Dear Blog followers:  back on April 29th Elder Pocock shared some facts about Russian housing and urbanization.  This blog is the follow-up to that post.  We are going to go into the actual apartments that are most common in Russia.  This is just a basic representation of the different types of "flats" that are most often seen by the missionaries.  We are going to begin by seeing what it takes to reach the opening that actually gets you inside the "kvartera" as it is said in Russia.  The first video takes you from the entrance of the building to the apartment.  Notice how much security is in place to keep intruders out.

The first type of apartment is the Kommunalka.  This was developed after the revolution, when they nationalized all the housing.  They took spacious apartments that were owned by the wealthy and subdivided them into multiple living spaces.  This video was developed by a travel business but does a good job of giving you a view of communal life in Russia.  As stated at the beginning, many people have grown up with this lifestyle and consider it beneficial.  How would you like to try this?

The next type of apartment is called Obshchina which literally means commune.  These apartments were built to include the fundamentals of the Kommunalka of shared living space, but more like a dorm style arrangement.  You will see private rooms with a hallway that will join 28 or more apartments to a common kitchen, laundry, shower, and toilet facilities.  This video was made by our sisters in an apartment being remodeled for a branch member. The cleaning of common areas are shared by all tenants on a rotation basis.  I hope everyone is good about doing their share. In these representations, videos do a much better job of giving a feel for what the rooms are like.  

The next type of apartment is the Khrushchyovka.  It is the most common type of apartment we see because they built so many during the early 1960s.  The narrator of this video is a Russian who gives many insights to the Russian way of life.  I have edited down his rather lengthy explanation to a shorter clip.  My thanks to Sergey Baklykov for his tour.

The other types of apartments are much like one might see in America, most of which are built after 2000.  Our own apartment is an example of that type of construction.  The mission president is concerned about the missionaries privacy and security.  Most of the missionaries apartments are in newer buildings and the rent is in the area of $1000/mo.