Kazan — summer 2014

Health issues seem good this morning. Class went as usual. In the afternoon we had a brief tour of city high points, including the Märcani Mosque and the Sts. Peter & Paul Church. The mosque is usually a first for American students. The church is neat in that it has beautiful fruit-and-vine embellishments that are quite atypical for an Orthodox church.

Here are all our students at the mosque.

And here is my ultimate bus selfie. On my right is Alina, who already has her doctorate in biotechnology. Damn, that family is not only good-looking, but also smart.

Classes. No current sickness. Students meet peer tutors at 2:00.

Peer tutors... these are people with whom the students meet twice a week for 90 minutes just for the purpose of speaking Russian. The first meeting of the week usually has a theme or place that we assign them, the second meeting is mutually agreed upon by the student and tutor. Today's theme is the Kazan Kremlin with visits to the Qol Sharif Mosque and the Church of the Annunciation.

After I got home, of course, I had dinner. I tend to make a huge main dish that I can eat for several days, so tomorrow's main dish is already prepared, but I kinda wanted a little bit more. Hm. What's in the cupboard? Curry spices that I bought last year. An onion, garlic. The last occupant left some millet groats, golden raisins and banana chips. Don't remember the last time I cooked millet. Still, if I can't make a decent curry-spiced pilaf out of that, then take away my chef's card!

...later...

Not turning in my card today. This turned out decent. Slightly sweet, slightly savory, slightly spicy. Heck, I might even make this again on purpose some day.

---

PS. No, I don't have a chef's card. Just speaking figuratively.

---

PPS. Although I call this a pilaf, since it is eaten mostly dry, not in a mushy porridge, the Russians would not call it a plov. In plov the grain is more steamed/braised than boiled. So the Russians would most likely call this a kasha.

My body seems to be adjusting. The last three days I've automatically awakened around 6:00 p.m., which is roughly what I do at home. Spiffy.

I turn on my computer to check e-mail. Damn. There is a request for an emergency contact test to make sure our means of communication are all clear. We just replaced one of the student's self phones yesterday. Wonder if she has put her SIM card in yet?

So I send out the contact request right away by text message and follow it up with e-mail. I get five prompt responses. Guess I know who the early risers are now. Myself, back in the States I often turn my cell phone off. I wonder if people under thirty ever do that? They are in Russia, so they won't be having quite the phone habit they have in the States, I expect.

Time to get in the shower. How much do you want to bet that I get three calls while in it?

Day four of classes. Very smooth. Boring. I *love* it when it is boring. It's crises that make things interesting. Crises and spices.

Speaking of spices, one of the condiments that Russians love is hot mustard, although they call it Russian mustard. I love the stuff. Here is a tube of it. Russians can handle nuclear fire mustard. So why can't they handle a little hot pepper? I just don't get it. I smear this stuff on white cheese, which is otherwise pretty boring. Granted, the mustard looks like dog poop, but mm-mm-good!

End of first week of classes. Before I go to class, I stop off at the Catholic church to pray. Catholics really know how to build places for praying. I wish I could show you in photos how lovely this place is, but most of the bits I wanted to photograph have windows behind them, and I can't get the lighting to work right. Nonetheless, after vain attempts at photography I return to the more serious business of presenting myself before the throne of God. And then I head back on the street to head to the institute.

It's exam day. Still the cool weather that I've loved. Eventually it will get hot and muggy, but I this week has been a joy weather-wise.

Sometimes I really don't get why Russians name this the way they do. Like this newly opened bar on Bauman Street, which is part of a national chain.

And sometimes I'm vastly amused at some of their marketing, like for Beerhouse.

Sometimes the graffiti really catches me. Here is a mixed alphabet grafitto. The first letter is a Tatar letter, pronounced halfway between an oh and an ee. The second, third and sixth letters are English. The a could be Tatar or Russian or English. The letter that looks like an aitch is a Tatar/Russian en. So the whole is meant to be a play on, "Oh, snap!", I think. The @ symbol in Russian is called собачка, or ‘little dog.’ So we now have “Dog, ow! Snap.” Hm. I'm probably missing something from the first part that's not shown here.