This is Stacie from Detroit with whom I shared Act 2 of The Dacha Experience with Vladimir (The Colonel) and Tatyana last night. There is so much about this Russian couple, that a blog post or two just can't do it justice. So let me preface what's coming next with a little more context. Stacie (Nastya-- a short form of Anastasia to The Colonel since he couldn't get the hang of Stacie) had the misfortune of being assigned to a host family that was, for the most part, a mother and two little girls, 4 and 2. The house was a mess (really dirty-- details too disgusting to add here), so Stacie was moved into the same house where Aleksei (of Aleksei and Galina) was staying, which meant she was really without a host family. The Colonel was excited about getting his homemade banya (a Russian sauna) fired up yesterday; the banya is a cultural experience and I knew that Stacie had never been to one, so I relayed her host family story to him and asked if she could come along yesterday to their dacha. Both he and his wife welcomed her with open arms... What seemed a little odd to me at first as a host family assignment turned out to be one of the greatest cultural experiences I've had in this country. The picture is of Stacie sitting at the kostyor (campfire), between the dacha (small country house) and the banya, after we had the banya experience (which I'll relate to you in the next post)...
