Wet!

We finally arrived at my older sister Anya's apartment! And honestly, I can't lie - it wasn't my favorite. It's very different than an American apartment. There is only room for a fridge, a stove, a couch/bed and a sink. It is only 12 feet by 14 feet (bathroom not included!) 

Her neighbors have an even smaller apartment, if you can believe it! They are a brother and sister and the sister's little boy, who is seven years old. They all live in a tiny apartment that is as small as my bedroom at home. 

Anya told us that the apartment building is only for adults who grew up in orphanages or who were homeless. It is hard fitting all five of us in such a tiny space! But I didn't know things were about to get worse!

  The third night we were at Anya's, a flood happened. It was from an upstairs apartment and it flooded the apartment we were staying in.The way that it happened was there was a guy living in the apartment above Anya and he is really poor, too. So,when his pipes weren't working right, he tried to fix them himself, because he didn't have money, and so he did it wrong and the pipe burst and flooded everyone below. All of the clothes but mine were soaking wet and smelly. Everything was covered in water, and it made the ceiling crack and the wallpaper rip. By some miracle my clothes were in a plastic bag and most of them were fine! I guess I'm the lucky one.

So anyway, we all tried to clean but the electricity was out so we couldn't see. So my sisters Nastia and Anya stayed and cleaned the apartment all night  by using their cellphone light while my niece Sasha, my mom, and I stayed at Anya's friends' mom's little cottage for the night. In the morning, we had tea and then went back to Anya's apartment to help. Everything looked much better in the morning.

We are staying at Anyas apartment for one more night and we are thinking of going to a different apartment soon. It is really cheap to rent apartments here and it will be easier for everyone if we all have more room! Just our suitcases alone were taking up half the apartment! Here are some photos from after the flood: