- 7 months ago
Siberia. Endless vastness – arctic temperatures. Even farther East than Japan and 5 000 kilometres north of Vladivostok lies Yakutia, the coldest republic of Russia. Yakutsk is the capital of the Yakutia republic and is located about 5100 kilometres east of Moscow. In the midst of it: Oimjakon. With its 500 residents the coldest inhabited place on earth. This village lies in a mountain valley on the upper reaches of the banks of the Indgirka River. One of the major reasons for the freezing temperatures is the great distance from the Atlantic Ocean and the humidity that the Ocean provides to a major part of the Northern Hemisphere. Masses of mountains shield Siberia against the warm air from the west and south, while in the opposite direction, the door to the Artic stands wide open. Thus in the winter, cold masses of air expand into the Siberian landscape completely unrestricted.
The average temperature in winter: Minus 40° Celsius. The children of the Siberian Oimjakon have the world`s coldest way to school. The extreme living conditions are completely normal for the residents of Oymyakon. This is also true for the Tariks family and their son Aljosha. He is 8 years old. The children of his age group are only excused from attending school on account of the cold at temperatures below minus 54° degrees.
Even before his departure for school Aljosha feels the grim cold. Lacking running water the house also has no bathroom. So Aljosha alredy has to go outside – to the unheated outside earth closet in the garden. Sascha’s mother cooks tea. In order to do so, she must go to outside to the front of the house, which is made of wood- as all houses in Oymyakon. Due to the great temperature differences here, concrete walls would soon crack and be destroyed. In the short summers, it can get quite warm in Oymyakon. In front of the wooden house the ice blocks are stored. The next-door farmer had cut out of the frozen river for them. There is no running water in the Pole of Cold, with temperatures dropping to -65 degrees Celsius; no pipe work has a chance. Aljoshas mother puts the ice in the pot and cooks some tea for her son.
Like every day, Aljosha must get ready to go to school. Like the majority of the other students, Sascha wears for the most part his traditional dress. The clothing prescribes to the onion-peel principle in order to protect the students from the Artic temperatures. His mother Irina has heated up the living room to 20° degrees. So when Aljosha opens the front door it is 70° degrees colder – every day life in Oimjakon. As soon as the children open the dormitory’s double doors, the icy cold brutally grabs hold of them. Within less than one second their nostrils become frozen.
The average temperature in winter: Minus 40° Celsius. The children of the Siberian Oimjakon have the world`s coldest way to school. The extreme living conditions are completely normal for the residents of Oymyakon. This is also true for the Tariks family and their son Aljosha. He is 8 years old. The children of his age group are only excused from attending school on account of the cold at temperatures below minus 54° degrees.
Even before his departure for school Aljosha feels the grim cold. Lacking running water the house also has no bathroom. So Aljosha alredy has to go outside – to the unheated outside earth closet in the garden. Sascha’s mother cooks tea. In order to do so, she must go to outside to the front of the house, which is made of wood- as all houses in Oymyakon. Due to the great temperature differences here, concrete walls would soon crack and be destroyed. In the short summers, it can get quite warm in Oymyakon. In front of the wooden house the ice blocks are stored. The next-door farmer had cut out of the frozen river for them. There is no running water in the Pole of Cold, with temperatures dropping to -65 degrees Celsius; no pipe work has a chance. Aljoshas mother puts the ice in the pot and cooks some tea for her son.
Like every day, Aljosha must get ready to go to school. Like the majority of the other students, Sascha wears for the most part his traditional dress. The clothing prescribes to the onion-peel principle in order to protect the students from the Artic temperatures. His mother Irina has heated up the living room to 20° degrees. So when Aljosha opens the front door it is 70° degrees colder – every day life in Oimjakon. As soon as the children open the dormitory’s double doors, the icy cold brutally grabs hold of them. Within less than one second their nostrils become frozen.
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00:00We all know it, walked it every day, but none of them were like these.
00:14The world's most dangerous ways to school.
00:20Climbing, freezing, paddling for hours, all for the chance of a better life.
00:29Risky, spectacular, and sometimes simply beautiful.
