Day 18 ~ Back to daily routine

20. July
Back to school again, no fun! School was fine. History class was interesting. We talked about paganism and different Russian pagan traditions. I had never actually realized what the definition of paganism was so this was an interesting class.
Stac began by saying that paganism was in the historical past of every nation. He mentioned some major pagan gods; Swarog, Stribog, Dazhdbog, Perun, Domovio, Leshi, and Vodianoi.

Swarog was the god creator, Stribog the god of the upper world and winds, Dazhdbog the god of justice and the giver of sun and day. Perun was the god of storms, thunder and lighting and apparently the ruling class believed in him. Domovoi was the spirit of the home who was invisible and lived either under the stove, or in the attic. He was the protector of the home, brough tranquility, linked horses, cattle, milk, bread, and if you made him angry in any way he would leave your home. This was considered very bad! Leshi was the god of the forest and Vodianoi was the water spirit.

I also learned about many Russian Traditions which include the following:
The cat is the most spiritual creature so he must be the first to enter a new home. If you do not have a cat, you should borrow your neighbors and push him over the threshold.

If you meet or come across a lady with two empty baskets in her hand this is bad luck, if they’re full it’s a good omen. If you meet or come across a burial procession this is good for you. Basically for the fact that you’re still living. If you leave a key on the table or anywhere else it’s not supposed to be it’s bad luck because the key had a special place, a nail on the wall.

If you drop a knife that means you will have a quarrel in the future, drop a fork means you’ll have a male visitor, drop a spoon and you’ll have a female visitor. If your left hand itches you’ll receive money, if the tip of your nose itches you’re supposed to drink vodka.

When you’re traveling if you forgot something and go return to retrieve it this is bad luck. Whistling in the house is prohibited because you’ll lose money.

A sauna is considered a dirty place and women are supposed to give birth here and not in the home because the home is sacred and must not be placed in danger by evil, unclean spirits. A women who is giving birth, and soon after is an open door for good and evil spirits and therefore cannon enter the home.

The origins of some of these traditions are not known but they certainly were interesting to hear and I did not hear any of them before coming to Russia. I wonder how many American traditions could be related to paganism. Overall it was an interesting lecture despite the fact that I was extremely tired and fell asleep for a little bit.

After school I went to Francesca’s house and had some tea and vegetables. Similar to what I had the last time I was there, although I had never had white tea before. I am interested to know what type of leaves are used to make white tea?

After eating and tea we took a small nap before our internship. All those who are doing internships are starting them, so Francesca and I went back to the orphanage. Based on their daily schedule they eat around 4 and then go play outside until 6 or so. So usually when we get there we’re outside. It started pouring a few minutes after we got outside, and I mean a downpour for a good 10 – 15 minutes. The children were excited for the rain, and we all ran under these hut like buildings that had benches and tables. Basically we spent the whole time coloring as usual. However, unlike the last two times we were there, all of the children seemed to be interested in talking to us and many of the boys even came up to us and would talk with us. It’s still very difficult to communicate with them but its neat to just sit and listen. They are definitely not as reserved as they used to be when we were there.
Anyways, for dinner Olga said Liza was coming over. Liza and Olga have been friends for a long time. This meant Olga was preparing something fancy for dinner! She ended up making a salad with ham, other vegetables, and dill all chopped and diced. With it we had bread water, Kvas. So, it looked like a soup, and of course with it some mayonnaise like stuff. Kvas looked like root beer, but doesn’t taste like it at all. It’s carbonated and if you didn’t know any better you would think it’s some type of soda. I don’t like it at all, it’s got a weird taste to it. I tried it, but when I had seconds no Kvas for me!

Before Liza came I was watching Olga cook. I spend time occasionally watching her cook, its fun and I hope to take back some of what I’ve seen home with me! She was making Apple “perok”, or pie. However instead of a traditional pie crust Olga used tortillas. Inside were cut up chunks of apple, some type of cinnamon, sugar and egg sauce I think, and then something else that was more sugar and egg and other stuff that looked like frosting or cream cheese. She layered the sauce and cream cheese looking stuff and then wrapped it all up in tortilla shells and baked it

When it was finished and we ate it, you would never be able to tell that it was tortilla shells. It tasted amazing and I just couldn’t believe what it came out to look like. The tortilla could be mistaken for some type of traditional American pie shell and was very moist and flavored by the layers of sauce and filing.

Oh, Olga also bought a new flavor of tea, chamomile l and apple. It smells like apple and it’s even better than green tea in my opinion. Liza was sick today and had a fever and brought a whole bag of medicine!

Anyways, they spent the night talking, and I just sat and listened while doing homework. It’s nice to be back home, I missed Novgorod, Olga and the pets.
Oh, sometime this evening I’ve also noticed that my ankles are pretty swollen. I don’t know what caused it but I am thinking the walking over the weekend? My ankles are kind of sore and hurt and the bones in my feet and ankles hurt a little even walking today. I will have to keep an eye on it! Off to bed for me!

Love,
Sasha.