But, last May, Gambaryan noticed a second piece of paper stuck to her door that offered a way for tenants to work their way off the debtors' list.

"I realized instantly that it was a way out for my family, which owed 8,000 rubles ($260) for communal services by that time," said Gambaryan, a 36-year-old single mother of two sons.

She is now one of a small number of people living in the city's Vasileostrovsky district who joined a program run by the district that allows them to pay off their debts by working as street and courtyard cleaners.

Gambaryan, who lives in a kommunalka, or communal apartment, added her new work as a street cleaner to her regular job as a telephone operator for a city telephone-directory service, where she is paid about $80 a month.

"I went for the offer because I didn't see any other option to pay off these debts," she said.

The working day for Gambaryan, who is a school teacher by education, begins at 6 a.m. with her street-cleaning shift, where she works until 1 p.m. After that, she rushes off to her six-hour shift at the directory service.

Gambaryan says that she asked that 100 percent of her salary from the new work be transferred automatically to pay off the debts.

"I knew that, if I had the money given to me directly, I wouldn't have been able to keep from spending it on other necessities," she said.

The decision worked out so well that Gambaryan managed to pay off her communal-services debt by the end of last year, but she decided to stay on with the work afterward, and now is using the money to pay off a computer that she bought for her son on credit.

Despite Gambaryan's positive experience, not many others have opted for the program. Parfyonova says that, at present, only 12 people in the district have joined the program. She also says that paying off outstanding communal-services debts is not the only way the program helps the district. According to Parfyonova, there are only 82 people working as street and courtyard cleaners in her area of the district, whereas there are supposed to be 104.

A large part of the problem may be the stigma attached to the work for many. Gambaryan says that many of her acquaintances who also owe debts for communal services laughed mildly at her enthusiasm, preferring to avoid such work. Gambaryan herself said that she had some difficulties getting adjusted to the idea of her new job last summer.

"I always had a stereotype of street cleaners as being of the lowest social status," Gambaryan said. "At first, I was even afraid to raise my head, in case somebody I knew recognized me while I was working.

But she now says that the work has changed her outlook on people.

"I realized that the people who are throwing their garbage all around are the ones who should be ashamed, and not me," Gambaryan said. "I'm cleaning up the city."

Now she says that her biggest problem with the work is that it sometimes feels like it doesn't bring any results.

"The next day a street or a courtyard is as dirty as it was the day before," she says. "For instance, there is one courtyard in my area, which has already been nicknamed the 'Italian,' because the people there throw their garbage right out of their windows."

The work has also raised questions from her son, who asked why she bothered to study to be a teacher if she was going to work as a street cleaner.

"Why do I need to study then?" he once asked her.

But Gambaryan says that her job is easier than her former teaching position.

"Teachers receive almost the same salary, but the work is much harder on your nerves," she said. "Here, I can just work and have my thoughts to myself."

Gambaryan thinks that more people who owe money for communal services should give the program a try.

"It's not the worst way out." she says.

Interesting is, that you see only women cleaning the streets in St. Petersburg - and that is hell of a heavy job!

That´s for today,

Samoy