00:36The world's most dangerous ways to school.
00:41Siberia. Endless vastness, arctic temperatures.
00:46Even further east than Japan and 5,000 kilometers north of Vladivostok lies Yakutia, Russia's coldest republic.
00:54In the midst of it, Omyakon.
00:57With hundreds of thousands of people, it's the coldest city in the world.
01:02Here, everything ordinary becomes something special.
01:06Also, and especially, the way to school.
01:13The world's most dangerous ways to school.
01:17Climbing, freezing, paddling for hours, and sometimes simply beautiful.
01:21Even further east than Japan and 5,000 kilometers north of Vladivostok lies Yakutia, Russia's coldest republic.
01:27In the midst of it, Omyakon.
01:30Climbing, freezing, paddling for hours, and sometimes simply beautiful.
01:38A daily adventure trip in hostile temperatures.
01:44The children of the Siberian Omyakon have the world's coldest way to school.
02:00It's morning in Omyakon.
02:20Irina Tarik is preparing for when her children get up.
02:25She melts the ice from the river so her son Alyosha can wash the sleep out of his eyes.
02:30By burning water at the coldest place on earth, temperatures can reach as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius.
02:37Water pipes would quite simply freeze.
02:40So the residents fetch their fresh water from the river in blocks of ice and then melt it for use.
02:50Afterwards, Irina checks the temperature, as she does every day.
02:54Around minus 50 degrees again.
02:57That means her son Alyosha must go to school.
03:00He has to go to school.
03:08Alyosha is eight years old.
03:10The children of his age group are only excused from attending school when the temperatures dip below minus 54 degrees.
03:21Even before his departure for school, Alyosha feels the grim cold.
03:25So, Alyosha already has to go outside, to the outhouse in the garden.
03:38Sometimes, I wouldn't mind staying inside the house.
03:44Because I'm only able to take staying outside for an hour at most, or maybe two.
03:50His mother Irina has heated up the living room to about 20 degrees.
03:54So, when Alyosha opens the door to the outer room and afterwards the actual front door, it is essentially 70 degrees colder.
04:02Everyday life in Oymyakon.
04:17In Oymyakon, no one spends more time than necessary out in the cold.
04:22Everything that happens outside is done very efficiently.
04:25Otherwise, it not only becomes unpleasant, but also dangerous.
04:30The little Yakut rushes back into the house as fast as he can.
04:42Seven kilometers away, on a remote farm, Alyosha's classmate Sayana is up too.
04:48The family lives from their cows.
04:51Before going to school, Sayana must help in the stable.
04:58It's relatively warm there, with temperatures around freezing.
05:03In Oymyakon too, they say, work is the best clothing.
05:18Will you please bring the bucket and the stool?
05:36Mom, when I'm older, I will help you milk even more cows, okay?
05:41I will help you milk even more cows.
05:49During the severe winters, the family needs every helping hand in the stable.
05:54The elder siblings pitch in and help with the feeding and tending of the animals.
05:59The family could well imagine Sayana taking over the farm one day,
06:03but in truth, they've known for a long time that school is the key to their youngest daughter's dreams.
06:11I like animals, not only cows, but also dogs and cats.
06:22That's why you'd prefer to become a vet, right?
06:25Oh, yes.
06:29Anyone who wants to become a vet must go to school.
06:33Oh, look at that.
06:36Look how mom is milking.
06:40And whoever wants to go to school and lives outside the village is dependent on Grigory.
06:46Grigory is the driver of the school bus, the only one in Oymyakon.
06:55The school supplied the 58-year-old with a heated garage.
06:58This luxury guarantees that the engine fluids of the bus are protected from freezing
07:04and that his vehicle starts in these icy temperatures.
07:12Today it is very cold again.
07:14I have to check the oil and the gearbox every morning.
07:18It's already below minus 50 degrees.
07:25Well, that's normal. So what?
07:28That's how I do it every day.
07:33After all, it's for the sake of the children's lives.
07:37Let's go, shall we?
07:56In order for the bus to be able to drive in these extreme temperatures in the first place,
08:01Grigory has taken special precautions for the bus.
