Today was pretty awesome, though. It was Dima's birthday, and he invited the group out to his cousin's dacha a bit west of Moscow. (A dacha is like a summer cottage, but it's more like a small nice-ish house-type thing with a small yard that is by definition in a particularly un-useful location.)
It went something like this. This morning I met with my physics professor one last time to get my final homework back. There was no final or anything...he just told me that I don't think physically about problems very well and instead just try to use math and formulas. Interesting assessment that I don't quite agree with, but I do see where he's coming from.
Then around 11:45 I headed to the metro to meet people at the metro stop Fili, and it took nearly an hour to get there all told. We hurriedly bought tickets for the "electrichka" (electric train) and crammed into an already-full HOT train car. It was 80 degrees today, all day, and not only does Russia not believe in air conditioning, it apparently doesn't believe in deodorant either. Whew. So that was a long, hot, sweaty 40+ minute standing train ride.
When we finally got off the train around 2pm, we were clearly outside Moscow. You can tell because there are individual (albeit typically small and run-down) houses, a pothole-ridden road with no form of public transportation, and piles of litter in boggy areas on either side of said road. So we set off walking...for at least 30 minutes. In the hot sun. We go through the most random alleys and fenced-off areas. It's like suburbia America only poor, and everyone has crappy fences and no one has garbage collection.
Anyway. It's about 2:30 by now and we encounter a couple walking towards us who turns out to be Dima's cousin's parents, the owners of the dacha we're headed to! They lead us the rest of the way. Their plot of land is small but cozy in a very Russian sort of way. The grass is unruly and smattered with dandelions. The dacha itself has light green cheap siding and is two stories, but quite small, probably 1.5 to 2 times the size of the Krislocks' summer cabin on Spirit Lake. There is a small backyard with what looks to be a garden and a tree, as well as a brown building that we learn houses two things: a toilet and a BANYA!! (go google that right now if you don't know what it is. basically a 100C+ steam room followed by a freezing cold shower, but that doesn't begin to describe it.)
It was a 100% Russian afternoon. I didn't go in the banya myself because I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt...only three of the guys did it since it wasn't awkward at all to just sit around soaking wet in their boxers afterwards. We played durak (Russian card game). We played darts. They played badmitton with a whiffle ball while I tried to read a book and kept getting pelted with the whiffle ball. There were about 12-15 people in total, half of which were Russian friends of Dima's cousin, so there was very much a language split but it made the whole thing even more authentic. Then we had a BBQ using coal (not charcoal) which smelled gross, but cooked the chicken just fine. There was authentic black bread, homemade vinegret, and some kind of weird Korean carrot dish that prompted the Russians to get the English words "Korean" and "carrot" confused much to everyone's amusement.
After a fantastic time, most of the American group headed out around 6pm, and I only got back to my room at 8:30. Now I am eating a ridiculous amount of chocolate ice cream and just relaxing, because I'm exhausted. This was the first time in MONTHS I'd actually been out in the sun! So I kind of feel like you do after a long day at the beach, just exhausted from having gotten so much sun, even though it wasn't nearly enough to get tanned or burned.
Just one more full day in Moscow. Shall include packing and possibly a trip to Gorky Park to ride roller coasters. I keep noticing little things I'm going to miss or little things I'm looking forward to, but never consciously enough to take note. Jenna says she misses three things: customer service, mexican food, and pedicures. Couldn't have said it better myself, though pedicures probably woudn't be #3 on my list.
And now for some pictures (warning - there are a lot!):
 |
| 05-2007 |
1 comment:
Yay dachas! I have very fond memories of my grandparents' dacha. Was a very nice place.
Post a Comment