There isn't a whole lot to add today. Class went basically as it should have. Some of you know that I've been keeping a private journal as well as this. Yesterday I decided that from now on it will be in Russian only so that I can get some extra practice composing (and to celebrate the decision, I had a stroke of inspiration to write four pages).
Tea is a huge part of life here, and we drink tea usually about three times a day. It's weird though, they don't brew it like we do. Sure, if I want some of the different flavored teas, there are bags that I can use for that. However, there's also this pot that sits on the counter all the time. Tea is poured out, and water is poured in to replace it. The thing is, this tea brews ALL DAY in the pot. There's a little mesh cup I the top with tea leaves - fairly normal. But the water is always touching this mesh and brewing the tea. So it's a little like the way Italians make coffee - a small amount of a much stronger brew, to which hot water is added to dilute it to the proper concentration. It actually makes for some really good tea; I was a little surprised at first.
Also, for the last tea time of the day (about 9.30 or 10.00 at night), there's a whole production. We usually have strawberries or cherries or both, and then some heavy biscuits and little candies. The candies however, are another little oddity. They're called карамель (caramel), but it's not what we think of it. Their caramel is a hard candy, although still not what we think of as hard candy either - it's slightly softer and opaque, so the sugar was heated to a higher temperature than our caramel, but not as high as our hard candies. That's not to say that any of this is not good. I could probably say that I prefer it in fact because it's so tasty and it's the main time that the family sits and talks. Evidently, this is normal here, because the other people have been having similar tea times, although I don't think many of them are as enthusiastic (people who don't usually drink tea, for instance will worry about the caffeine's effect on their sleeping patterns. I'm more worried about the Sun honestly, since today was the longest day of the year - still is actually, and will be until 11.00-ish). Anyway, I'm rambling.
There's been this jar sitting on the windowsill in our kitchen the entire time I've been here. It's filled about half-way with a brownish-orange liquid and covered with cheesecloth, folded a few times. On top of the liquid is floating a fatty looking substance with layers like a biscuit, which fills the entire surface area of the liquid in the jar. Through the cheesecloth you can smell this pungent vinegar-like substance. Hopefully you get the picture and can understand why it took me until Saturday morning to finally ask Marina what the heck that thing was. Perhaps you've heard of Russia's second national drink - Квас (Kvas) - a semi-alcoholic (fractions of a percent alcohol) "soft-drink" made from stale bread crust. There are different flavors, I think, and some places make their own, so it can be pretty hit or miss depending on where you get it. Evidently, the Kvas at Jolki-Palki (the restaurant we ate at a few days ago) is "nectar from the Gods," to quote one of my classmates. Most of us aren't particularly excited about it, and I haven't gathered the courage to try it yet - nor do I have any desire to do so, honestly.
Back to the jar. I was told that the substance in the jar is like Kvas, or brewed like Kvas - something like that (so I'm guessing, it's slightly alcoholic, and brewed from whatever the floating substance is, which I still thought was bacon grease or something along those lines). But that does nothing to explain the smell, until she says that the floating substance is a "mushroom." Now, first off, I've never seen a mushroom that big - this is probably a 3 or 4 litre jar. Second, it has had to be sitting in there for a LONG time for it to look like a decomposing biscuit. Which brings me to a question. WHO IN THE WORLD would think of such a drink, much less make and drink it?
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