Hello, everyone! My name is Nadezhda Glyantseva. I was born, raised and am currently living on the Komandorski islands.

The islands are located east of the Kamchatka Peninsula and they consist of four small islands: Bering (where you will find the only populated sight - Nikolskoe selo), Medny Island and two tiny islands called Kamen Ariy and Kamen Toporkov. There actually was another village on Medny Island, but it was closed down in the sixties and the whole population was moved to Nikolskoe.

The islands are famous due to the shipwreck that happened here in 1741 with the famous Vitus Bering on board. The ship crashed on the nearby rocks and the surviving crew had to spend the winter in the bay. They had to build a new ship from what was left from the old one and swim back home to Kamchatka.

The first permanent settlement on the islands appeared in 1826. They were the Aleuts, that were moved from the Aleut Islands to Bering Island and Medny Island. This became the main characteristic of this place. Today, almost every representative of these people lives here. There are about 400 Aleuts living in Russia, 350 of them live on the Bering Island.

2016 was a year rich with anniversaries and all kinds of holidays: 275 years from the official discovery of the island, 190th anniversary of Nikolskoe selo, and 335th birthday of Vitus Bering. By the way, the locals have great respect for the historic figure of the great explorer. Each anniversary is celebrated in its own special way. A lot of people gather for this: the Danish delegation, Bering’s descendants, and other important guests and artistic community. Grand speeches are made and wishes are wished. The locals finally get a chance to see performances, concerts and even theatrical troops that come from other countries. Fireworks. Then all the guests leave and the life here goes back to the way it was until the next big holiday, or a different major event like elections.

To my knowledge, there is only one municipal region in the whole of Russia that consists of only one populated locality - it is our very own Aleut region with Nikolskoe as its centre. Just over 600 people liver here. There is a new wonderful school, kinder garden, hospital and library; a few years back they even built a culture centre. These organisations are the ones that provide our people with jobs. So I’m always very surprised when someone from the mainland asks us if there’s work. Of course there is, how can there not be? In reality, life out here isn’t that much different from your ordinary life, perhaps a scale of things is a little different, mainly because everyone knows each other.

Perhaps, the biggest problem for the whole population is the lack of food due to poor communication with the peninsula. It was present during my childhood and it still exists today in the twenty first century. For example, when my daughter begs for an apple, I can’t buy one. At one point of the year we experience lack of products like milk (there are no cows on the island), eggs, fresh vegetables and fruit. In general, the people are doing quite well here - almost every family has a car, or even multiple means of transportation. We also prefer to go to foreign countries for our vacations - warmer destinations like Thailand, Egypt, or Italy are especially popular. People want to soak up the sun, the energy and then go back to their beloved fogs and winds.

I can honestly say that this is the most amazing place on Earth! This pure beauty, untouched by a human hand, this infinite tundra, sopkas, waterfalls, the incredible wildlife, and the sea, so much sea…

I remember when I was younger, I always wanted to move away from the constant grey outside my window, the never-ending fogs, when every day is the same… I wanted to escape.

Today, I am a teacher at the local school and I often here the same thoughts from teenagers. But I also see how they come back. I did go away, I spent about ten years away from the islands, came back a year ago and saw how everything has changed! For the first time in the last 25 years has began a construction of new houses! Not so long ago, the first hotel was built and opened, before there was nowhere for the tourists to stay.

There are two ways to get to the islands: by plane and by ship from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The last option became available just recently: now there is a regular passengers route, but it is unfortunately not as regular as it was promised - sometimes you have to wait for a whole month for the ship to come, sometimes even longer. But this way is much cheaper - just nine thousand instead of the whooping 33 you have to pay for the flight. But unpredictable weather prevents any regularity where flying is involved. There aren’t many sunny days here during the summer - mostly it’s just fog, wind, rain. If you come during winter, then you will most likely encounter crazy snow storms that will live you completely blindsided and the wind can quite literally knock you down.

But the number of people wanting to visit the islands is growing every year. The islands draw people in. There is a saying in our village, which goes: if a person has lived here for three years, they would never want to leave.

A list of must-see places:

1. Local history museum with an incredible exposition (there is a skeleton of the Stellar sea cow - a species that ceased to exist in just under 27 years after the island was first discovered).

2. Sea lions’ rookeries.

3. Waterfalls.

4. Comandor bay, where you will find the necropolis of the Vitus Bering crew.

5. There is also an orthodox church built back in 2010 that is very popular with tourists.