Phew, I'm up to date with all my posts, now that I have a stable internet collection. I've been in Ukraine for exactly 8 days now in my hometown Krasnoarmiisk.
It's a very small town with a population of about 70,000. It's old, falling apart and no one wants to invest any money into it. The roads are riddled with pot holes, no one wears seat belts (note the reoccurring theme here) and there is dust and dirt everywhere. Things like this make me appreciate just how clean and tidy Australia is.
Krasnoarmiisk is a coal mining town, part of the Donets Basin region (also known as Donbas). Because of this there is dirt everywhere. Concrete roads are almost non existent, the city is mostly lined with stones and gravel. No one wears white here, the instant you go outside, your feet will be black and your clean clothes will be clean no more. It sounds horrible doesn't it?
To some extent it is quite bad but these people are used to it, they know no other life. My grandparents, their family has lived in the same house for 3 generations. Everyone knows the family name. Everyone lives next door to each other, the kids all come out and play once the heat has subsided, it's all very friendly here. You're never bored, if you're a kid that is.
Some of the good things that I'd like to highlight about this town is just how green everything is. Everything is thriving. A lot of families rely on the vegetables and fruit that's grown in their fields for their main source of food. I've been taking advantage of this by sneaking out constantly and picking all the raspberries.
Here's the view from my grandparent's backyard
Picking raspberries.I can never get enough of them.
Outside, in the street. Gravel roads everywhere.
Outside on the street again, later during the day
The hills of Kransoarmiisk are all man made from the remains of a coal mining plant. They're everywhere you go.
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