Snow Mountains

It's been snowing like crazy here lately. I swear, for what felt like two weeks straight it snowed every day. For a few days it would start at 4 pm and just snow through the night. One downside to this snow is the fact that a 15 minute bus ride can take up to 40 minutes! For example, I left for work at 2:30 today and didn't get there until around 3:15. That's absolutely crazy, in my opinion. Luckily, I just had to be at a work meeting so the education of children was not harmed by my late arrival.


The snow crews have been really good about clearing the snow in the past, but I was told they were off for a week, so the snow just kept piling up. This means that a typical 6 lane street (which two lanes are usually taken up by parked cars making them four lanes) is now down to two lanes. Not only are the main streets overcome with piles of snow, but the side streets are now full of that soft snow that looks like cookie dough or sand leading to an increase in car crashes. Unlike Ohio, where, if you happen to find yourself in a car crash, you have to move your car to the side of the road, in Russia you keep your car where it is even if it's blocking traffic and no one can get by.

I've been stuck in my house for a few days, so I thought it would be good to bring my camera along with me so I could walk home and take pictures. I'm running out of queued posts, so I need some new content. It was actually a smart decision because after how long it took for me to get to work I realized it would actually be quicker for me to walk home. Also, I had a package waiting for me at the post office, so taking a bus wouldn't have made sense.

Elizabeth had time to kill so she went with me. I tried to take some pictures of the piles of snow, but it's really hard to show in photos what it actually looks like. I also tried to have pictures of people for scale. I was hoping to see workers clearing snow to give you an idea of how they do it but, unfortunately, I didn't pass anyone working. I'll bring my camera tomorrow. It's really interesting to me how they have machines that put snow into dump trucks that they take out of the city. They might do that in cities in the USA, but I lived in the suburbs most of my life. Some parts of the side walk snaked around and you had to climb up a step or two. There were parts only big enough for one person, so you had to wait your turn. I wanted to take pictures of this, but there were a lot of people walking and felt it would be rude.

One question I get asked the most is "How do you like Russian winters?" Honestly, they remind me of winters in Cleveland, so it's not that much different. I think winter lasts a little bit longer here, and it does get colder, but it's not that different. In fact, I think sometimes the snow is worse in my part of Cleveland than in Ufa. I do like that I don't have to drive in the snow here, but I do have to walk in it, so there's a trade-off in everything. Also, my apartment is so much warmer than houses I've lived in in the USA, so that's a plus. Summers are a different story. It's surprisingly much hotter in Ufa than in Cleveland.

How is your winter weather so far?