24th August

24^th August

Something dad mentioned yesterday stuck with me. Granted, this was a (drunken, well, one of us at least) translation from 3 different languages (none of which I speak very well), but here goes,

“Kazakhstan was conquered by the Russians because they had Vodka. Now that Kazakhstan has Vodka, all the Russians are leaving and Kazakhstan is strong again”

I admit, I was aided in this translation, charades style, lots of puffing up of his chest and muscle flexing, but I think I got the point. Which is of course, completely incorrect, but it is funny. Kazakhstan was conquered due to a lack of unity within the tribes, as well as a concerted effort by Tsarist Russia to extend its borders. And the Russians are leaving due to the economic climate and the shift in focus from Russia (and Russian) towards Kazakh and the West.

Never the less, it was a fun moment.

Oh, I discovered today that Beskol, my tiny village of around 3000 people, has a library ( кітапхана “Kitap hana” in Kazakh, which means “Book Hall”) Gosh it is difficult to write in Russian or Kazakh on an English keyboard. Unlike Japanese, where I just had to type in the English phonetic combination to get the Japanese equivalent, in Russian, each key has been assigned a letter, and I have no idea of knowing what it is! Its one feature on a Mac that makes sense (when you change language, it brings up a keyboard with the letter changes so you can see it).

Tonight’s plan is to go “guest” (I cant find the energy to write it in Kazakh for you, sorry) at a neighbours house, once the sun goes down, so in 41 minutes as my sister has informed me.