Life in Belgorod – Science and Everyday Life

I have long wanted to write about life in Belgorod. At the same time, I deliberately try to avoid details about military actions and the difficulties associated with them. I believe it is inhumane to keep describing how people destroy one another. There is already more than enough of that kind of content online.

Nevertheless, it seems impossible to completely avoid the topic. Drones fly over the city quite often. You can hear the air-raid alerts, the work of air-defence systems, and the sounds of them being shot down. I have never actually seen a flying drone myself — and, frankly, that is probably for the best.

Over the past year life in the city has become noticeably more tense. The conflict is escalating and expanding, and I strongly dislike that. I believe it must be stopped: too many people are dying and suffering. I see no other way out except a freeze. Most likely this will happen this year or next. How we will live after that is another question entirely.

I find it especially painful to watch what is happening because I am a carrier of three cultures at once. I speak English fluently and have even been teaching a foreign language a little lately. At the same time I belong to Russian culture and come from the Komi Republic; by nationality I am Komi. This combination leaves me with complex, far from the brightest feelings about the conflict.

Belgorod is a very beautiful, even magnificent city. I tried to find office work, but lately I more and more often hear the advice not to hurry and to look for remote options instead. Finding a decent job is difficult. Economic growth has clearly slowed, people are cautious about investing money, and new IT companies are hardly appearing.

At the same time I bought a wonderful apartment here that is fully adapted for a wheelchair. To avoid depending on public transport I also purchased a special attachment for the wheelchair. The city turned out to be surprisingly accessible and convenient for moving around in a wheelchair — everything has been thoughtfully designed for people.

My neuroregeneration project has been put on hold because I could not find adequate funding. I have published a book and remain convinced of my ideas. The problem, in my view, lies in generalisation during myelin wrapping — either too much or too little wrapping leads to secondary neurogeneration. If the issue of secondary neurogeneration is addressed through proper generalisation, the problem can be partially solved. However, I currently lack both the strength and the opportunities to develop these ideas further. So I simply continue to live, work, move around the city, and try not to lead an antisocial lifestyle.