I wear my sunglasses during lecture.

I caught about 3 hours worth of sleep and am dragging this morning a bit.  Breakfast was pretty typical, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, juice, coffee etc.  Was very good.  There was a cheese we had that was mixed with honey that was pretty tasty.  We were welcomed by a public affairs officer from the U. S. Consulate General in Almaty this morning.  His name is Tristran Perry and he has lived all over the place working for the State Department.  I believe he said his last assignments included Pakistan, Indonesia & Azerbaijan to name a few.  Interesting fellow who shared some ideas they are implementing here in Almaty to share American culture including The American Corners.  In addition to providing information about the USA, the American Corner also organizes celebrations of various holidays, offers thematic seminars, brings speakers to the American Corner, presents information about education in the USA, and much more.  Here is the link of programs they use to do so:   http://www.amcorners.kz/AC%20Calendar%20April%202013.pdf. 

This morning we also had an introduction to Kazakhstan's history & culture with Dr. Guinara Mendikulova - the coolest looking history professor I have ever seen.  She gave the entire presentation entirely with her sunglasses on.  Very hip lady and very informative. 

Notable points of her presentation included the following:

Kazakhstan has an extensive history as a crossroads due to its central location between the East & West along Silk Road routes.

As a result there is a unique blend of cultures & religions and Kazakhs are naturally tolerant of many ideas & belief systems as a result.

Kazakhstan in terms of culture stresses importance of clan.

Although fundamental factions exist, most Kazakhs are moderate in religious outlook.

Most practicing Muslim & Orthodox women have the choice to wear hijab or head scarf.  This is not a mandate put forth by government. 

Years of Soviet propaganda left a divide in what is Kazakh and what is Russian. 

During WWII most Kazakhs that signed up for the war were defending their country, The Soviet Union, that is. . . .

During WWII Russia’s best and brightest intellectuals were hidden in Kazakhstan to protect them from Nazis, leading to modernization of Kazakh educational system.  However, highest education was typically reserved for Russian Kazakhs. 

Russians used areas around Kazakhstan for nuclear testing.  Russians did not care if they lost Kazakh citizens. 

There are private & public schools and absolutely no religious schools due to the strong separation of church and state in this country.

The real situation of teaching Kazakh language is 45 minutes once/week with teacher being late back in the Soviet era.  And now this has changed.  Kazakh language schools have been revived. 
Extremist Kazakh nationalists are around due to “post-colonial syndrome.” 

Kazakhstan is for everyone. 

Kazakh people overwhelming support their president even though he has been in power for over 21 years because he supports all ethnicities (129 of them) and maintains a good balance among them. 

Most people supported the moving of the capital city from Almaty to Astana Kazakhstan.  Because of its central location and accessibility for all.

Very cool indeed.  I think what intrigued me most is this social struggle that exists here between young Kazakhstan and old Soviet Russia.  It seems to be everywhere.