I Remember

Living in a new place, making new friends and meeting a lot of new people always makes one answer a lot of questions about one's life. In my case, the fact that I was born and "raised" in Russia seems to always come up sooner or later in conversation, and is often followed by the question of "Do you remember it?" And I do. I remember a lot of it actually - most of my childhood. So I thought I'd make a list of some of the things that I remember. Because I don't want to ever forget...

I remember our neighborhood, our building, our apartment, and the room my brother and I shared. I remember how we always used to divide it in half - his side vs my side. The door was on his side. Fail.

I remember taking the subway, the bus and the trolley everywhere.

I remember building huge snow forts with all the neighborhood kids on the playground in front of our building and playing in them until our parents came out looking for us.

I remember the "milk truck" and the "kvas truck".

I remember the bakery and the smell of fresh bread.

I remember summer camps and not wanting to get off the swings.

I remember having buckwheat with milk for breakfast every morning.

I remember helping my dad develop black and white pictures in our bathroom.

I remember the parties our parents threw at our apartment. I also remember throwing my own dance party for all my friends and playing all my parents' records when my grandpa was supposed to be "babysitting" us.

I remember summer vacations to the sea and learning to swim with my dad.

I remember taking long train rides that would last for days and the gypsies that would come on the train and perform for us.

I remember hospitals and doctors' offices.

I remember my school(s), my friends and my teachers.

I remember slapping a boy at school in 5th grade and calling him a pig because he was mean to one of my friends. Haha, I was feisty even then!!!

I remember listening to stories on the record player in our living room and knowing the words to all the pop songs.

I remember Russian cartoons - Karlson and Prostakvashena. I also remember watching Tails Spin and Duck Tales in Russian on Saturday nights.

I remember watching Mexican and American soap operas with my mom and talking on the phone with my friends.

I remember crying my eyes out in the school bathroom and sneaking out of school before my last class (PE) the day I found out my crush didn't like me - 5th grade.

I remember the day my dad's family moved to Israel and we said goodbye to them at the airport. I also remember the day we moved to America and my mom's family there to see us off...

But most of all, I remember being a kid, playing outside, laughing, fighting with my brother, traveling with my family, being surrounded by relatives, eating good food, listening to good music and enjoying life :)