08:04Engine failure with children on board would be very dangerous.
08:22Therefore, the 58-year-old uses blankets as insulation for all the damageable, sensitive cables.
08:29This is supposed to protect the bus against the extreme cold during nine long winter months.
08:34Grigory keeps warm by listening to the radio, turned up loudly.
08:39Indeed, all the time.
08:47Some of the students are bugged by Grigory's loud radio, but there is no way to avoid it.
08:52The children living on the farms outside the village are dependent on the bus driver.
08:56Most households have no car of their own.
09:14Back to Alyosha.
09:16After half an hour on the stove, the water from the river is warm enough for the daily spit bath.
09:27In the Yakutian part of Siberia, there are almost no jobs.
09:31Without a school-leaving certificate, the chances of finding a good job are poor.
09:39Alyosha's mother knows this.
09:41That's why she sends her children to school.
09:46Only her youngest son may stay at home today.
09:49The kindergarten remains closed at temperatures below zero.
09:53On her parents' farm, seven kilometers away from Oymyakon,
09:57Sayana's and her family's work in the stable is now done.
10:04Breakfast.
10:06There's fish, eggs, and warm porridge made of bread, milk, and sugar.
10:11The children are hungry.
10:13They're hungry.
10:15They're hungry.
10:17They're hungry.
10:19They're hungry.
10:20They're hungry.
10:22The children are hungry.
10:24Here's bread, eggs, and porridge made of bread, milk, and sugar.
10:30A warm, high energy meal.
10:33Sayana has older siblings who will soon have to catch the bus to school as well.
10:50I don't miss that bus.
10:55The family's farm is so remote
10:57that the school bus cannot pick up
10:59Sayana and her brothers directly.
11:01The three of them still have to walk
11:03quite a ways through the icy cold.
11:05Their mother, Shigina, ramps her daughter
11:08in four different layers of clothes,
11:10on top of which she wears another two jackets.
11:21As well as two pairs of gloves, a cap, and a thick hood.
11:26Often Sayana wears so many clothes
11:28that she is unable to dress or undress by herself.
11:32She is no exception.
11:52The student, Alyosha, should also make no mistake
11:55when dressing for his way to school,
11:58and relies on the layering method as well.
12:01Aljosha is wearing a shirt and a jacket.
12:04He also wears six layers of clothing,
12:06including the warm jacket made of wool and fur.
12:12His mother Irina covers every exposed inch of his skin.
12:16In Oymyakon, frostbite is not uncommon.
12:23Aljosha walks quickly when he is on his way,
12:26only for a short time before he is caught in the act.
12:31A short moment, a very special one, does he take his time.
12:40He hears his nasal mucous membrane crackle
12:43as it freezes in his sinuses within split seconds.
12:48The moisture immediately forms
12:49little icicles on his eyelashes.
12:57High time to get going on his way to school,
12:59but he has a long way to go before he reaches his destination.
13:03The distance to the village is about one kilometer long.
13:22A worried mother stays behind.
13:25Irina and Aljosha don't like the cold.
13:32But below 55, 56 degrees, I don't let them leave the house.
13:42Around minus 60, it's too dangerous.
13:44We then don't go out at all.
13:48Today, it is three degrees warmer
13:50than Irina's limit of minus 55 degrees,
13:53in spite of the cold, Aljosha really likes his way to school.
14:13I like my way to school because it's on foot.
14:16Running is great fun.
14:24I like to run.
14:31Aljosha likes to dawdle,
14:33and sometimes even makes a few detours,
14:36despite his parents' strict instructions.
14:47Meanwhile, the school bus still struggles
14:49along the ramshackle streets of Yakutia.
14:53The school bus has to stop and take them to school.
14:57Once Grigory fell ill,
14:59more than a third of the students missed class.
15:02If the bus breaks down yet again,
15:04it is dangerous for everybody,
15:06and this happens often in the coldest place on Earth.
15:15If it's that cold, the oil and the petrol can freeze.
15:19Anything working on fluids can freeze.
15:23Then I have to warm it up somehow,
15:26otherwise the bus won't start.
