Few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Childhood Week challenge by Beatrice Blue is going to happen again in December, and, since I enjoyed the last one so much, I gladly participated again. Below are the results:
Day 1: ANIMAL
As a kid, I spent about a year living in the little town in Eastern Siberia (along the Baikal-Amur Mainline, north of China, and on the opposite side of the continent from my home - Kyiv).
Most of my memories from that time are quite wintery, and I will mention a few this week.
At that time I was devouring “Meetings in Taiga” by Arsenyev (a Russian explorer of the Far East). This book was full of fascinating tales of his adventures in Ussurian taiga, meetings with various wildlife, and encounters with natural phenomena. I learned about Ussurian tigers, bird colonies, fishing owls, and many more. I would dream about meeting these creatures myself (especially the tiger!)
But there were also two things that terrified me - a tale about the colossal waterspout at the sea, and - the most chilling - the detailed account of Arsenyev’s encounter with a ball lightning. He was walking through the forrest, and saw a white glowing sphere floating between the trees. It came close to him. He knew it would react to any change in the air, so he has to stay very still to allow it to pass, because if it were to touch something it could explode.
I still remember the sleepless night I had, when I imagined that the ball lighting had entered our house and travelled from room to room, eventually stopping near me. I was afraid to make even the smallest move, so I stayed frozen through the entire night. 😬😅
Day 2: DARE.
My memories of Dugabul (the settlement in Eastern Siberia that became my temporary home during the 1st grade) are mostly of the nature. We were surrounded by spectacular hills (“sopki”) and cedar forests with the Nyukzha river nearby. During winter all this beauty would be plunged under huge banks of snow this becoming an ultimate playground for all the kids in the area.
Sledding was one of the happiest activities for me. We would ran into the forest, climb up the highest hill, and rush down with incredible speed, wiggling our way between the trees, trying to hold out as long as possible (lying on the stomach made that flight even faster). Snow and branches would bombard my face, a frosty wind would whistle in my ears, and each time my heart would be filled with a thrilling, unclouded, piercing joy that happens only when you’re a kid.
Day 3: FAR AWAY.
Winters in Eastern Siberia were particularly severe, the temperature was often below zero (at times it could reach -20-30C), but this did not stop us, children, from endless games in the snow.
Being a sweet summer child from Ukraine, I was not used to these frosts, and my face would stay red for hours after coming back inside.
Some helpful kid had told me that if the face gets cold and turns white, it will fall off 😬, so I started checking it in the hallway mirror each time I came in.
One day, after a particularly long snow play, to my horror, I discovered that the tip of my nose and the middle of my red cheeks DID turn white😱. I ended up spending hours staring at myself at the mirror, touching my nose and waiting for it to fall off.
Luckily, the nose is still here today, including the tip 🙃
Day 4: SHINY.
New Year has always been the main winter holiday while I was growing up in soviet Ukraine. For me, as a child, this event has always been associated with a decorated tree, gifts, an elaborate festive meal, meticulously prepared for days, tangerines, concerts, as well as the morning party (“utrennik”) in the kindergarten. Because we didn't have Halloween in USSR, “utrennik” was one of the few reasons to wear a costume.
I was a snowflake for several years in a row, same costume. My dress was carefully trimmed with sparkles and glittering garlands (the collar was so itchy!), I shone more than a Christmas tree and felt at my best.✨
During the last year of kindergarten, I was upgraded to Snegurochka (Father Frost's granddaughter, that follows him around everywhere), my new costume looked much fancier, it had fake fir and elaborate kokoshnik (crown), but my little Snowflake dress still remains as one of the dearest memories of kindergarten times (perhaps, the itchy garlands also played a role in this memorability).✨👌
Day 5: WILD.
In the wilderness of taiga forests, far from civilization, the night sky was incredible. Framed by the dark silhouettes of cedars, it seemed dreamlike, and the kid’s mind would begin to wonder: either a starfall was about to begin, or a star ship would fly past, or maybe some magical creatures would come out of their burrows to lurk around and watch is us as we watched the stars. The world was a fairy tale and any leap of fantasy seemed possible.
Day 6: FORT.
Our very last apartment in Kyiv (before moving to US) was on the 14th floor. In those days, it was a new area, populated with young trees and construction, in which high-rise (at that time) houses rose among blank spaces, like huge towers, with thousands of small and special worlds inside each one. They made a seemingly depressing barren area feel cozy and warm. And one of these little worlds, way up high in the sky, was mine.
Day 7: WINTER.
Many of my winter breaks from school were spent on the Dnieper riverfront. It was a canvas for a whole array of winter fun: sledding, skiing, snowball-battling, and, of course, skating! At some point the Dnieper would very conveniently freeze, and people would immediately improvise a skating rink. We would slide around overlooking the Right Bank and the Lavra in the rays of the setting sun - still one of my most wintery memories ❄️ ❄️ ❄️