Snow

This morning I was reading a newspaper on the train and came across an article about Slovz. Slovz are a fancy name for valenki (see the Timeline). They are going to be the new Uggs – everyone will wear them this winter – hopefully. “I need to get me a pair of those”, I thought. Russian = good. I have to support this kind of initiatives. I thought of Saratov winters with mountains of snow. You step in the snow and sink up to your knees. And when you try to get your foot out, you inevitably leave the shoe (valenok) behind. So you stand there with one leg half buried in snow still and another one in the air, shoeless, covered in a wool sock made by your grandma. And although this happens all the time, somehow it’s still extremely funny. You stand there, balancing on one foot, laughing, laughing, laughing...

I looked out of the window. The train was passing the fields somewhere between Gouda and Utrecht. Most of the time morning mist is covering the fields creating a spectacular view. But today the picture was stunning. The mist was thick and absolutely white, covering the fields completely. It looked like… snow! For a moment I had a flashback: endless fields, the train is moving along and all you see is snow and lonely lampposts - one... two… three… This “snow landscape” outside, memories of valenki, the music on my i-pod gave me this complicated feeling: dark, cold, lonely, home…

Ivan Kupala - Molodost


P.S. The deadline for solving my Love Life puzzle is Saturday 24:00. Start NOW!