Hollywood

This blog is a memoir chronicling the transition of a rural Russian girl from the end of Soviet Communism to living the American dream. Sometimes I write anecdotes describing interesting events which are atypical to a Western gal. At other times I share my perspectives on the culture and traditions which survived (or were created by) the Communist regime, and how my upbringing and the expectations I was given complicated my journey to my new life in America. And just for fun, I have added a few photos that are somewhat related to the topic of the story. I hope you find this site interesting. 

My little village was isolated in the mountains, and I was removed from civilization. It was such a feeling of complete isolation. On the main road into village, cars were always driving who-knows-where. I envied those people riding in the cars, because they were going far away and I was staying put. The world beyond the mountains often seemed huge and mysterious, sometimes even scary. I wanted to run away from home and begin to learn just what was out there in that huge, far-off world. My spirit was taken with the idea that out there, I could see into the unknown. I just wanted to keep going and going—it didn't matter where I was going, every day would reveal something new to me.

My village was unknown to pretty much anyone until the moment it became famous as "Hollywood." On one wonderful day, there appeared on the mountain a "Hollywood" sign. No one knew how it got there, because it was laid out in white painted stones, straight across the mountain. The village director didn't like it: it seemed too American to him, and he demanded that the sign be changed to a Communist Theme—"Glory to the CPSU*"—(*CPSU: Communist Party of the Soviet Union) to avoid having to remove the rocks from the mountain. The sign was easily visible from afar. The sign was changed, but that very same night, someone snuck onto the mountain again, and the sign was changed back to "Hollywood!" The village director was perplexed. He asked that the sign be changed again, but it soon went back to "Hollywood" once again. After a while, our village became famous. When asking directions, people would ask whether a place was before or after the "Hollywood" sign. Thus, my village became Hollywood!

You could say that I'm lucky, since I've been to two Hollywoods and each one has a special place in my heart!

I will continue to work on my journal—come back next week to see my pictures and read the continuation of my story! Your comments are always appreciated, for changes or improvements to this journal.


Click here for a map, or here for the wikipedia entry!

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