15:35The streets around Oymyakon are in poor condition.
15:38Every pothole can become a trap out here.
15:41In the case of an engine breakdown,
15:43Grigory has 30 minutes until the temperature inside the car
15:47reaches the outside temperature of minus 50 degrees.
15:51The only bus driver far and wide
15:53is aware of his special responsibility.
15:56Carefully, he steers the bus around the largest holes.
15:59Out here, broken axles are not uncommon.
16:02At these temperatures, shock absorbers
16:04quickly freeze and become hard and stiff.
16:07But in Yakutia, a car is a new fangled phenomenon.
16:12The Siberians have always banked on their natural resources,
16:16which are independent of technology,
16:18which is sensitive to the cold.
16:20Reindeer.
16:22This deer species is an important part of life in Yakutia.
16:31On the one hand, reindeer are a fat, rich food.
16:34On the other hand, they serve as work animals,
16:37pulling the sleigh.
16:42And where there are no cars yet,
16:45they are also used as a riding animal.
16:48The domestication of the reindeer has helped the Omyakonyi
16:51for centuries in the struggle against the icy cold.
16:55The reason for these extreme sub-zero temperatures
16:58lies in the unique geographical position of Yakutia.
17:01Mountain ranges close the little village off
17:04from the warm air streams coming from the west and the south.
17:08On the other hand,
17:10the cold air from the north and the south
17:13is the only source of heat for the reindeer.
17:16The cold air from the north and the south
17:19is the only source of heat for the reindeer.
17:23On the other hand, the door to the Arctic is wide open.
17:26Icy streams of air press forward unhindered.
17:30So in Omyakon, winter lasts from October until April.
17:39The all-time record low temperature?
17:41Minus 71 degrees Celsius,
17:44recorded in 2013 by the local meteorologist.
17:48During the summer months in June and July, on the other hand,
17:51it might even get as hot as 30 degrees.
17:54The villagers, however, take rather more pride in low temperature records.
18:07To go to school in these ice-cold temperatures
18:10is daily routine for the children in Omyakon.
18:13It's high time for Sayana to get going.
18:21She has to go to school.
18:30Sayana's siblings always join her.
18:33Her parents forbid her to walk this way alone.
18:36Their fear of her freezing to death on her way is too great.
18:46For us this cold has become normal by now.
18:50Sayana is still very young.
18:53But considering her age, she knows quite well how to deal with the cold.
19:00And the older ones help the younger ones.
19:03That reassures me a bit.
19:09Like nearly all children, Sayana goes marching to school.
19:13But it's not solely due to the cold.
19:19Under no circumstances may she miss the bus.
19:22It would in fact be better to be there a few minutes early,
19:25because the bus only comes once and does not wait.
19:33Without deigning to look at them,
19:35the three of them meet creatures which only exist here above the Arctic Circle.
19:40Wild horses.
19:44With especially thick skin.
19:47They run free and can cope with temperatures down to minus 70 degrees.
19:58Unlike the reindeer, horses are not work animals in Omyakon.
20:02And it wouldn't occur to anyone to ride them.
20:05Horse meat is a delicacy here, and exercise would make the meat tough.
20:14But it's not all that easy.
20:27By now the bus has done more than half of its tour.
20:30Several children have been picked up,
20:32and it's three more kilometers to Sayana's home.
20:36But then, Grigori is in trouble.
20:54Something's wrong.
21:07One of the rear wheels won't turn anymore.
21:14That happens quite often, I'm afraid.
21:17These are old tires, they spin.
21:20This definitely wouldn't happen with new ones.
21:25If the bus gets stuck out here, there is a serious problem.
21:29Omyakon is four kilometers away.
21:32Nobody will come to their aid.
21:35Grigori must fix the bus by himself.
21:38Otherwise it may quickly become dangerous.
21:43Just last week someone wanted to drive to the neighboring village, Tomtor.
21:48His fuel indicator was inaccurate, he hadn't checked it.
21:51His car ran out of fuel out here.
21:54Had he not got as far as here, he might have been able to walk back.
21:59Well, he died.
22:06Sayana isn't aware of any of this.
