The Volunteer’s Blog

Hello again! It´s me, Christina! It´s time for my second article and this time it will be about my experience with Tatarculture!
Before I came here, I have never heard about this culture so I wanted to learn more about it! So last week Polina took me to the national museum and there I “walked” through the Tatar history! It was really interesting for me to see, how people lived here hundreds of years ago and also hearing about the conflicts they went through. How they worked, how they dressed and how they lived –  I have never seen something comparable before!
Also the language! I thought, as this is Russia, the language would be at least similar to Russian. I was totally wrong! But still, when I am walking through the streets and listening to people talking, I don´t hear the difference! The only time I can distinguish the two languages is the announcement in the Bus.
So I learned about the history and the language – but this is not enough! So I also tried Tatarfood. First speciality on my list: треугоник – some kind of pastry filled with meat. Though I still couldn´t figure out what kind of meat I found it very tasty. Next delicacy: кыстыбы – something similar to pancakes filled with smashed potatoes. Who could say no to that? And last but not least something sweet: губадия – also pastry, but filled with raisins, rice and something else I couldn´t identify. Also delicious! Seriously, I love how you fill pastries here with everything! I could eat it for every meal of the day!
I nearly forgot to mention чак-чак! How could I whereas this already became my favourite sweets here! I am already wondering how I will survive without it at home!