lisakovsk, the city where i'll be living for the next two years, is much smaller than initially anticipated. there are only 50,000 people or so, and it's a very compact city. there are about 30 to 40 apartment buildings and other such structures huddled together on the steppe. it's so strange to think about how this city came to exist, because as soon as you walk past the last building, all you can see is flat steppe, for miles and miles. steppe, steppe, and more steppe. which makes for some interesting and beautiful scenery, but also for some bitter winds ripping across the plains.
and, for some peculiar reason, there are packs of feral housecats roaming the apartment complexes. literally, packs. i've got a group of about six cats that like to run around the grassy patch in front of my apartment building and cause general mayhem.
the city is much more modern than my current semi-rural village, though. i've got a flusing toilet, a shower and bathtub, water that runs hot and cold, AND internet. my head just about exploded when i arrived. it's light years ahead of my wooden outhouse, to say the least.
life here is so different in so many of the superficial aspects (food, living conditions, etc.) but i think that deep down, it's more or less the same. it's the interpersonal relationships that shape life here, and it's what makes life worth living. and it's the relationships with all of you back home that keep me going on a daily basis.
i love you.