22:09With hurried steps, she trudges to the meeting point through the snow.
22:16Sayana doesn't know that the bus had a breakdown.
22:19She might have just as easily have missed it.
22:22The only thing she can do is hope and wait for the school bus.
22:26At minus 52 degrees.
22:36I hope the bus is still coming, or I won't be able to go to school.
22:46A few minutes the eight-year-old can afford to wait in the cold.
22:50Then she must quickly return home.
22:55Her destination, the school, is seven kilometers away,
22:59on the north side of the mountain.
23:02The school is seven kilometers away, on the northern edge of the forest.
23:06The pride and joy of the town of 500 residents.
23:12Here, 25 teachers educate 118 students.
23:16The school principal, Katarina Yuvkovia, lives across the street.
23:21At a quarter to eight, she is the first to enter the building.
23:33This is the only school here.
23:35For the children living in this area, it is the only chance to receive an education.
23:41The school, with its 25 classrooms, is the largest building in Oymyakon.
23:45Therefore, it is also the most difficult to keep warm.
23:52We have central district heating here,
23:54which only heats this school and a few more private houses.
23:59A small coal-fired power plant heats six buildings via district heating round the clock,
24:05with the help of 20 tons of brown coal per year.
24:14All the houses in Oymyakon are built of wood, like the school.
24:18Any other material would burst with the differences in temperature
24:22of over 100 degrees between winter and summer.
24:29The structure of the houses is similar everywhere.
24:32An unheated outer room serves as a lock and store room.
24:35Then comes the heating room with a fireplace,
24:38followed by a room which is used as a living and dining room,
24:41and behind that lie the bedrooms.
24:44In order for the house to remain warm,
24:46the Oymyakons fill up every gap, however small, with polyurethane foam.
24:51But the cold comes in at some point anyway, always.
24:55Alyosha's father has to heat the house nine months non-stop
24:58in order to keep it warm somehow.
25:08My parents, my grandparents and my great-great-grandparents have lived here.
25:19And so, we live here too.
25:22I like living in harmony with nature.
25:28In order to live in harmony with the extreme cold,
25:31one has to constantly be on the alert,
25:34even when performing very ordinary tasks.
25:39Irina cannot let the freshly washed laundry dry in the house.
25:43The risk is too great that the moisture will cause the beams of the house to split.
25:50At the coldest place on earth, the laundry always dries in the garden.
26:03Within seconds, the water is frozen and the laundry as stiff as a board.
26:08At least the wash is free of germs.
26:10The low temperatures immediately kill any germs.
26:14But Alyosha's father is also aware of the many disadvantages of the cold,
26:18especially when people get careless.
26:23Many people here drink, and it's happened often that they fall asleep in the snow.
26:30They don't notice that they're freezing to death.
26:32Already at temperatures around minus 20, the extremities start to die off.
26:38A few years ago, a friend of his froze to death in the middle of the village.
26:44One's worries become even greater if your eight-year-old happens to be a cheeky kid.
26:49In spite of the icy temperatures, he is full of nonsense,
26:53just as any other child his age would be.
26:59He especially likes to scare the cattle on their way to the waterhole.
27:14He takes no notice of the special clothes the thick-skinned cows are wearing.
27:20As a shield against the cold, their owner has strapped a sort of special bra around their udders.
27:26A bra made of nylon stockings protects the most sensitive parts of their bodies from frostbite.
27:44Sajana has been waiting for more than 15 minutes already, but still no bus in sight.
27:50If it doesn't arrive soon, she will have to return home.
28:00400 meters away, north of the clearing, Sajana's father performs his daily duties.
28:09The firewood doesn't have to dry after it's been chopped.
28:12Due to the icy cold, it has become so brittle, one blow is enough to break it.
28:20And Sajana's father needs a lot of wood.
28:22More than 60 cubic meters is burned by each inhabitant on average every winter.
28:27That adds up to five truckloads.
28:38We live here and work here.
28:41Without the work, one cannot survive.
28:45And whoever doesn't work, dies.
28:51Of course it's cold. Life can be tough here sometimes.
28:54But then you just have to work harder.
