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| Okroshka and some other treats |
As I mentioned in my first blog, the Russian cuisine is like
nothing I have had before. This last week has been filled with new delicacies. Okroshka
was probably the most novel. Since the weather has been glorious, Tatiana
thought she would treat me with some traditional summer food. Okroshka is a
cold soup, which is made with chopped up vegetables, kvass (a beer-like Russian
alcoholic drink), sour cream and chopped up meat. Russians think it is
delicious! A breakfast treat this morning was kissel, a fruit soup thickened
with potato starch. Tatiana encourages me to eat lots of healthy food before
winter sets in, and she likes to describe all the vitamins that can be found in
each delicacy. Another breakfast treat was «творог», cottage cheese, with sugar and apricots. It is often eaten
with pancakes, but I was given just a whole bowl on its own. This is apparently
also “very healthy”. Nonetheless my taste buds are quickly adapting and I now
consider semolina to be the best breakfast of the week!
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| Tomsk State University |
Russian hospitality may not be widely notorious but I have
discovered how important and impressive it can be. Everyone is very keen that
we should be looked after and they are prepared to give up their own time to
take us interesting places. We have been escorted by at least 5 students to every
museum for example. We were also invited by some Russian students to come to
one of their flats one afternoon. We arrived not knowing what to expect. The door
opened and up sprung ten girls all welcoming us in. They had prepared a
mountain of «блины» (blini / pancakes), cupcakes, a pile of chopped fruit,
chocolates, biscuits and ordered pizzas and rum... A feast. And that was not
all. They had organised a game of “Mafia” (a murder mystery game) and a Russian
version of articulate. It was a hilarious afternoon and felt very spoilt!
My expedition to the Post Office demonstrated the inefficiency
of Russian bureaucracy. I simply needed a stamp for St Petersburg. I eventually
found the right building, along with what seemed to be the whole population of
Tomsk, all in several disorderly queues. I chose a queue, not really knowing
what queue was for what, and waited. The fierce woman who was serving my queue
then announced that she would not serve
anymore people because it was lunch time, (despite the fact that they were
closing at 2 o clock anyway as it was Saturday). Most people disappeared
begrudgingly but I stood my ground (as did the woman in front of me) and surprisingly
she took sympathy on me and served me. The process of buying the stamp took
about one minute, but my trip to the post office took a whole hour, and I
forgot to buy an envelope, which I later found out they only sell in the post
office, so I shall be going back on Monday!
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| The Post Office |
You would imagine that Siberians would not feel the cold as
much as Western Europeans since their internal thermometer functions in extreme
winters. Tomsk’s coldest day on record was -60 degrees. However, it appears that they are actually
much more sensitive to the cold than we are... I am regularly stared at in astonishment
for my lack of clothes, and consistently asked if I am warm enough. It has been
20 degrees this whole last week! Today my hostess Tatiana insisted I wore my
winter coat (as it is 10 degrees), and declared she could not go outside
because of the low temperatures. They tell us that it will be -40 soon, I do
wonder what I will be expected to put on then?!
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