Leaving City Life Behind

Every year in early summer, Russian cities experience a massive demographic shift with a deceptively modest name: Переезд на дачу (the move to the dacha). For weeks, your downstairs neighbors with children have been telling you: “После последнего звонка – поедем.” (“We’ll go after the Last Bell” – the ceremony marking the last day of school.) And then, one fine day you suddenly realize that the park is half-empty, the courtyard is quiet, and there isn’t the sound of video games filtering up from the downstairs apartment. Уехали! (They’re gone!)

Dacha preparations may involve a number of mysterious conversations. Your neighbor seems to be discussing an industrial process, or perhaps a medical procedure, with a friend.

– Обработали?

– А как же?

(“Did you do the treatment?” “Of course.”)

– Чем?

– Капаю.

(“What did you use?” “I sprinkle.”)

The mystery is solved when you see them walking their dogs in the park. It was simply собачники (dog owners) comparing notes on preparing their домашние питомцы (pets) for summer life in the great outdoors. Translated from dog-owner into people language, it goes like this: “Have you treated your dog for fleas and ticks?” “Of course.” “What do you use?” “I use drops.” Other собачники prefer ошейники, спрей (collars, spray) or sometimes even a special медальон (medallion).

But everyone uses something, because блохи (fleas) are no fun. As one very old Russian saying has it, Торопом только блох ловить (Only rush when you’re catching fleas). This is a little clearer as Поспешность нужна только при ловле блох (literally, rushing is needed only when catching fleas).

Клещи (ticks) are even more dangerous and harder to get rid of. The worst thing you can say about an annoying person is “Он – клещ!” (literally, “He’s a tick,” i.e., he won’t leave me alone).

After the fauna are prepared for the dacha, it’s time for the flora: рассада (seedlings). Chances are that since winter your dacha-loving neighbors’ sunniest windowsills have been covered with flats, trays, and leftover yogurt containers filled with dirt. Выращивание рассады (sprouting plants from seeds) is a proud tradition among serious dacha farmers, who start early in order to prolong the fairly short период вегетации (growing season).

Others prefer to hit the Всё для дачи (Everything for the Dacha) section of one of the мега-магазины (big-box stores) to purchase already sprouted seedlings. As one neighbor says: “Лучше купить крепкую рассаду, чем мучиться с семенами.” (“It’s better to buy sturdy seedlings than drive yourself crazy with seeds.”)

Then, finally, the great day arrives. Kids, dogs, and cats get bundled into the car along with чемоданчики, тюки, пакеты и сумки (small suitcases, bundles, plastic bags and bags). Seedlings are carefully balanced on the back windowsill, along with a dozen or two eggs. Upon arrival, the first tasks are: спустить воду, открыть окна, включить холодильник, поставить подушки и одеяла на солнце и убраться (turn on the water, open the windows, plug in the refrigerator, put the pillows and blankets out to air in the sun, and clean). In the process, дачники (dacha owners) will discover a leaky pipe that needs to be fixed, a nest of mice that needs to be banished, and a thick tree branch that has fallen and must be cleared away.

But if they are lucky, by the end of the day they can break out the мангал (brazier), нанизать мясо на шампуры, зажечь огонь и пожарить шашлык (thread meat on skewers, fire up the coals and grill the shashlyk). Открываем дачный сезон! (The Dacha Season is officially opened!