A useful translation – Чай, будешь? = Do you want tea? “Чай, будешь?” My host mother asks me in the morning at breakfast. “Чай, будешь?” My host sister asks when I return…
Finding Fulfillment in the Beauty of Jamila
It took some time for me to completely immerse myself in the serene melancholy of Jamila, but ultimately, those approximately 50 pages proved to be incredibly fulfilling. “Jamila,” an enthralling short novel…
Maybe Esther: Exploring the Maybes of Memory and the Past
Who knows exactly what their grandparents did? What about great-grandparents? Great-uncles? Maybe you have some old family stories or memories pasted down until they reached you but were void of many details…
From Samovars to Electric Kettles: How Tea can Change a Nation
Tea is the most polarizing drink around the world. This drink, best served hot, that some consider “dirty water,” is powerful in ways only seen before in Earth’s greatest empires. Tea has…
The Gift to Stalin: The Role of Family
How are families created? It’s easy to be born into a family; to inherit an identity; to inherit wealth; to inherit opportunities. To form a family, however, is harder, but necessary for…
A Coming of Age Despite Forced Adulthood: A Review of Chingiz Aitmatov’s “Jamila”
What love story is complete without the backdrop of war and influence of a growing dictatorship? And what historical narrative can be considered captivating without a little romantic plotline? Instead of spending…
Crafts of the Great Silk Road
Though they are neighboring post-Soviet countries in Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are very different. The former’s wide steppes, mostly inhabited by nomads until the 20th century, stretch out in every direction,…
We Search
In 1997, the capital of Qazaqstan was moved from Almaty, where I am studying, to the city of Astana (“capital” in Qazaq), far in the north. Out there in the middle of…
Unveiling Hidden Treasures: The Nukus Museum of Art
During our recent trip to Uzbekistan, I had the opportunity to visit numerous sights and cities, but one that truly left a lasting impression was completely unexpected. Nukus, a seemingly unremarkable city…
ALZHIR: A look into the gulag
The gulag. It’s not my favorite topic as the details are rather unpleasant. But Kazakhstan is a post-Soviet country that endured a great deal of the human suffering, forced labor, and famines,…
