Epic answer haha. My other half grew up in a Soviet apartment block, so I get stories from her about that on occasion. Mostly about not owning any of it except their contents. Definitely a “poor but housed” situation – don’t look behind the curtains. I’m not sure it’s a good idea either. During the collapse of the Soviet Union when the power and heat shut off, they were burning furniture in there – but I guess that’s a testament too a solid construction haha.
Oh yeah, I’m Ukrainian so I’ve visited my babushka in her kruchivnya. It’s uhhh cozy but at the same time, she close to where she needs to be, she’s in her community, and like you said, she’s poor but housed.
It’s funny cuz those places were built and billed as temporary housing back then. But they had that saying of nothing being more permanent than a temporary solution, which yeah that ended up tracking :p
(Then again, there is something refreshing about the mindset of “oh hey, we don’t have enough housing? Let’s just build more housing.”)
Epic answer haha. My other half grew up in a Soviet apartment block, so I get stories from her about that on occasion. Mostly about not owning any of it except their contents. Definitely a “poor but housed” situation – don’t look behind the curtains. I’m not sure it’s a good idea either. During the collapse of the Soviet Union when the power and heat shut off, they were burning furniture in there – but I guess that’s a testament too a solid construction haha.
Anyway, fun reply! :)
Oh yeah, I’m Ukrainian so I’ve visited my babushka in her kruchivnya. It’s uhhh cozy but at the same time, she close to where she needs to be, she’s in her community, and like you said, she’s poor but housed.
It’s funny cuz those places were built and billed as temporary housing back then. But they had that saying of nothing being more permanent than a temporary solution, which yeah that ended up tracking :p (Then again, there is something refreshing about the mindset of “oh hey, we don’t have enough housing? Let’s just build more housing.”)