Kasha - a Russian staple

There are certain foods in every country that you can't avoid. If you don't like them, good luck eating meals. In Russia, sour cream is the go-to condiment. Mushrooms are a major food group. And kasha, an oatmeal/cereal-like substance, is a solid foundation to start any Russian's day. Over the course of my first week in Russia, I was served four different kinds of kasha and would not be surprised if there were more yet to come. I didn't take pictures of each breakfast while I was eating it because, weird, but GoogleImages will help me show you my week in breakfasts!

Day 1 - Ovsyanaya Kasha (Овсяная Каша)
English translation: OatmealThis one was basically regular old oatmeal. Nothing too bizarre, just flavorless oatmeal that you add stuff to. In every bowl of kasha so far, it's been customary to put a slab of butter in it. I prefer to stir in some sugar as well, although others add salt.

Day 2 - Mannaya Kasha (Манная Каша)
English translation: Farina (?)This is how the Internet and my dictionary translate this one, but I have no idea what farina is, so I'm just trusting them to be right. It was....interesting. It had the consistency of apple sauce but a light, oat-y, milky taste. Still, a slab of butter and spoonful of sugar later, it wasn't half bad.

Day 3 - Pshyonnaya Kasha (Пшённая Каша)
English translation: Wheat...gruel? Porridge?You know that stuff they eat aboard the ship in The Matrix? Chock-full of vitamins, but essentially slop? Yeah, that's this one. Lots of bits in soupy creaminess, it was kind of like eating uncooked oatmeal. It was a little more liquidy than I prefer, but still not bad. It definitely tastes better than it looks, it just has a bizarre texture.

Day 4 - Risovaya Kasha (Рисовая Каша)
English translation: RiceThis one was basically a bowl of creamy, white rice. If I had been eating it for dinner, I probably would have liked it. But a bowl of rice at 8 in the morning? A little much for me. All of these variations of kasha stick to your ribs like glue, but this one most of all.

Russian Wikipedia lists several more types of kasha, so who knows what will be next? Stay tuned.

Where I live and study

Here is a map of central St. Petersburg. The black arrow shows where I live currently, which is on Vasilyevsky Island. The blue arrow shows where I have classes. The red arrow marks where the Hermitage/Winter Palace is, which I would call the exact city center.

Just in case you were dying to know, I'll tell you my route to school, which I took for the very first time today. (I drew in the route with a thin black line. Hooray for Paint!) I walk down Ulitsa Korablestroitelei, turn onto Nalychnaya Ulitsa (Ulitsa means street), and catch the metro at Primorskaya. It's about a 20 minute journey to get to this point. I ride the green line a few stops until I get off at Mayakovskaya to switch to the red line. I then get off at Chernyshevskaya, walk across the street to the bus stop, and catch the small bus/van that takes us CIEE students to Smolny. I haven't timed this whole journey yet, but I'm sure it's around an hour of commuting.

Pictures do not lie - Smolny is beautiful. The icey blue color of the buildings looks fantastic against the snow and almost makes you forget how ridiculously cold it is outside. We have classes in a branch of the complex behind the big cathedral in the center. Why am I having classes behind a church? Because the complex was originally intended to be a convent. The Soviets shut down the church and it wasn't reopened until the 1980s, when it was used as a concert hall. Today, it still houses a concert hall while the surrounding buildings contain various offices for difference organizations (like St Petersburg State's Political Science department!) I'll try to get some pictures of the interior this week.

On the subject of where I live, I still haven't taken pictures of the inside of my apartment. But I did manage a picture of the view from my room today. I wanted to get a picture during the daytime, but it was dark when I left this morning and near sunset when I came home. When the weather is a little less frigid, I'll take pictures of my neighborhood and path to school.