Поедем в дачу

Privet,

I will pick up from where I left off with ze weekend.

Saturday I went to the dacha (summer home) with Balaban and Olga (wife). They picked me up at 9:30am outside my apartment, and from there, we were on our way, only stopping for gas and food. The roads looked very New England-y since they were smaller and had fewer lanes, with forest/trees in the surrounding.

The drive was relaxing and short (35 mins) with minimal traffic. Once we got to the place, we explored and then immediately changed our clothes and had tea (duh!).  The house is amazing. It smells just like a log cabin with Vermont-styled wood. There are 3 bedrooms and a large kitchen (there are also 2 floors). Balaban made almost everything, I believe, including the countertops, tables, doors, etc.

The dacha was not as secluded as I thought it would be, but it was nice seeing grass, gardens, and dirt roads. The house was also bigger than I was picturing. Apparently, Balaban’s son had come one time in the winter three years ago and he accidentally burnt the house to the ground. Yikes. When they say that a dacha is only a summer home, they’re not kidding.

I also like that everyone must change into comfy and relaxing clothes while at the dacha. Balaban was wearing the most hilarious short shorts ever (Dasha made them for him), and Olga and I were both laughing at him.

After our tea, we headed outside. Balaban and Olga were both busy at work in the garden, and they put me to work laying down boards for a future pool. That only took 15 minutes though. When I asked what I could help with next, Balaban smiled, and said, "Let me pull out the hammock." And that's how I spent the rest of the afternoon -- on the hammock. It was glorious and relaxing, and I was in my own little Russian world of tunes and thoughts and day dreams. I wish every day could be a dacha day. 

Eventually, we went inside to have lunch. I got into an interesting discussion with Olga about religion and how strange it is that old babushkas (Russian old ladies) are so religious. In the Soviet Union, people weren't allowed to believe in God (or any other religion, for that matter), so why is religion making a come back NOW in older people when they hadn't been raised that way? Perhaps BECAUSE it was outlawed, now people want to be spiritual? Since it's allowed? I wonder if there was much for underground spirituality in the Soviet Union. It's very interesting. Young people don't really seem to be interested in religion here -- although, I AM at a science institute.... Maybe my perspective is altered a bit.

After a few hours relaxing and chatting and eating, we packed up the house, and set out for the family reunion/house warming party at Balaban's son's house. Apparently, the son (he's from a previous marriage) had moved to a new apartment with his wife and child just recently. When we arrived, we all had a little tour of the place, and it was super nice and big for an apartment in Russia. It’s located between the dacha and Balaban's house in the city. 

Eventually more people came, and it ended up being 8 Russian adults, 2 young girls (ages 1 and 3 maybe?), and me. Everyone sat around in the kitchen and chatted. It was super fun but also exhausting to have to be in that kitchen for 5 hours listening to multiple conversations at once in Russian. Since I still really need to use my entire mind to think and translate, I felt as if I had to pick and choose the conversations I was in. That was hard. And also since everyone was just talking so fast and informally in general, it was hard to keep up. Honestly, I felt as if I could understand more of the Space tour (from last weekend at the museum) than the informal/quick conversations of the evening. Oh well. I understood the ideas.

I really enjoyed talking a lot with Olga and Balaban since I'm comfortable with them and have learned their speech nuances, etc. But 8 Russian strangers was an entirely different can of worms. It was also hard just because I was so much younger than everyone.... there were a lot of separations between us all, but I tried my best to answer questions, ask questions, and get a word in edge-wise. Everyone was very, very nice and welcoming.

The two little girls were also ADORABLE mostly because it is hilarious and so strange to hear kids of that age speak in Russian. If they had been just a tad older, I probably would have tried to speak and play with them rather than the adults (haha).

At one point, one of the husbands abruptly and out of the blue exclaimed, "I love America." I didn't really know what to do with that except for laugh and ask him if he's been, and apparently he's visited a few times to a bunch of different cities. Perhaps sensing my encouragement, he then started to talk about Russian American politics, and then he started talking faster, and I couldn't tell if there was a question in there somewhere..... But I was way too intimidated to pull something semi-intellectual out of my ass in Russian... And then before I could even say anything at all (who knows what it would have been), Olga chuckled and said that I don't like to talk about politics. Which is true. So that was that.

In retrospect, I kind of wish I had tried to say something, especially since he made the first move in saying that he had been to America and liked what he'd seen, etc. But still.... It's too dangerous/awkward/weird to start spurting my stupid liberal American fantasies in a room full of Russians. I'd be happy to listen to their opinions, but I don't want to have to defend mine (in another language and in another country). Maybe that's selfish, but with the shoes that I'm in in this situation, I can't be too careful or too on the defense. 

So anyways. That was that. It was a tiring evening, but overall, an amazing day. The dinner that we had there was also very yummy (stuffed peppers with potatoes, veggies, etc). We left around 9:30pm, and I was in my bed all showered in clean by 10:30pm. 

The next day, I decided to sleep late and be a little lazy. Around 1pm, I finally made it out the door and headed to the "Museum of Moscow." In the courtyard outside of the museum, there was supposed to be a food festival from restaurants around the city. I tried a bunch of different things and people-watched. It was a cloudy but overall gorgeous day. Afterwards, I decided to check out the museum since I hadn't been. 

The museum spanned a few buildings. There was an exhibition of archeology, an exhibition of architecture, and a memorial celebrating 70 years since the end of WW2. I liked the museum a lot; it was interesting and had a wide variety of info.

After the food fair and the museum, I headed to a park nearby to continue reading War and Peace. It was peaceful. Eventually I headed back to the metro. Whenever I read War and Peace on the metro, funny things happen. Usually, no one really looks at each other. BUT, when the person sitting next to me sees I'm reading a huge book in English, they stare and then look up to my face. I keep reading. When I get off the train, they see the cover, and once seeing that, a lot of people REALLY stare at me (probably because they can recognize what the title says). It is a hilarious process that I've now been through over a dozen times. 

I think that's basically it for the weekend. I haven't watched many more movies.... I'm riding out the Grey's wave. Today is Tuesday, and I’ll do one last post before my family comes on FRIDAY! Weeeeeee!