This is a rare glimpse into what life was like for a child in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I usually post texts about the trips or cultural aspects in a light positive way. This post will be less optimistic, so if you want to stay away from negativity, just skip reading it.
I want to go back to my childhood and tell you about post-Soviet Russia. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a pure chaos arrived. Everything what worked before collapsed, too, nothing was in order. Devaluation was immense, and the prices were rising unequally. There were the days, when the plain ticket and ice cream were of the same price. People were going mad. Crime was ruling, it became the power. Obedient Soviet people turned to uncontrolled monsters: frauds, murders, thefts, drugs. Massive immigration started, people were running away from this mess as far as they could.
But what was it like for a child?
I have to say, I was very lucky to be so…
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Crooked Creek by Sue Mattingly 
Sad!!!
Sent from my iPad
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It breaks my heart. Even in our family of 9, I remember my own parents relating stories from the 30’s and 40’s when food here was rationed. To say that it influenced them and the way they raised us would not adequately do justice to their sacrifices. Mom would cook spaghetti without meatballs, lots of water, and a pail pink color from a tomato or two she included. Her chili had only the meat found in a Bloemer’s chili cup. She baked every single loaf of bread we ever had, all from scratch, and with much hard work. She canned when she could, and that sustained us throughout the year. My parents worked in tandem to shield us from the obvious. We assumed everyone lived as we did, and my hunch is, so did they. My heart hurts when I see and hear stories of people from here in our own city, and state struggling to make ends meet. Sometimes I weep because in a harried and chaotic time, some still look for a quick fix, something that they can drive up, fetch, and shove in their mouths, without regard to those who worked in the fields to harvest crops, those who prepared it, stood on their feet, make minimum wage, and struggle to provide for their own families at home. I know this is long, but I just appreciate that you provide us with truths that may not be apparent, but are a reality. Decades may have passed, but some things remain the same.
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