Update for March 12th & other random thoughts

When we were at the restaurant on Wednesday, Biyanna was telling us some stories about their culture. She was saying when girls get married they take five hope chests into the marriage. Of course they don’t call them hope chests like we do they have another Kazak name.

One is filled with her undergarments.

One is filled with her shirts/tops.

One is filled with her pants/skirts/bottoms.

Two are filled with kitchen supplies ie: dishes, utensils, pots and pans, etc…

Occasionally she may have an additional chest which contains her long winter coat & hat.

She also typically would bring a small box filled with money or jewels. The amount depends on how wealthy of a family she comes from.

It is also tradition for the man’s parents to give the girl diamond earrings to signify that she is now engaged. The woman here to do not have engagement rings they only have/wear wedding bands after the marriage. The earrings are her engagement gift. When a girl wears the diamond earrings other men know she is spoken for all ready.

We tried camels’ milk. It is fermented like beer is. It had a very strange taste. It sort of tasted like sour milk. Biyanna was telling us that the people here believe that camel’s milk is very cleansing. It is believed it will cleanse you or clean you out so to speak to make you healthier. Biyanna was also telling us that when she was younger her parents gave it to her to drink and the stories that the older family members tell her is that she was acting drunk after drinking it. It is fermented like beer so I guess this is a side affect. The camel’s milk is no longer traditionally given to young kids to drink.

The opportunity has still not presented itself for us to try horse meat yet. Actually to be honest we could have tried it before now but we haven’t. Maybe we will have the opportunity to try it this coming weekend. We aren’t 100% sure we want to try it but figured we might as well since we are here.

Interesting area related thing: All the woman here wear tall black leather boots with high heels. Most of them wear stiletto type heels. It is pretty strange to see all of them walking around in the snow, on the ice and through slush and mud. All the girls do it which is so strange to us. Get a good pair of snow boots for goodness sake. Half of them look like they are about to twist their ankles walking around. When you go into the malls every other store it seems sells these boots. Plus they are super expensive; $150 would be a cheap pair. We see people looking at our winter boots then talking about them and laughing. No one here wears boots like ours except maybe the men and woman that shovel snow from the streets and sidewalks. The teenagers that hang out in the bowling alley really get a good laugh making fun of our boots. We asked why this is, what is so funny that we don’t understand. Apparently, woman and men are judged by how nice the women’s shoes are. If you are a married lady other people will judge you on how well your husband is taking care of you based on how nice your shoes are. As well as younger girls, their fathers are judged on how nice of shoes he provides for his daughters. When they get home each evening traditionally all shoes/boots are polished back up for tomorrow’s outings. The men as well should have nice clean cut shiny shoes on daily. Our winter boots that we wear, we are being judged by wearing them. They show to the people here that we are dirty and don’t care what we look like. For me, it shows that Eric is not providing for me like he should be or himself since he wears them too. They also think they are funny looking and can not understand why we would even consider wearing them. I guess they don’t understand the whole truth that they are water proof and will keep our feet warm up to 30 degrees below zero. They have been a life saver here this winter for us and we could not imagine not having them. Of course now that it is getting warmer we wished we had some other shoes to wear too.

We have seen probably a dozen weddings or so since we have been here. The bride and groom go the statue across the street from our apartment and get their pictures taken. The cars of the wedding party are all decorated and they drive up and down the main street honking their horns. Last Friday there was three wedding parties driving up and down the main street for over a half hour. When we were out for a walk we saw a bride and groom getting their picture taken and the wind kicked the brides dress up a little. It was funny to me; she had on tall white leather boots instead of the black ones that she would wear everyday. They must wear leather boots for all occasions in the winter.

If woman are suppose to have on sharp nice looking shoes all the time, I wonder what they wear in the summer time? Especially in the hottest part of the summer when temperatures get above 100 degrees. We have been told it is like a desert here in the summer time. I can’t even imagine how hot it must feel outside as well as inside. Virtually no one owns an air conditioner here.

After some of the stories we have heard, we both are pretty happy that we were here in the winter. Yes some days have been crazy cold out but I would rather be cold then too hot. It is a lot easier to make yourself warmer than it is too cool yourself off. As it is for us there have been some days when it has been so hot in the baby house playroom that it has been almost unbearable. We have walked out of the baby house dripping wet with sweat on several different days. I would have to make the recommendation if you are coming here in the summer you should bring your own portable fan with you. You will most likely need it.