28:57Sometimes we work for sheer survival.
28:59What more can I say?
29:11If it's extremely cold, I simply cannot allow my children to run around outside.
29:18Then they have to stay inside, play computer games or watch TV.
29:23The only way they're allowed to walk is their way to school anyway.
29:29For Sajana's parents, moving away from Oymyakon is out of the question.
29:35They decided a long time ago to live in the coldest place on earth.
29:39But Sajana should make her own decision.
29:41And that is only possible if she goes to school and graduates.
29:57Like many other parents in Oymyakon, they put Grigori in charge of that.
30:10As so often, the bus driver uses all available means to get his bus going again
30:15and to escape from the cold.
30:19Giving it a lot of gas and with a little bit of luck, he manages.
30:29But now it's shortly before 8 o'clock.
30:31The breakdown cost him almost a quarter of an hour.
30:34It is quite possible that many children won't be waiting at the agreed meeting points anymore.
30:50But Sajana has held out.
30:52Just in time, Grigori picks up the freezing 8-year-old.
31:00The school bus.
31:02On the one hand, it's the only way to get to school.
31:05On the other, an unpopular necessity.
31:20The school bus is the worst thing.
31:22It's always loud, dirty and too hot in there.
31:33Alyosha has been on his way for half an hour already.
31:36Even though he can make it to school in a good 20 minutes.
31:48But the lure to take the detour across the frozen river in the morning was too great.
31:53Now the 9-year-old is freezing.
32:03It's cold.
32:22Within a short time, the bitter cold always finds its way through all six layers of clothes.
32:29In winter, cars and Grigori's school bus use the river as a shortcut.
32:35For the boy, the riverbed is always a place to discover new things.
32:39Because the Indigirka, that's what the Omyakans call the river, although frozen, is still alive.
32:51Four times a year, a truck from Yakutsk, which is 700 kilometers away,
32:57delivers canned and vacuum-packed food.
33:02Apart from this, the residents of Omyakon live self-sufficiently.
33:06In every season of the year, the river provides staple food, such as fish.
33:14In wintertime, the river Indigirka is the hunting ground for ice anglers.
33:19Using their fishing rods and nets, they provide the basic food supply of the whole village.
33:26They wait for hours with their nets.
33:56Then they grab the fish out of the nets with their bare hands.
34:16The water, which is zero degrees, doesn't bother them.
34:19What does bother them, though, is the air temperature.
34:23The ice fishermen don't have to kill the fish.
34:26Within seconds, the animals are shock-frozen.
34:39The ice fishermen probably have the coldest job here in Omyakon.
34:44That's not for Alyosha.
34:46One day, he wants to create something and see the world.
34:53I'd like nothing better than to become an architect, build houses.
35:03That's why I attend school.
35:06Whenever he doesn't feel like going to school and taking on the ice-fishing job,
35:12Alyosha remembers his dream.
35:15The last few meters, and he's made it.
35:18He is at school.
35:24Wearily and frozen stiff, he reaches the school building at a quarter past eight.
35:32Alyosha is a bit early, but there are already many children there.
35:36All those children who arrive on foot arrange enough time to thaw after their way to school.
35:41The best way is to play around.
36:07Alyosha's teacher prepares for her class.
36:10Half of the seats are still vacant, but in the coldest place on earth, nobody is able to skip class.
36:19If it's that cold outside, the parents may decide for themselves whether they send their children to school or not.
36:27But if the children don't turn up without informing the school and having an excuse,
36:33we must definitely call and ask what has happened.
36:40The risk of a child freezing to death on his or her way to school is too high.
36:52By now the bus is full to bursting point.
36:55It's loud, stuffy, but at least it's not cold.
37:04It's not cold, it's warm.
37:07It's time to go to school.
37:09It's time to go to school.
37:30After the more than two hour drive, Gregori finally drives the crammed bus up to school.
37:37And Gregori can take a break until school ends at 2 p.m.
37:45It's exactly half past eight.
37:47Sayana arrives in the nick of time with the school bell ringing.
37:59Today all children are more or less punctual.
38:02And lessons start.
