Childhood Memories. 90s Russia

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 plane 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 small when it happened. I was only 6 years old, the age when you hardly understand how bad the reality you live in was… At that age, everything is just a game on a playground.

The strongest memory is hunger… constant hunger. The parents’ salary was enough only for 3 days of proper meal. After that, it was boiled potatoes with salt, no butter or anything else. Sometimes, we ate spaghetti with sugar to have some diversity. I remember my mother baking the bread because it was simply cheaper than buying it. We got some marinated vegetables from grandparents who lived in the south. At least in the south, people could grow food which was not possible to buy.

We lived 4 people in one room apartment: my parents, my brother and I. The flat was on the top floor in the gray block Soviet house, which was build in a hurry without any quality. Every time it rained, the water appeared in the corner of the room. It was not much flood thanks to an attic as a barrier. At some point, homeless people chose the attic as an overnight place. The problem was that they were fulfilling their toilet needs there as well… considering the quality of the building, the traces of that could be seen on the wall in the apartment…

Queues… They were everywhere, long and everlasting. We could spend hours waiting for stores, doctors, banks, administrative offices.

In childhood, you don’t know that there are alternatives, you don’t have comparison… Yet, it felt tough…

My Finnish and foreign friends love 90s parties, the music, the spirit. And I hate, truly hate. I have nothing against the music, but it brings me those weird memories, which I want to delete from my head…

Very often, people tell me that I have some childish naivity and approach to life. I guess it is a way to compensate for what you should have had in childhood…

This is probably the least coherent writing I ever shared due to fragmented memory and tense emotions, but definitely one of the most personal one.

If you are interested, I can continue the 90s Russia series and tell you about ads, frauds, crimes, music of that time.