How friends from the States reacted in the photo of our tiny dachas

I lived in America for about 3 years. Mostly I talked there with immigrants from Russia or Ukraine. I have two friends who are Native Americans. What it is – Russia through the eyes of foreigners "Site" I will tell you in this article.



They have never been to Russia before, and they do not know a word of Russian at all. We met on the dog court: I just got a dog, and we became friends as owners. We met in the morning and started talking.



During our meetings, I learned a lot about the United States, about how ordinary people live here. In addition, communicating with Vince and Vic was another opportunity for me to practice my English. The best way to learn is to practice. Vince and Vic, in turn, asked me a lot about life in Russia. By the way, they weren’t anywhere else but America and Mexico, so they were interested in hearing about it on another continent. I talked a lot about my home country, showed pictures. I once showed Vince and Vic my dacha.



Immediately I want to note that our cottage is the most ordinary, in the suburbs. This is a small 2-storey, wooden house, with a summer kitchen on the street. Even in the yard there is a well, a toilet house, as well as beds with flowers, dill, cucumbers, garlic. Also grow apple trees, raspberries, currants and gooseberries. We can say that we have the most standard set of ordinary Moscow summer cottage.

The guys said that the cottage is different from American homes, but in general similar. However, they did not understand what kind of small house stands near the house. I had trouble explaining in English what a well was, and Vince and Vic couldn't understand how we live without running water.



I explained to them that this is not their primary residence. The cottage is needed in order to do gardening and relax, coming for the weekend. My friends immediately thought we were a very wealthy family, since we could afford another home for the weekend. After all, here we can invite friends to relax, have a barbecue.

I had to explain to the Americans that such dachas are not uncommon. Almost every family has them. We don’t always go there to have fun. Sometimes you need to plant something, grow vegetables and fruits. In addition, I told you that we are constantly improving something in the country, looking at this suburban “home”.



I also explained that most of these things people do for themselves. It happens that it is grown for sale, but this is likely rare. Vince and Vic were surprised by my story. It seemed that they were even indignant, perhaps out of misunderstanding. They could not understand the benefits of going on weekends to grow crops and instead of resting to work again. They even tried to consider economic disadvantage.



They were outraged by the toilet on the street. They were puzzled that people could go to rest and work for 2 days in such conditions. The guys asked a lot about the dacha - I think they never understood why we need it. Of course, some things are hard to explain in words, especially to people from a different culture. However, Vince and Vic liked the fact that we have the financial opportunity to have a holiday home.

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