38:07Five hours lie ahead of the children.
38:10Math, biology, history and Russian.
38:13Alyosha and Sayana are Yakuts.
38:16Their language is based on their Turkish and Mongolian roots.
38:20The Yakutian language has little to do with Russian.
38:24And so the children have to learn Russian almost as a foreign language.
38:27At least if they want to leave this forbidden place at some point in time.
38:37Sayana stands a fair chance.
38:39She is a straight A student and top of her class.
38:47Alyosha is talented, but not very hard working.
38:56My favorite classes are history and math.
39:01But to be honest, I come here to play and paint and meet my friends.
39:15After the first two lessons, it's time for the main break.
39:19The students storm into the cafeteria.
39:22In cold Siberia, there is traditionally a second breakfast for the children.
39:31Warm noodles and hot tea.
39:34Essential for the increased energy needs.
39:44Afterwards they all stay in the building.
39:47No one wants to go out in the schoolyard.
39:50For this, the children would first of all need to put on various layers of clothing.
39:54That's too cumbersome.
39:56Takes too long.
39:58And it's simply too damn cold outside.
40:14The play equipment in the yard is used only during three months of the year.
40:18However, they are designed in such a way that they can withstand even the coldest winter on earth.
40:24If no one comes to the garden, the garden must go to the students.
40:29A few green plants provide for a little wellness oasis.
41:00Apart from that, the students pass the time playing board games.
41:06The school rifle is also very popular with the boys.
41:12The children learn how to disassemble a real gun and put it back together again.
41:23The quicker they learn how to do this, the earlier their fathers will be able to do it.
41:29The boys will take them hunting.
41:44Since the children can't really let off steam inside the building,
41:48there are gym exercises at the beginning of the third lesson.
41:59Sayana and Alyosha are in Russian class right now.
42:03This time the students were asked to learn a whole poem by heart.
42:07Sayana worked hard and knows all the verses perfectly.
42:30The children learn the poem by heart.
42:40School ends at 2 p.m.
42:43While the children from nearby start off on their cold foot walk back home,
42:48the school bus children wait for Grigori and his ramshackle bus
42:52in the school building, where it's nice and warm.
42:59The school bus is quiet, quite simply because of the loud music.
43:09Afterwards, all of them just want to get into the warm bus.
43:14The school bus is ready.
43:29Alyosha enjoys the first part of the way walking with a friend.
43:38Then he's on his own again.
43:40The first part of the way is quite exhausting,
43:43but the second part is not in the least bit exhausted.
43:47Alyosha does what all children of the world do on their way home.
43:51He makes up his own games.
44:10But mom and dad know their son, and also know when they have to start worrying.
44:31Now he's fully warmed up.
44:35He won't be coming home that quickly now.
44:40But he's well wrapped up.
44:43He wants to stay outside and play.
44:46But his games never last very long.
44:51Nevertheless, Alyosha's father always feels a bit of relief
44:55when he sees his son come in through the garden gate.
45:11Sajana made it through the drive back with Grigori's school bus.
45:16Before doing her homework, she helps her mother in the kitchen.
45:20The two are very close, spend a lot of time together.
45:24No wonder, friends from school rarely come over to play at the farm.
45:28Because they must take the bus.
45:31And have to stay the night.
45:40Sajana and Grigori go to bed.
46:10The three of them have a great time together.
46:13Their favorite game is playing bus or car.
46:22I prefer summer.
46:30Then I can play outside longer.
46:36Sajana's siblings are too old to be playing with her.
46:40Most of the time she spends with her homework or coloring books.
46:44There's not much else to do for her in the coldest place on earth.
46:53At school there are many children.
46:56At home it is so boring.
46:58At school it's different.
47:00And my siblings are always just sitting in front of their computers.
47:09At 7 p.m. it's time for eight-year-old Alyosha to go to bed.
47:14The next day, the thermometer will decide whether he must get up early again.
47:19Whether they will once again go to bed.
47:22Or whether he will have to go to school again.
47:24The thermometer will decide whether he must get up early again.
47:28Whether they will once again have to set out
47:31on one of the most dangerous ways to school on earth.