Saturday's Dacha Visit

This is the view of dachas from off of the highway.  Each piece of land is the same size with a small one room house on it.  Very interesting for us!

This is our coordinator's family dacha.  Her mother and father work the garden every day.  The fresh strawberries and raspberries were out of this world...a whole  new approach to local/organic!!

Large view with a BBQ going in the far corner.

Potatoes & the outhouse in the back.  The fresh tomatoes were just perfect - best I've ever had.

Dust & Cort Dacha Style

Svetlana's sister (Natasha), her father and our driver (Gennady).  So excited to eat the shishkabobs!  It smelled absolutely wonderful & tasted even better!

The family was so nice to not only show us the dacha, but to prepare a meal for us!  We feasted on lots of fresh vegetables, herbs, & fruits!  They grilled shishkabobs, eggplant & peppers for us to try as well.  A nut torte for dessert and some tea made with all herbs from the garden!  It was a real treat for us!  Over our meal we were told lots of stories of Soviet times and it was an amazing experience that we will never forget!

(Svetlana, Cortney, Dustin, Natasha & Svetlana's Mom)

Before our afternoon of feasting, we worked up an appetite playing with Ry today!  Each child out there wanted to show us what they could do! A little boy came up and huggd Dustin while Ryland was on my lap and Ry jumped off to go and have Dustin hold him...he's not ready to share his parents yet!

A few more tears when it was time to leave today...poor thing - he just wants to stay with his mama & papa!  4 MORE DAYS!!!!

Love from Kazakhstan,

Cort & Dust