The Black Sea: No Codes, No Water, No Power and No Animal Control

While most of the blog really centers on some of what I saw at the Black Sea back in September the first part also applies to Moscow. Dogs. Wild packs of roaming dogs. I’m not talking about small or medium sized dogs, I’m talking about full sized 60 – 90 lb animals. They are everywhere. They roam cities in packs. Originally I thought this was do to just a lack of government oversight; the lack of political will or care to take care of a “problem”. In Moscow and in the town we were at in the Black Sea the dogs were just there. Other than needing to watch you step on the grass I never saw them do anything but sit around and look at people. Thinking in the American way I thought huh, why don’t they hire some dog catchers and get rid of these animals. I mean they were running around in the subways. But this last weekend I learned that it isn’t a lack of will, it is a different philosophy than we have.

The dogs and other wild animals in Russia are scene as a natural and protected part of the environment. There are actually laws against getting rid of the animals. So instead shop owners and other citizens tend to leave scraps out for the dogs. This keeps them happy and from attacking people. I don’t know if the animals spread disease or not, I don’t know if that is part of the reason we have such stringent animal control policies. The Russia way seems to make sense though in its own way. The animals don’t seem to be hurting people (at least not very often though there are a few stories) and it would be cheaper than having an entire work force just to round up strays and take care of them. But it is a major difference when you walk around say New York – no dogs roaming free – and Moscow – no dogs on leases – oh yeah they don’t have bag laws so you always need to watch where you step.

Originally I thought the three things in the title of this blog were related, after my last trip I found that they weren’t but I’m throwing it all together anyway. One of the interesting things about Russia is that in the major cities you really wouldn’t know you weren’t in Europe if it weren’t for all the cops and old Soviet ornamentation. However if you get a couple hours out of the city, say to the black sea, everything can change. When I visited we had no running water. Or rather it ran for 1 hour a day. I couldn’t believe this. The reason for this was because the river the water came from was basically dry. It hadn’t rained in like 100 days. So we had to drive a town away to take showers as needed. We also collected water in pots and pans for and hour a day while also trying to clean things and brush our teeth. Now I never would have imagined such a thing happening in the states. But if you have watched the news at all, you know parts of the south are having this exact problem. Some cities are turning the water off for hours a day. I guess drought is drought anywhere.

However in this town I must mention that many people do not have into showers and toilettes. This is still common in some places that ½ the houses in town still use out houses. That was a bit crazy. They are available it is just that a lot of people that own older houses don’t have or don’t want to spend the money to put them in. House with them do cost more, but if you don’t have the money what can you do. I didn’t think this was a big deal, but I would be surprised if even a percentage of people in the West have out houses any more, or in the last 30 years. So while the dogs and lack of water surprised me there are reasons for it and so it isn’t as weird now as it was two months ago. But the last thing I saw really is different than what you would see in the states. That is the lack of building codes.

In Moscow I saw the lack of finish work and polish in a lot of things but everything seemed sturdy and well built. At the black sea I can’t say the same. There really seemed to be no real building codes. Buildings were built out of anything. Some walls in the same house may be covered in metal sheeting, brick, or un-matching unpainted wood. Roofs were tile or tin or wood, or both, or all three. Rooms were added to existing buildings half-hazardly, out buildings were built with materials that rotten in a year, and some buildings stood and were occupied when they were only 1/3-2/3 fininshed. For instance people may live in the first floor while the second was still under construction and the roof had not been installed yet.

My favorite example was where I saw the exterior walls, roof, and second level of a new building built around and over an existing house! People were still living in this house while they built the newer larger one around it. I think the cause of this is two fold. First people can’t get capital loans, there are no mortgages to speak of let alone home improvement loans, so they must build things as they have the cash to do so. The second is that inspectors and officials in this area are generally corrupt and take bribes pretty easily to look the other way or never inspect at all. So you get a some what odd mix of really nice buildings and really strange thrown together structures co-existing on the same streets. Very different.