Everything is looted, spoiled, despoiled / Death flickering his black wing, / Anguish, hunger—then why this / Lightness overlaying everything? — Anna Akhmatova, trans. D. M. Thomas. I went to Karaganda with my colleague Lia and her friend Grace this week. Grace is visiting from England for the week;…
You can easily find lists of ‘traditional’ Kazakh foods… but what about all the other food we eat? Below, I attempt a brief listing of food in Astana, but I welcome your additions… Foods to Eat in Kazakhstan Airan. Drinkable yogurt, usually unflavored. Handmade in yurts in Mongolia; sold as a…
While taking language classes last summer, I scored an invite to a Real Kazakh Wedding. A few years ago, our research team interrupted huddled marriage negotiations in a Mongolian yurt, to ask marginally relevant questions about citizenship. And we were invited into a six-hour wedding’s eve party in another town. And…
As I leave work, I see one of the maintenance men leaving, and catch a ride across town with him. We wait for his nephew, as the country’s flags whip back and forth on the flagpole. “Once, you Americans were the enemy,” wrinkly-faced Bekbolat nods to me in Russian. “Fight…
On the last day of school, Zhanigul-apai* stops me in the hall: “Can you give an interview in Kazakh tomorrow?” I nod. Usually this means cameras show up to my workplace and I talk for a few minutes: how long I’ve been here, how much I like it, isn’t…
As a quick note, I was looking for trilingual (English, Russian, Kazakh) fonts today. There are many great font websites where you can download lovely typefaces for English, and sometimes Russian, but it’s much harder to locate the specialized characters needed to display Kazakh. (There’s an official website with…
If you haven’t visited, I’m not sure what image you have of Kazakhstan. But I find my colleagues are thoughtful and open. Several people have asked me about the storms in Oklahoma, and how the 2008 worldwide economic krizis is affecting Americans back home. We had a strong storm blow through last week (dark clouds,…
It’s a bit funny to be writing today, as it’s cool and gray outside. But I did want to share pictures from yesterday, a delightfully warm day, with leaves in green and families out walking and sitting in parks across the city. Here’s a shot of the Bayterek tower:…
Many travelers who visit Astana are struck by the feeling of a Dubai on the Steppe, where flashy buildings express the aspiration of a nation. That is probably oversimplified — I’ll reflect more on Astana soon — but I it’s true that Kazakhstan’s capital has undergone rapid changes. Once…
1. My guess is, if you’re wanting to learn Kazakh, it’s because you’re 1) a grad student in search of obscure research, 2) a professor who got a job in Kazakhstan, 3) an aid worker or teacher, 5) a diplomat, in which case you already have expert help, 6)…