Dacha Daze

The AAS picnic at the US Embassy Dacha was a wonderful success.  A bus picked up the spouses here at Gruz and took us to AAS. Our driver was extremely skilled and knew some back way to get there so even with all the rain and Friday afternoon traffic, it was only a thirty-minute trip. We picked up the teachers at the school in five additional buses and off we went to the Dacha.  I had been expecting some grand building on spacious lawns with a river or lake. It was more like a really big picnic area with a big log cabin type of structure. There was a covered grill area where three people were cooking hot dogs, hamburgers and sausages.  There was a big long table inside filled with the cooked meats, breads and buns, salads, stuffed mushrooms, grilled eggplant, mac and cheese, grilled onions, three bean salad, potato salad, tomato salad and the normal assortment of condiments for the burgers and dogs.  Cindy told me that they always have lots of variety for the vegetarians in the group. They had lots of beer, wine and soft drinks and it was a very American BBQ.

The rain had stopped but it was cold and windy - yet that didn’t stop the kids from running all over the place nor were the adults shy about sitting in the wind and eating and drinking.  It was a great way for everyone to let loose after the first week of school and providing bus service allowed everyone to enjoy that extra beer or vino that they wouldn’t have had if they were driving. 

In addition to the great room in the dacha, there was a good-sized kitchen, a nice dinning room and two bedrooms with five single beds in each room and two bathrooms. Up until this year anyone at the school could arrange to rent the dacha for parties, but now only the Director can request it for school events.  I don’t think I would ever have rented it so I’m not too upset at the new rule.  I’ve enclosed a link, in Russian, about a picnic the Ambassador had this winter at the dacha so you can see pictures of the place.

http://bbqmag.ru/news_104.html

While we were standing in line Cindy introduced me to one of the music teachers, Bruce Nelson, and his wife Colleen. It turns out that they lived in Winona, Minnesota for twenty-one years during the time that I lived there for eleven. We sat together as we ate and talked and talked about all the friends we had in common in Winona. It was marvelous to reminisce and to remember why Winona will always have a very special place in my heart.  For a little town on the Mississippi, surrounded by limestone bluffs, it has spawned lots of great companies like Watkins Products,

Hal Leonard Music, Fastenal, two stained glass companies that work world wide and a host of artists, musicians and gentlemen/women farmers. You can check out the links below, remembering this is a very, very small town.

http://www.jrwatkins.com

http://www.halleonard.com/

http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex

http://www.willethauser.com/

http://www.northlandorganic.com/northland-seed-and-grain.html

We stayed at the party for about two or three hours and then boarded one of the first buses to leave. We caught some of the rush hour traffic but we didn’t care and there was a lot more animated conversation on the return trip than there was on the outbound.  We didn’t need to have any dinner so we had a glass of wine and watched the BBC World News snug in our little apartment as the winds and rain started up again outside. 

Half-Bath

Many of you were interested in seeing more of the apartment. I’ve added some photos to the online version of the blog since I once again messed up some of your mailboxes with the photos I attached yesterday.  These are photos of our dining room, bedroom, bath and half-bath and my office/guest room. Many of you commented on the green outside the windows. We are very lucky to have lots of windows, and since we are on the third floor, we have lots of trees in the front rooms and some surrounding the parking lot and garbage area in the back.  I’m sure winter will present a much different view, but for now, we are most grateful.

Dining Room. Must have flowers.

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

My Office and Guestroom

Ok, time for us to get ready for the big Military Tattoo in Kremlin Square. It starts at eight this evening and we need to dress very warmly since the afternoon temperatures today have been hovering in the mid-forties and it is windy.  Full report tomorrow, I promise.

Best to all, Cindy and Wm