Revisiting My Birth City, Arkhangelsk In Russia
This place is right up the North of Russia. The place has long winters and not much sunlight at all during the winter period.
I just got back from revisiting my birth city, Arkhangelsk in Russia. For myself this is always important. It is part of my life. I don’t remember this place when I was young as I went to New Zealand when I was two years old. I have been back to Arkhangelsk now four times and this time, I finally got to go there when it was a bit warmer.
This place is right up the North of Russia. The place has long winters and not much sunlight at all during the winter period. One winter when I did visit, I would always remember the sun coming up at 11am and then going down again at 2pm. This was only the beginning of winter too.
I always grew up knowing that I had come from this city. My brother Andrei has also known this too. Many photos and videos I always remember as a child of Arkhangelsk. For my birth family, they no longer live here, they both left the town in the 1990s. My birth mother has never been back since she left in 1994. My birth father however visits often as he still has some family and friends there. My half brother, Artyom lives there and this time I got to spend some time with him and his beautiful family.
I know that there are so many adoptees who have also come from Arkhangelsk, or around the region. Many of them I know personally who have also come from the same orphanage as me. It does make it a small world every time I go back to Arkhangelsk, knowing that my parents came here all those years ago.
This place always is special to me.
Alex Gilbert
Alex Gilbert was born in Arkhangelsk, Russia in 1992 and placed in an orphanage until he was adopted at two years old to his New Zealand family. He established the I’m Adopted community in July 2015. He works closely with his An Adoption Story series while also sharing his story on YouTube.
