Dacha!

In Russia on weekends during the summer entire cities empty of their inhabitants and the streets are bare because everyone is headed to their summer houses or dachas as they are called in Russian. This weekend my tutor invited me to her family's dacha and I jumped at the opportunity since I have never been to one before. Dachas had been described to me as shacks with no running water or electricity so I was very surprised to find that the dacha had both of these things including central heating, a refrigerator, and a gas stove. It was much nicer than I anticipated the only down side was that the toilet was located near the street (which would be very cold in the winter) and was basically a hole in the ground. They also had no shower but a banya instead which is a sauna or steam bath in English. When I got there they put me to work picking raspberries which they were drying and making into jam for the winter months. We also picked strawberries and carrots. Then like all Russians they fed me until I was about to burst and we drank hot tea despite the 90 degree weather today!  

Here is a picture of the dacha and the garden where they grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables!

 This is the banya and the outhouse is in the foreground to the right.