Sick In Kiev - the atonomy of an apartment.
Entry posted by digitalcat ·
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Ok so I spent the last 4 days in bed. Just getting up to eat and bathroom. I guess I did it to myself so I can't really blame anyone.Out of boredom I started to compare my Thai Apt and my moms apartment.
They live in type of building called "Hrushevka". These were cookie cutter buildings built in the 1960's in attempt to deal with the urban over population and post WW2 lack of housing. The house is located far from the center - equivalent of Ratchayotin from Siam. In the Ukraine the roads were built by communists so the city is well planned. There are no small dead end sois. There are main roads and smaller local roads. I am not brave enough to go outside so I took everything from my window.
That's an example of a main road and the type of building where my mom lives. Kiev is very green city so even in a dense residential area there are plenty of tress. And the building were spaced far from the road to allow for parking and road expansion. 
Thats a second view of the main road with a 9 floor cookie cutter building. Those types are especially cool because they are built of blocks pre-built at a factory and assembled on the spot.. kinda like legos. I grew up in one of those. You can also see a trolly... the cool electric buses that run all over Kiev. Behind our building is a soviet cortyard. I think that Soviets spaced their building out so that in case of nuclear attack the building would topple on top of another. But I love the space. Its big and green and even comes with a kids playground.Here you see a side view from the balcony (each apt comes with one) the street is off the main road you saw in the previous pic.
Heres another view. It's rather large so that I cant actually capture the full size without taking a bunch of photos of pretty much the same thing LOL
Now I'll show you the post soviet apartment. These apartments came in 1 or 2 bedroom types. Depending on the size of your family the soviets gave you one or the other. My mom has a 2 bedroom one. One for her one for my sis. 
This is the living room. Most Russian Apt I saw had wooden floors. The walls and sometimes the ceiling are usually covered by fancy wall paper (that kids love to mess up). All the electrical wiring is carefully hidden... which is cool until you need more outlets. 
The windows are always divided into 3 parts 1 large and 2 small. The very small one top right is called "fortachka" and is used for ventilation in the cold winters. Through the door is the balcony and to the right of the door is the extremely hot heater.
This is my sisters room and her 2 cats. Its a horrible mess so I didn't bother to capture it. Shes on my mac learning photoshop 
That's my moms room, its kinda tacky but I like it. 
A close up of the really tacky wall and ceiling paper. Thought that's an interesting site.Very different from my Thai apartments and my US apartment... which I also want to add to my collection of random journals cause its just too weird.
Well that is pretty much it. With the exception of the bathroom and the kitchen. Those are private places I dare not show... I'm bored ask me questions or requests for more pictures. V
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