Geneviève Perreault is from Canada.

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Geneviève Perreault: “The first thing I did when I had come here was the buying of high fur boots (unty)”

I'm from Canada, I'm 29 years old. Since childhood, I was uncontrollably attracted by the North. I graduated from the faculty of Translation in Canada and wanted to work as a linguist at the Institute who studied the problems of indigenous people of the North. But to my great regret, at that time there were no vacancies. However, members of the Institute cheered me up saying that in Russia there were so many institutions involved in these issues. And I chose Yakutia, the northermost and coldest region.

Before I came here, I had sifted through a lot of information. I learned that Yakutia had cold and dry climate. But I wasn't frightened, because in Quebec, it was cold too, and also very humid. And it felt much worse. But I didn't want to think of Yakutia beforehand: as a rule, my hopes were flawed.
I started to prepare myself in advance. Back in St. Petersburg, I bought a nice, warm coat and boots. To be honest, then I had to throw boots away: they were not warm enough, and I had to urgently buy boots. There is no better footwear for the north than Unty!

So I stepped on the Yakut ground. The first thing that amazed me was the beauty. White, quiet, majestic beauty. This is my first winter in Yakutia, and I think I will stay here for another three years. Here I study the Russian language and help with translations of Olonkho. I would like to explore the culture of your people more deeply.

Maria Makarova

The Komsomolka