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!