July 21, Figge museum, Pine Brook and Old Grist Mill and Iowa Farm

Between the continents updates (international writing program)

Our first stop on travel day was a nature park with caves and rocks, winding paths and inscriptions left from the 19^th century. Bathroom (in a nature park!) rang a familiar bell as it was a typical by-the-Russian-road toilet with no toilet paper or even a trash bin and with a hole. We did a bit of hiking and went to explore the old mill by the river.

The 19^th century Grist Mill grinded wheat to flour in grandfather’s days and still functions. We drove to the Mill in two minivans by noon. After a quick lunch (all rest places have tables and benches installed) we went to explore the Pine creek and the mill. The door of the shabby building was open and I entered a grain-smelling dusty room. A middle-aged woman wearing round glasses welcomed me and warned about the snakes in the basement. They help us keep the mice population down, she said. I thought it was a joke until we saw a black glossy creature looking at us from the engine cover and another brown head thrusting forward from a hollow in the bricks. The woman pointed at the upper beam with her walking stick: Once we were working with a young man here who was afraid of snakes. Suddenly something fell between us. It was a snake’s skin. We looked up and saw a snake cuddling above right there.

The Figge Art Museum was our next stop. We scrolled through the spacious halls admiring the angular lines of Picasso, blinking at the flashy modern pictures, testing our creativity at the craft center, crawling into a wigwam in challengeable architecture hall and wondering through a recycled construction “No shoes, no shirt, no service”.

The final stop was a farm in Solon. We had a tour of organic farm that is partly sponsored by CSA program (community-supported agriculture). CSA is getting more and more popular in the USA when people pay beforehand to farmers and then during get fresh organic (without chemicals and pesticides) every week. The farmer spends the money on seeds and farm needs. The worker of the farm happened to study in St. Petersburg and could speak Russian fairly well. And she prepared beet salad (vinegret) for us, along with tomato-cucumber salad (without lettuce!). The best dinner we’ve had, students commented. Then a crazy idea to cook Russian food sneaked into the girls’ head.