The key to my heart

There's a different sense of security and safety in Russia. I'll expand on this topic another day. Today, I want to focus on security and homes.

Keys are ordinary items we use in our day-to-day lives and we barely pay any attention to them. I've noticed that keys are different in each country. To me, they look silly. I apologize to all of the keymakers now, I don't mean to scorn the art.

Below are my keys to two apartments. The one on the left looks like a screwdriver and is used to open the door to my apartment. The one in the two little keys in the middle are the same. They are used to open the door from the corridor to get to the door to my apartment. On the far right is a skeleton key. I only heard about skeleton keys in stories and fairy tales. I feel the magic every time I use it.

Look closely at the photo below. I know It's strange to take a photo of my door, but it's not really a door--it's an obstacle course. Coming into and getting out of my apartment is an adventure on its own...a physical challenge. The dark door in the back leads to the hallway and it requires me to use my body weight to turn the handle. I am not exaggerating. It is opened by the small keys (in the above picture). Locking and unlocking is just as difficult as turning the handle. I've broken the key...twice. The middle door requires me to push/pull with my body weight so that the lock aligns properly with its counterpart in the door frame. This recently broke, so I don't have to worry about that for awhile. The inside door requires a skeleton key. You just have to feel for it.

My Russian friends told me that here, they don't have home insurance to secure their investments like we have in the US. The explanation was simple enough and I accepted it as it was.

These doors have caused me a lot of heartbreak and anger, but I suppose they are my Russian guardians (since the police aren't).