russia definitely had its positive side. It was
social drinking and far removed from the mentality of 'getting pissed' and drinking
to drown one's sorrows.
My wounds continued to dry out without sign of infection. As my worries
lessened, I spent more time taking note of life in Babushkina.
The strong community spirit was something that I had only ever read about in
children's topics. Everyone seemed to help out and we were treated as part of the
community. Hardship and lack of money meant that survival depended very much
on rallying together.
Everything pointed to a much greater sense of trust and togetherness than I had
experienced in the western world. It might have been a hostile climate and an isol-
ated part of the world, but it felt nothing like it.
To suggest that Babushkina was an ideal society would, of course, be going too
far. Those who turned to vodka, as Baba Galya pointed out, eventually used up the
generosity of the community. When individuals could no longer eat, because they
had neglected to grow potatoes, and couldn't make fires because they hadn't col-
lected firewood, the consequences were inevitable. Especially in winter, there was
a high incidence of death by hypothermia among the drunks and alcoholics. Nature
had its brutally just and merciless way of dealing with laziness.
It occurred to us that it was the women who were stronger, wiser and older.
Many men seemed a little shrivelled and devoid of life; there were very few of
Galya's age.
Perhaps there was some sense of brutal justice in an abusive drunk dying of hy-
pothermia. But what about the poor teachers who hadn't received their wages for
