At the Dacha

For this New Year's celebration we spent a couple days with friends at the Skinner's Dacha. A Dacha is a country house located in a small village. This Dacha was in a village with about 12 other houses. They do not have running water or bathrooms. They do have outhouses, though kind of cold in the winter :)

Many Russians that live in the city in an apartment will also own a Dacha. In the summer they will spend a good bit of time there and will have big gardens for producing vegetables. At the Skinner's Dacha they have made some really nice raised strawberry beds in the back yard. Our language teacher also has a Dacha in the country not too far from Yaroslavl.

"A view of the fire inside the Dacha"

"Supper was marinated, roasted pork over an outdoor fire, along with some great Russian salads...it was delicious"

"Ellie' sleeping in her little bed"

"Ellie getting her outdoor clothes taken off"

"We made Ellie a nice clean place to play on the floor.....she preferred everywhere else but it. She loved find ing little chuncks of firewood and trying to put them in her mouth. Her new name has become 'woodchuck'. She loved exploring the Dacha"