In Bratsk

I have come with Natalia to Bratsk it is a young industrial town situated on the banks of the Angara river. There is a Hydro-electric power station, Aluminium plant, Timber plant etc. near it. Population of the town is about 300 000 citizens. The name “Bratsk” sounds like the Russian word for "brother" ("брат", brat), it comes from 'bratskiye lyudi' (‘brother people’), an old name for the Buryats (I’ll find out more about them later).

Oh, such bliss - I'm in the wonderful garden of Natalia’s relatives! Her parents in summer live in dacha [‘dɑ:ʧə]. Dacha is a small summer cottage with a garden or vegetable garden; it is usually located in the exurbs of the cities. Almost all Russian families have dachas. Natalia’s parents grow vegetables and berries there. Here is a patch of onion. Just look at the size of those onions.

Don't I look smart in my hat, waistcoat & shoes?

Here I am resting on leaves of Marrows and 'patty pan squash'

Having a rest on some very large leaves, 

Now I’m sitting in the cilantro bush. They dry its leaves and seeds for winter, and then add them to different dishes.  Now I go climbing trees

Oh-o, I see a lot of berries. It’s Siberian cherry.

Its taste differs from traditional cherry and the trees are rather low. They will gather it in September.

I climbed up the sea-buckthorn tree, oblepikha [ˎɔble’pi:hə] in Russian. It’s very popular here because of its good taste and curative properties. It’s very useful especially in winter. Now it’s green but in autumn it’ll become yellow and orange.

And this is irga [irg’a] (lat. Amelánchier) (maybe shadberry, I’m not sure). It’s sweet and tasty. But not only I liked it, the sparrows adore this berry. People have to cover the shadberry tree with fabric to protect it  from the birds.

And this is a rowan tree (lat. Sórbus aucupária). It’s not sweet but bitter. Rowanberries are gathered in November after the frost. The frost makes it sweeter. But the majority of people grow rowan trees only for decorating dacha.

What a wonderful day! Tomorrow we do some more exploring. Oh, I love this place.