Hidden Gems

I 'discovered' a new neighborhood in this city of 16 million with a friend today... and it reminded me of Victoria, BC. (Even though I was sweating profusely in this summer heat, which was in no way reminiscent of any memory I have in the Northwest). A lovely surprise awaited us in this gorgeous Starbucks.

I know this might not seem huge to you... but let me point out the a lovely large green tree, next to a two story stand alone building, with white siding and window shutters.

And inside? A delicious iced dirty chai that was drunk in AC coolness!

Seasonal Fruit

Have you ever lived anywhere with seasonal fruit?
I mean... like, ever lived anywhere where the only time you can really get a certain fruit is at that specific time of year?
I haven't. And I wasn't ever really price conscious enough to notice when stuff was actually in or out of season. I mean, in the States you can get anything at any time, and sometimes it's more expensive than other times and sometimes it's not. I never noticed.
Well... here...
Here it is a different story.
I notice when veggies and fruits slowly get more expensive and fade out of stores. I noticed that I craved vitamin C when I actually started eating oranges and mandarins and grapefruit (things I don't usually love to eat). Man, when they came out in mid-winter I hadn't had much fresh fruit, and I went bananas! ( :) Yes, I'm a dork. Tropical fruit word funny! )
So... when berry season started up mid-spring... Boy did I go crazy!
The strawberries ripened first. They were super expensive! I decided, after my roomies' first purchase, that I would wait until they got cheaper. And then, suddenly, as if overnight... strawberries were everywhere. Little old ladies were selling them on street corners in little plastic cups, young men were selling them at the market from large crates, and people were buying them by the bucketful. We even saw many people selling the small forest strawberries in little mayo buckets. (which- in an interesting language note-strawberries are клубника and forest strawberries are земляника! Yeah.)


Then the raspberries came out.
Mmmm. mmmm. Big, fat, fresh, red raspberries. Of course, by the plastic cupful. So sweet and delicious! Too bad I didn't have a large enough freezer to freeze some of them for later use. I definitely enjoyed them fresh though!
As the weeks go on the strawberries get smaller and more expensive again before they disappear. Now, I think some version of blueberry is coming out. And then lingonberries, and some weird green-clear berry that I quite haven't worked up the nerve to ask for or eat yet. :) By the time I make it back from the current visa run... it might be watermelon season. I'm pretty stoked to go to the market and pick up a couple tons of watermelon (that's what a four pound watermelon feels like when you have to hand carry it back home from the market on foot. Which- on another language related note- I can say in one verb. Yeah. They have a seperate verb for 'hand carry while going by foot.' Then conjugate. Lucky me.)

Dacha

It's quite an interesting feeling when you ask someone if they would like to meet with you when they are free, and they tell you they can't meet with you because they are "going to their, 'dacha' (then they look at you for a translation. To which you assure them, there is not really an English word for dacha)."

And when you ask students what they did in the last week, they say, "oh, I was in the (reverent pause) country."

And it IS that big of a deal.

It seems like most everyone has a dacha that they go to religiously during the summer.

The lines for certain buses and trains are longer, and traffic jams are larger on Fridays when those who had to be in town are quickly trying to make it out of the city.

Why?

Because they are going to their dacha.

A dacha is something like a summer home or cottage. Often a dacha is no more than a wooden shack on a piece of arable land, though in these modern times sometimes a dacha can be an elaborate, beautiful building on a large plot of land. Sometimes there is running water and/or electricity to these buildings, but more often there is not. Many times a dacha has a vegetable garden that some of my friends have memories of their mothers making them hoe, and weed, and water during endless summers.

The main characteristic about a dacha however is that it is somewhere outside the city.

We live in a city of more than a million people. That many people are mostly crowded into tall Soviet style block apartment buildings, and often even extended families share small two or three bedroom apartments. So, no matter how small the shack or how primitive the facilities, going to the dacha does convey a sense of freedom.

I read an article about 'dacha' on wikipedia... and the history surrounding the concept gives you more insight on the reverence that people have for the freedom of a summer home. I would highly recommend reading it if you have time. :D

Anyway, to finish up this long-ish explanation, we rented a dacha for the summer. It is about an hour away by bus, so it takes some commitment to get out there. I have not been able to go out there as often as I would like, of course. When I started, I had visions of an orderly garden, a la the garden pictured above, which is actually a picture of our neighbor's dacha. Unfortunately... well... we just have not had the time to properly tame the jungle that has decided to grow on "our" land. And the nettles that have settled upon our land in profusion make weeding a less than exciting chore... Here are some pictures of 'our' dacha in video...

Even though our dacha is an eyesore, I have been able to pick strawberries and rasberries, have watched some tomatoes grow, have dug in REAL dirt (not AZ clay and sand), have gotten a ridiculous tan line, and I always have had a lot of fun when I go out there!

enjoying beauty!

So, I realize that I post a lot of pictures of flowers... mostly because this blog is about what I want to focus on. And here... well, you often have to look intentionally for beauty in a city where it doesn't exactly hit you over the head.
However, this past weekend my sisters persuaded me to meet them in a very beautiful city that is quite a bit farther north. Where the beauty comes in the shapes and sizes of delicate and stately architecture, canals with ironwork bridges, sparkling fountains, cared for gardens, spicy Indian food, tourist-friendly streets, and "white night effect." :)
Here's some bells that I loved... and some pictures... in my first movie editing experiencing ever!
Enjoy!