This was the scene from our kitchen window on Saturday morning. My theory is that the owners of the cars that are fairly cleaned off got up periodically throughout the night to dust them. The snow pretty much consumed the cars that are a little right of center. (They still look that way. I guess their owners are out of town. Or waiting for a thaw.)
Saturday morning, the clinic called and asked if we still planned to come in. When I said yes, they asked whether I was scared of the snow. Well, I wasn't until they asked! From the window, it just looked pretty. Intense, but pretty.
We gave ourselves a few extra minutes to get there, and I'm glad we did. There were only a few marshrutka (minibuses) running; we were unable to cram onto the first two that stopped, and we only got onto the third one because the other people at the stop insisted we get on first. (So kind!)
While we waited, Dietrich pleadingly asked, "But Mama, WHY do we need more snow?" Good question, kid.
I stepped off the marshrutka into a snow bank up to my thigh. We couldn't get to the sidewalk, so we slogged down the street, heads ducked to avoid the wind. Lev is a champion walker, and even he kept asking to be carried. I was so glad I had asked Eric to come with us, because I could not have handled both kids on my own.
The doctor's visit went well (only two more days, six more specialists, and some blood and urine tests, and then we'll be done).
The walk back was even harder. We were walking into the wind. We didn't know where the marshrutka stop was, so we walked past it. Once we found it, marshrutkas drove by because we couldn't get from the sidewalk to the street fast enough. The marshrutkas themselves were as jam-packed as you can imagine, but once we got on one, I was just so happy, I didn't mind the crowding. And people were fairly jovial about the whole situation, actually, which really makes all the difference.
Once we got home, Dietrich begged to be allowed to stay inside for as long as possible. So, we mostly watched in awe as the snow continued to cover cars in the parking lot.
Here's the view from our bedroom window.
Notice the car on the top left of this photo? Or the one smack-dab in the middle? Also, this is hard to see in the picture, but the snowplough pushed mounds of snow between all these cars, so even after they are cleared off, someone will have to shovel all that snow before they can actually drive anywhere. So, so glad we don't have a car. So glad.
Evidently, there was a 14-hour traffic jam to get into the city. One airport closed; the other cancelled most flights. Trains stopped running. The city declared Monday a non-work day. We actually didn't feel much of an effect until Monday, when we had an appointment at the consulate. It was closed, due to snow emergency. Sadik? Closed. Grocery store? Open -- but with very lightly stocked shelves. It made me feel rather unsettled to not have any alternative means for obtaining basics, like milk.
Per Dietrich's request, we stayed inside (again). We spent a lot of time sitting on the windowsill, watching people clear off their cars and looking for snowploughs. We even spotted some cross-country skiers cutting a path through our courtyard. And, of course, we played with Lego.
Everything was open again today. Here's Lev on the best-cleared path in our neighborhood; the walkway on the sadik grounds.
This is about a sixth of the path. The man in charge of clearing it is our neighbor, and he said he worked on it all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and now his back hurts. Poor guy. He tried to hire a tractor to clear the path, but the tractor said he'd do more harm than good. And I believe it. When the snowploughs pass, they leave behind a layer of packed snow, which is slippery to walk on. But our neighbor did good work; this was the only long stretch of entirely cleared sidewalk I saw today. And, despite his sore back, he seemed pleased to have given the neighborhood's families a place to stroll with their baby carriages.
