Hospitality in Kazakhstan is serious business. Schools, homes, politicians and businesses went all out when it came to welcoming new friends to their country. The amount of food that was offered was like nothing I have ever seen, and no matter how much you ate, your plate was never allowed to be empty. The generosity, kindness, and hard work the people of Almaty and Kostanay put into making us feel welcome I shall never forget. Our concepts of hospitality are more informal here in the USA in comparison to what I found here.
Let me introduce you first to our hostess with the mostest, Yelena Bozhko. She is the best Kazakhstan teacher I know. She has been teaching English in Kostanay for close to 30 years and judging from the interactions I saw between she and her students, she is one of the best teachers at the schools she works at. She keeps in touch with students from her past as well, and we met many of them throughout our stay with her.
Yelena set up a schedule for us that was demanding, challenging, fascinating & fun. We visited 8 primary & secondary schools and taught 15 classes. We gave a lecture to university students who were preparing to become teachers. We led 8 workshops for teachers throughout Kostanay Oblast on topics including the US Educational System, Teaching Methods In US Classrooms, and American Teenage Culture. We visited museums, churches, mosques, and farms around the area. We met numerous political and business leaders. She scheduled dinners with families & time for a Russian banya (sauna). She also arranged for us to go on the state Morning Show - sort of a Good Morning America deal. She answered and re-answered our endless array of questions patiently. She got us whatever we needed and welcomed us into her home for wonderful dinners & stellar company. It was awesome. To her I owe my biggest thanks. Without her we would have been completely lost. She was our anchor and in her I have found a life-long friend.
Before going on the Morning Show, we were getting prepped with questions they would ask. The broadcast was live.
One of Yelena's best pals is the blonde in the pic above, whose name is Yelena too. We were at her summer home in this pic getting ready to sit in the banya and hang out after a long day.
This is the Akim or county governor of Kostanay. There are 16 appointed by the President of Kazakhstan throughout the country. He was a down to earth fellow who sat and spoke with us at length about economics & education in his area.
He presented our school systems with a seal of Kazakhstan. It was an honor. We will be taking these back and presenting them to our Superintendents as a token of friendship from the people of Kazakhstan.
After a workshop given to Lisakovsk City English teachers called "Peculiarities of Teaching in American Schools."
It was common that we would receive gifts after presentations or from people we worked with. The generosity displayed was overwhelming.
Many teachers asked to have our pictures taken with them after workshops. Many kids too. There have to be millions of pics out there of Kristi and I as a result. Sometimes the corner of my mouth hurt from posing and smiling so much. People in Kazakhstan love a picture or three (for good measure or just in case).
Between classes, conferences or workshops, we were treated to tea. I drank so much tea while over there that I am bringing back a tea set of my own to start a tradition in Maine with my friends.
Hospitality was perhaps best shown by one of our favorite people we met here aside from Yelena and Yelena. This is Olga, and she is a retired Kazakh teacher. She invited us over to have a traditional Kazakh meal and to meet her granddaughter. We were treated to a feast of food and lots of laughs. She discussed what life was like under the Soviet Union and, like many others we spoke to, stated numerous times that she preferred life under that system for reasons of security in employment and healthcare. Since Perestroika it has been very hard for people in former Soviet republics to get used to independence and the change in economy is hard to navigate. Students graduating expressed stress surrounding the possibility of unemployment if scores to graduate are not high enough to get them into the best schools. And even if they get into those schools, there are no promises for employment opportunities when they get out.
Olga cooked us a dish called Besbarmak. It is a dish consisting of boiled horse or mutton meat and is one of the most popular Kazakh dishes. It is also called "five fingers" because of the way it is eaten. The chunks of boiled meat are cut and served by the host in order of the guests’ importance. Besbarmak is usually eaten with boiled pasta and onions, and a meat broth called shorpa, and is traditionally served in Kazakh bowls called kese. You drink the shorpa and it reminded me of drinking gravy that you would serve with turkey in the US. I was encouraged to drink and eat as much as I could and when my plate looked like it was getting empty, Olga would hop in and serve more food onto my plate. This is part of Kazakh hospitality. We learned to eat slowly.
