The Girl with the Two Metal Hips: A Travel Blog: Babushaka

Saturday, September 8, 2007 2:23 PM

It was barely the crack of 10:30 when Emily and I were woken up by our doorbell buzzing. We both jumped up to answer it. Unlocking our front door from the inside was a process. First of all, there was our front door, which had to be locked from the inside with a key, and could only be unlocked by turning the key 300 times in the lock (in most doors you had to turn keys full circle at least twice, and at my old apartment it was 4 times). Then we had to go open the door to our suite (the door that led to our apartment along with three other apartments-luckily that door didn't have to be opened from the inside by key). When we finally got the door open and were standing groggily wondering who was visiting us at such an insane hour, an old woman (probably 60s) wearing a see-through dress came walking into the suite and then continued on into our apartment. We stared at her confused as she yelled at us in Russian. Finally, I made out the name T and realized she was talking about the American guy who used to live in our apartment. This was our introduction to our landlady.

She continued to yell at us and we continued to stare at her until I got the bright idea of calling Gayla to translate. The landlady (babushaka) got on the phone and proceeded to walk around our apartment yelling at Gayla. After a while, during which Emily and I just stood patiently in the hallway with our tussled hair and in our pajamas, Babushka handed the phone to me. Gayla translated, "You can't put things on the wall, you must keep the apartment clean, and the oven doesn't work very well." Babushka gestured for the phone and continued to yell at Gayla. When she handed it back, Gayla said, "So hows your internet working? Do you need me to get the guys to come over?" (this was obviously not what Babushka had said, but Gayla must have deemed her muttering irrelevant).

I got off the phone with Gayla but babs was still here. She took me around the house pointing to various things. These are the instructions she left me with (I think): Scrub the bathroom sink and toilet, don't fill the teapot too full (she showed me the level that the water should never exceed), make sure our balcony window is closed at all times because someone could climb in and take our stuff (we only live on the second floor but that would be one desperate robber), always keep the doors locked and when someone knocks always ask "who is it?" Finally, she left. Later, I saw her on the street and waved to her as a friendly gesture, which she obviously saw but chose to ignore.

Later that day, I went over to some of the new teachers' apartment and when I was leaving I just grabbed the first bus that came my way. This was a mistake because it took me no where near where I

wanted to go and I was very lost. After a while, I asked the bus driver about the metro near my house and
he said no and pointed me in the direction of a bus that would take me there. It took about two hours to get home; my friends live a 20 minute walk away (that's how lazy I am).

Today I went with Genie to Brisbel where she and her mom teach English. I was to be a guest in the class. It was rainy, windy and cold, and I wasn't prepared. I was cold all day long. When I
got to Brisbol, (which consisted of taking a bus-metro-switching metros-another bus-a train- and a
final bus,) Gayla called me. She said I needed to pay rent today. If I had been informed that rent was due
perhaps I would've been prepared, but I was no where near Rusanovka (the little island district where I live in Kiev). Gayla asked if I had any money in the apartment and I said no. She said if we didn't pay today Babushka would be mad, (which is something I would really like to avoid since G told me that while she was living here, Babs had gone through her underwear). I didn't know what to do, so she said she would call me back. She never did, but when I got home Emily told me that they borrowed money from a friend of Gayla's and we need to pay her back on Monday. And from now on we need to pay Babs directly. Of course they didn't tell us when rent would be due or how much, so we're thinking of baking some cookies for Babs so we stay on her good side.