Уренгой

Urengoy

There are many beautiful places in the world. I would like to visit some of them, to see my own eyes those ones which I have read or heard about. But I completely agree with an English proverb "There is no place like home", because I also have a birthplace and I am proud of it.

I live in Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region in settlement called Urengoy. It is located in Purovsky region. These are the symbols of Urengoy.

There are no industrial factories, cities in the Purovsky region. Also the district differs a lot from other provincial places of Russia.

The Purovsky region is located in the central part of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district. Nearly a quarter of its territory is behind the Arctic Circle. The area of the region occupies 108.4 thousand square km. The size of this territory from the north to the south is over 600 km; from the west to the east is more than 350 km. There are natural zones of the tundra and the taiga on the territory of the Purovsky region.

Urengoy was founded in 1966 by geologists, who opened the unique gas place of birth. It is on the Pur River. Urengoy in Nenets language means the “Sounding Height”.

The climate of Urengoy is a severe. In summer we can admire a fine midnight sun. In winter you can observe fantastic arctic glows in the sky. The sun shines on average 65 days in a year. The most solar and the rainiest month is July. Summer rain is heavy, but short.

Snow in Urengoy lies to the end of September. The snow cover protects the vegetation from the frost for 300 days a year. December, January and February are the frostiest months in Yamal. Winter in the Purovsky land is the time of a sudden and long snowstorm, strong and cold wind. The speed of the wind in the open tundra sometimes exceeds 30 m per second. The average winter temperature in the area is 26 ° below zero, on some days about 50 °.

Springtime, as a rule, begins in March. In May the temperature is positive, but there are frosts, caused by the breath of the icy Antarctic. The leaping of temperature at this time of the year is rather favorable. Sometimes the melting of snow is late up to the end of May.

Summer in the north lasts for one and a half or two months, the brightest period falls to July. The sun shines all day long. The nature becomes more colorful. You can admire poppies, buttercups, saxifrages in the grass.

August or the beginning of September is already autumn. The long winter begins again afterwards.

The bird life in Urengoy is also very rich: here one can find swans, ducks, seagulls, geese, owls, and many other birds. Rare birds such as red – crawed kazarka, white – tailed sea eagle, and others are registered in the Red Book.

The flora world of our settlement has mosses and lichen of Arctic zones. Some of the plants are registered in the Red Book. A lot of different kinds of trees grow there, such as a dwarfish birch, a cedar, a fur-tree, a larch and others.

There is a partridge, a polar owl, a red crop loon, a polar fox, a lemming, a reindeer in our forests. Different fishes dwell in the Pur River and lakes around Urengoy such as a pyzhyan, a white salmon, a muksun, a syrok, a pike, a chirr, an eel pout, a ruff.

Inhabitants of Urengoy like to go to the wood and to the tundra to gather berries and mushrooms.  There are red and black currants, cranberry, cowberry, bilberry, honeysuckle, blueberry, cloudberry there. What can be tastier than fresh jam, jellies, berry - drinks, pies, prepared from these berries?

There are plenty of mushrooms in our woods. A birch mushroom, a white mushroom, an aspen mushroom, an edible mushroom, a coral milky cap, a milk mushroom grow there. The mushroom season is as short as the summer. In the south this period lasts from the middle of July up to the second half of September. Besides, you can gather cedar nuts there.

There are two secondary schools, school № 1 and № 2, in our settlement. I go to school № 2. It is old and not big but very comfortable. By the way, our school celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011. There are three kindergartens there. Their names are “Solnyshko”, “Snezhinka”, “Skazka”. My younger brother goes to “Skazka”. There is the Sport school “Geolog”, the school of Arts, a museum, many different shops and cafes, two libraries, two markets, the House of child’s creation, an orthodox church in Urengoy. A lot of boys and even some girls go to our Sport school to play hockey. In the school of arts you have an opportunity to know our talented children. They are talented in dancing, music and singing. In our local museum you can learn the history of Urengoy.  The Cultural Sport Centre “Urengoyetz” is situated in the center of our settlement. There are many sport gyms, a swimming pool, a concert hall and a café “Morozko” there. You can play football, swim, enjoy concerts and go to the café to have a snack. Offices of different gas companies such as “Urengoygasprom”, “Severneftegasprom”, “Urengoyneftegasgeologiya” and many others are situated there.

Every year we celebrate “the Day of Geologist”. This holiday is held in the beginning of April. During this holiday you can take part in different sport competitions, try our local dishes, enjoy famous singers and dancers and simply dance near the CSC “Urengoyetz”. In September “the Day of Urengoy” is held.  It celebrated its 45th anniversary last year.

I do love my birthplace, Urengoy! Welcome to Urengoy!