One of my favorite things I found to eat in Kazkahstan was Baursaki. They are a doughnut-like pastery and consist of friend dough and are shaped into either spheres or triangles. Sometimes they are served with home made jam, and in this case Olga treated us to wild strawberry jam. They were so good. Below that you see a tray that has raisins, dates, almonds, and apricots. This was on every table we ever sat down at throughout our stay.
Speaking of tables and hospitality, here are a few tables we sat at and food put on them for us:
This all may help to explain why it is that my clothes are fitting a bit
snug over the period of this trip.
The two pictures above are of the traditional Kazakh drink, kumis. Kumis is fermented mare's milk. It smells like sour milk. I did not partake in this tradition as the smell of it was enough to turn the stomach. There are some things I could just not do. This was one of them. Note the look on my face as the woman next to me waits for me to drink it. I hated to disappoint her, but I did.
Lastly, every school we entered had prepared long and hard to put on a show for us. The students here in Kazakhstan impressed me with their musical talents and abilities. They had no fear in front of the audience and their peers always chimed in with applause or clapping to assist the production. Plays, demonstrations, presentations on history or important individuals, songs and traditional dances were all given in honor of our presence in their schools. Here is a link of a montage I created out of all the footage we took of them mostly during our stay in the Kostanay region.
The heart of the Kazakh people is in their hospitality. Their giving and generous nature left a lasting impression. I would like to find a way to bring that hospitality back with me and share it with my friends and family. Tis a goal of mine upon return.
Yelena set up a schedule for us that was demanding, challenging, fascinating & fun. We visited 8 primary & secondary schools and taught 15 classes. We gave a lecture to university students who were preparing to become teachers. We led 8 workshops for teachers throughout Kostanay Oblast on topics including the US Educational System, Teaching Methods In US Classrooms, and American Teenage Culture. We visited museums, churches, mosques, and farms around the area. We met numerous political and business leaders. She scheduled dinners with families & time for a Russian banya (sauna). She also arranged for us to go on the state Morning Show - sort of a Good Morning America deal. She answered and re-answered our endless array of questions patiently. She got us whatever we needed and welcomed us into her home for wonderful dinners & stellar company. It was awesome. To her I owe my biggest thanks. Without her we would have been completely lost. She was our anchor and in her I have found a life-long friend.
He presented our school systems with a seal of Kazakhstan. It was an honor. We will be taking these back and presenting them to our Superintendents as a token of friendship from the people of Kazakhstan.
I was eating lunch in one of the school's commissaries and started chatting a bit with one of the lunch ladies. We were discussing school lunches, and how all of them in Kazakhstan are home made from scratch. In my bag I usually carried some maple candy and salt water taffy from my home state to hand out to kids for presentations, so I grabbed a handful and gave them to her too for taking time to talk to us. She immediately ran out back and when she came back out - presented me with chocolate.
Between classes, conferences or workshops, we were treated to tea. I drank so much tea while over there that I am bringing back a tea set of my own to start a tradition in Maine with my friends.
Olga cooked us a dish called Besbarmak. It is a dish consisting of boiled horse or mutton meat and is one of the most popular Kazakh dishes. It is also called "five fingers" because of the way it is eaten. The chunks of boiled meat are cut and served by the host in order of the guests’ importance. Besbarmak is usually eaten with boiled pasta and onions, and a meat broth called shorpa, and is traditionally served in Kazakh bowls called kese. You drink the shorpa and it reminded me of drinking gravy that you would serve with turkey in the US. I was encouraged to drink and eat as much as I could and when my plate looked like it was getting empty, Olga would hop in and serve more food onto my plate. This is part of Kazakh hospitality. We learned to eat slowly.
Speaking of tables and hospitality, here are a few tables we sat at and food put on them for us:
Lastly, every school we entered had prepared long and hard to put on a show for us. The students here in Kazakhstan impressed me with their musical talents and abilities. They had no fear in front of the audience and their peers always chimed in with applause or clapping to assist the production. Plays, demonstrations, presentations on history or important individuals, songs and traditional dances were all given in honor of our presence in their schools. Here is a link of a montage I created out of all the footage we took of them mostly during our stay in the Kostanay region.
The heart of the Kazakh people is in their hospitality. Their giving and generous nature left a lasting impression. I would like to find a way to bring that hospitality back with me and share it with my friends and family. Tis a goal of mine upon return.
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