2015 Fulbright-Hays Program "Siberian Culture in the Golden Altai": Weekend at a Dacha (Group 2)

By Jim Prowse, Hobart '15

On Sunday we readily accepted an invitation from Sandy to come out to the дача (dacha) he shares with his in-laws. Their дача is located roughly 60km outside of the city. When we arrived to the community, you could see that the majority of the properties were reminiscent of the Soviet period. Sandy's дача was a modest property, but not lacking in natural beauty. We walked through the gate and were immediately greeted by Sandy's in-laws, Anatoly and Vera. The first thing one sees when entering the дача is the abundance of garden space around the buildings. Unlike the American conception of landscaping and maybe a small garden tucked into a corner, Vera and Anatoly clearly had worked tirelessly to make their garden the main attraction of the дача. Their garden surrounded us as we walked up to the main house and Vera, very proud of her work, immediately took us in and had us picking fresh strawberries and raspberries off the bushes. Vera gave us a tour of the garden and showed us all that she was growing. In the garden she had potatoes, onions, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, tomatoes, and even watermelon! After we had had our fill, we were shown the small outbuildings on the property. There was a small house were Anatoly and Vera stayed during the summer months (May-September), an outhouse, and the new баня (banya) that Sandy had built for them. Vera had set up for us a nice spread of закуски (zakuski) for us to snack on while we talked and got to know each other. In good Russian tradition, the food wasn't the only draw to the table because to accompany it all Anatoly presented us with two bottles of самогон (samagon) a.k.a. Russian moonshine. The meal consisted of a soup (окрошка/okroshka)with a квас (kvas) broth and пирошки (piroshki) stuffed with cabbage and some kind of sweet leaf that Vera grew on the property. After our snack, Sandy took us through the woods that surrounded the small дача village and down to the Обь river. After battling nickle-sized mosquitoes and the Russian wilderness we returned to the дача for баня. The Russian баня is an amazing and unique experience. The баня is essentially a sauna, but generally raised to а much higher temperature than can be found in the States. Anatoly and Sandy prepared the баня up to 95 degrees Celsius to start, but it only got hotter the longer you stayed. The women went first and then the men. While in the баня it is tradition to sit and sweat for several minutes and then have a friend beat you with birch branches called веники (veniki). The баня experience is incredibly refreshing and afterwards I know that we all felt relaxed and refreshed from our long days of travelling. After we all finished we sat around the table and Vera brought out more food including шашык (shashlik) and eggs topped with tomatoes made to look like mushrooms. After we all had our fill of food and drink we talked about family and home. Vera and Anatoly were very interested in our lives and us equally in theirs. By the time the bus arrived to pick us up it was hard to say goodbye. Vera even told us that since we were going to be in Barnaul for 42 days so there was no reason for us not to come back again to visit. I can say that if the opportunity presents itself, we would jump at the chance to spend another wonderful day at the дача with Anatoly and Vera.