Illusions

The kids and I went to Philly today, to the Museum of Illusions. It was small, but pretty neat and packed with various visual illusions. There were puzzles, there were "trick" rooms that made you appear bigger or smaller. "Infinity Room" was full of mirrors, reflecting us into infinity. It reminded me of my grandmother's apartment in Kharkiv.

My grandparents moved to Kharkiv in the early 80's, to be closer to my aunt and her family. They moved into a small 2-room "Khrushevka" style apartment, one of those where you had to go through one of the rooms to get to the other. There was a small entrance hallway that accessed the bathroom, kitchen, and the bigger of the 2 rooms (which served as a guest room, living room, and dining room). My uncle installed custom-made storage furniture in the hallway, making it kind of tight but functional. My grandparents hung 2 mirrors on the opposite walls of that narrow hallway. I am not sure if that was meant to visually enlarge the space or to enable my grandmother (who wore a wig) to see the back of her head before she went outside. But the effect was that of infinity mirrors - I could see myself reflecting in a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection....

The kitchen was cozy, with a kitchen table and stools next to the window, with built-in furniture (my uncle again; unlike the US, those kitchens did not come furnished - you got a sink and a gas range, if you were lucky, and would bring in your own refrigerator). The kitchen table had drop-leaves - it could be extended to accommodate guests. If the family didn't feel like having a more "formal" meal in the dining/living/guest room, we would eat in the kitchen, and I don't know how we managed to squeeze in 7 or 8 people at that table... All I remember, there was one special spot, right next to the range and underneath the water heating regulator - the only way to access it was to go under the table. So it was typically  reserved for the youngest kid in the family (me). It was so funny, to be cheered by the family for climbing under the table and coming out on the other side.

I came to Kharkiv every summer until 1994. Honestly, I don't remember that much of the city. Most of my time there was spent hanging out with grandparents, playing on the playground outside, and going to a nearby park to collect mineral water, feed pigeons and learn embroidery. I did not do a whole lot of sightseeing, although I haven been to the Kharkiv Zoo (it was rather awful in the 80's and 90's) and Park Gorkogo  (Gorky Park).

There was also a cableway in Kharkiv that I both loved and hated. When I was a kid, the cabins were open to the air - no glass in the window. The doors were more of a symbol than a safety feature.  Plus, the thing didn't stop - you had to get on and off while the cabins kept moving! My father (who never outgrew the middle school sense of humor) loved to bounce around in the cabin, making it sway. I was terrified!

I do not know if that apartment building in Pavlovo Pole neighborhood is still standing or if it has been destroyed in the war. I don't know if that playground, or park, or the nearby ice cream shop, or the cableway - if they only exist in my memory, an illusion of things that used to be but are no longer real.