Dacha

Hello!!!

So, we went to my family's dacha in the village to pick apples and mushrooms, and OMG I swear I just about died. (So I'm going to be buying a dacha in like a year or two, just fyi.) If you don't know what that is, by the way, it's like a country home here in Russia. But they aren't like a rich people thing. They're these little houses in the villages (which are tiny--the villages, not the houses. The houses are not that small.) and they often don't have running water or toilets and they apparently cost like a few thousand dollars. So yes, I was actually being really literal when I said a couple of years. I seriously think I need to get one.

But I'm talking out of order here. I'll start from the beginning. As I think you know, we have no car. So to get to the village, we took a taxi to the train station, then a train, then a bus from the train to the village. In the morning, very early, it was so foggy that we actually could barely see out of the windows of the bus! So I did not even see the village until much later. When we got to the dacha, we set up a sort of camp outside, because the house itself is actually falling down. It is about 100 years old and it was badly vandalized a few years ago so it's not actually totally safe in there. But despite all that, it is still beautiful. But anyways, we made a fire and brought a table outside from the house, and then had breakfast. It was so awesome! I found a stick and then put the chicken on it and stuck it in the fire, and then Dinara and I were trading off the stick because we both wanted hot food! Hahaha.
After breakfast, we started to pick apples. It was soo fun! It was pretty cold out, and really really wet from the rain the day before and also the fog was pretty thick late into the morning. So my hands were freezing, but it was still great. XD

Later, we had a bit of lunch, and then my host aunt and grandpa and I went into the forest to get mushrooms!!! We found a ton, and we filled up our baskets. Now at my flat, we have a ton of now jarred mushrooms to go with our boxes and boxes of apples. But it was great, because the forest was beautiful and the mushrooms were soo cool looking (can you believe I've never seen any besides the ones that grow on our lawns and the canned ones??).

Then, later, a lady from the village came to visit with Inna (my host mom) and we got to go into her house. It is this old, traditional style russian house with this giant stone oven in the kitchen which is what heats the entire house! And I'm pretty sure she has not toilet, but I didn't ask about that. Anyways. She has bee house things in her yard where she makes her own honey (we bought some from her, and omg, I'm like a мёд addict (myode=honey)) and she also has chickens and roosters and her own apple trees.

Finally, Dinara and I lounged out front for a little bit, sunbathed while the sun was out, climbed the big yellow tree in front, and then Dinara left with her dad (with our apples in the back of his truck). Inna, Anya (Inna's sister) and I all went back by bus, then train, then bus and when we got home, Dinara made dinner. We were exhausted, but it was so amazing. The next day of school, I swear I almost passed out. But it was more than worth it.

So, I will be buying a dacha and spending my summers in my Russian village from now on.... ;D