«За листом да за вениками ходили… А раньше ведь попробуй где травинку-то найди! Это всё ведь окашивали, горбушами в колхозе-то даже кусты окашивали»

“We went to the forest to gather leaves and whisks… because it was almost impossible to find some grass or twigs in the village. In the kolkhoz, they mowed it all down; they even mowed the shrubs with hunchback scythes”

«А мы жили, чего там, яслей не было, садиков не было, сами себе были предоставлены, но ничего, как говорится, нигде ничего не разбивали, мы все как-то дружно жили. Ходили босиком. Только снег сошел, всё – никакой обуви тут! И босиком по лесу, только сучья трещат! Бежишь, даже где хлеб-то скосят, так уже сейчас и не ступишь, а мы бежим, это все под нами трещало. Обуви не давали, обуви не давали. Снег растает – всё»

“Well, this is how we lived. There were no nurseries, there were no kindergartens, we were left to ourselves, but nothing bad ever happened to us, no one got hurt. We were very united. Once the snow was gone, we took off our shoes. We walked barefoot. And we ran barefoot in the forest and the twigs cracked under our feet! Or in the summer, during crop harvesting, you could hardly put your foot down, but you still ran, and it was all cracking under you. Our parents did not allow us to wear shoes; they did not give us the shoes. So once the snow melted down – we were barefoot”

«Мы бегали за 9 км, и никто ведь не говорил, все на работе. Мы с ребятами, что нам там: одному 6, другому 7, там даже и 5-летние с нами бегали. За 9 километров уйдёшь в лес»

“We would walk as far as 9 kilometers, and no one said a word, the parents were at work. We were, like, 6 or 7 years old, but there were even 5-year-old children among us. It was normal to go to the forest as far as 9 kilometers away”

«На озёра ходили, и к морю ходили – и никто не боялся»

“We went to the lakes and went to the sea – and no one was afraid of anything”