Sunday 10am, in the coldest village on Earth, and 9-year-old Arian is still sleeping.
But he must get up…
Arian has no time for rest. Weekends are the busiest days in Yakutia.
Nature calls. Arian rushes to the toilet outside.
After 7 months of the dark and cold winter, finally, spring is here!
The seasonal temperature drop in Yakutia can reach 100 degrees.
From -70°C to +30°C degrees in the summer.
Even though it is only +3°C out today, Arian feels that summer it has already arrived
Arian’s mum, Liubov, has already prepared a simple breakfast: Yakutian pancakes, cheese,
cookies, and buckwheat, Arian’s favourite!
After breakfast, Arian and his father are now feeding their dogs with raw meat
Sunday is the day for showering.
And the first of Arian’s duties is to chop the wood for the family’s bathhouse.
They don’t have running-water showers, so instead they use a bathhouse with a heating
stove and a steam room for showering.
Arian is the youngest son in the family
he has 2 older sisters, but they are studying in the university far away from the village.
So now he is the only one who is helping his parents.
Look how much wood they need just for one shower. It takes them 5 hours to heat a bathhouse.
That’s why they only able to shower once a week.
After the fire is on and the door is closed, it’s time to find water for a shower...
For showering locals buy lake water from the waterman Gregory.
As he drives around the village, Arian and his family hang up a red flag as a signal to order water.
Gregory sells lake water that he collected from the lake nearby.
Locals use it for their daily necessities, but it’s not safe for drinking.
Arian pays Gregory about $5 for 3 barrels of water.
Meanwhile, Arian and his father Kirill are arranging the ice they harvested in November
from the river nearby.
Digging wells is too expensive in this part of the world due to a thick layer of hard permafrost.
Besides, pipes freeze during the long winter, making ice the cleanest available drinking source.
Another Sunday duty is to shovel the snow in the yard.
It’s important to shovel the snow away in Yakutia, before it starts to thaw.
The ground is solid ice all year round,
and all the snow melting can cause big puddles in Spring.
Arian dutifully pulls the sled, which weighs about the same as him, happy to help his father.
After the work is done, Arian is finally having a little break.
From early spring until the autumn cold, Arian and his father spend most of their time in nature,
fishing and hunting, which makes a large portion of their food.
Now, Arian is heading to his grandparents house, Izabella and Radomir who you might
have seen in our previous video
Arian and his family has been living in this village for many generations.
It’s a small, remote village in the south-west of Yakutia
There is no crime, no police station, all locals know
each other, so parents are not worried about their children.
Arian’s grandparents are engaged in cattle and horse breeding like many locals in this village
Tending animals in this severe climate requires hard work. So Arian often comes over to help
Since ancient times, horses were key for communication and keeping people in contact within Yakutia's territory
which is 6 times larger than France.
Arian loves spending time with horses.
Before he leaves, he gives them one of their favorite treats: sugar cubes.
While Arian was helping his grandma, Izabella prepared a treat for him and his parents: A few bottles
of fresh, homemade sour cream.
Arian loves skiing during his free time, and In just a few days he has a school biathlon
competition which his parents are helping him to prepare for.
Krill and Liubov are supporting Arian in everything. Every weekend, they go skiing on
the frozen river nearby.
The weather is warming up for the spring.
Yakuts are spending as much time as possible outside in the sun.
Arian’s family loves cooking outside during spring and summer times
Every Sunday, they have their own little tradition of сooking
on a large cooking pot.
Today Liubov is cooking beef with vegetables.
Yakutian cuisine generally relies on meat, fish, and dairy products.
Since the ground is frozen solid, it’s impossible to grow fruits and vegetables all year round
Therefore, Liubov is using frozen carrots that were grown during the short summer in Yakutia
While Liubov is preparing lunch, Arian and his dad are busy making a vargan, which is
known in Yakutia as a “Khomus”.
Arian is inspired to be like his father, Kirill Petrov, who is a well known craftsman in Yakutia.
Yakutian vargans are made of metal, and rely on a rigid metal frame and a small metal reed
which players flick to create vibrations.
Firstly, they make a perfect hole in the metal form that Kirill had prepared earlier.
After it has a perfect frame, they start making the reed, which must be elastic in order to
produce a good sound.
Then, they make a slot for the reed using a saw.
It is necessary to try fitting the reed regularly, as it must be directly between
the arms of the frame.
The vargan has been used for centuries in
Yakutia in shamanistic rituals to induce trances and heal sickness.
Moreover, almost all cultural events in Yakutia start with the charming khomus sounds.
Finally, after 5 hours, the bathhouse is heated to the right temperature
and Arian is ready to shower
First, Arian goes to the steam room, where temperatures reach up to 70°C
Because the temperature is so high in the steam room
Arian comes back out very quickly.
After leaving the steam room, he starts washing himself with the lake water that he bought
from the waterman Gregory.
Meanwhile, Arian’s mum Liubov has already prepared lunch.
The air is filled with the rich smells of Liubov’s cooking
The smell of delicious, juicy, beef.
Arian and his father just can’t wait to
have some delicious food!
The whole family gathers together to finally have a little bit of rest and enjoy their
food after a long day's work.
Liubov connects to Express VPN whenever she goes online, and they are sponsoring this video.
All around the world, network security is becoming more and more important
and ExpressVPN helps to protect network data and keeps us safe from hackers who can gain
access to our passwords, financial details, or even emails.
This is especially important when we’re connected to public Wi-Fi
I also love using Netflix to watch shows such as the Vikings that aren't available in my country
Did you know that the available movies are totally different in different countries?
There are thousands of movies and shows that aren’t available in your country but you
can access using ExpressVPN.
And you can even save money!
With just one click, you can change your location and save 10 USD per month of Netflix subscription
which can also work for buying flight tickets and online games
Liubov bought an ExpressVPN subscription and it can be used on up to 5 devices at the same time
so her family can stay protected and enjoy all the benefits too.
And as our video sponsor, you can get 3 months for free by visiting ExpressVPN.com/kiunb,
and there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee
so you can download it and try it out
Check out the link in the description
Now, Liubov, Arian and Kirill are excited to watch themselves on Youtube
They read all the comments and are very happy to see
all the sweet and kind comments from all parts of the world.
How about you guys? How do you spend your weekends? And how does spring look like in your town?
Let me know in the comment below..
We may live different lives, speak different languages, have different appearances
but deep down inside we are all the same. we are all the same.
We have the same emotions, we all love our children and our parents…
We are like different leaves that all come from the same root, the planet earth…