Hello
everyone!
We are
beginning to learn a little bit more about the traditions and the past of our
new home. The people who lived in what is now Kazakhstan centuries ago didn’t
live in plush apartments with numerous rooms (I’ll get to 21st
Century Kazakh living arrangements later). The nomadic Kazakh tribes used to
live in yurts.
A yurt is a
cone-shaped tent of white felt stretched over a framework of wooden poles. It
helped to protect the nomadic tribes of Central Asia from the bitter, harsh
winters of the steppe. It seems to resemble a wigwam. They are easily
constructed, durable and warm. Not many people live in yurts anymore, but it is
possible to stay in one in the remote countryside as a tourist to maintain the traditional
Kazakh culture.
The reason I
am mentioning yurts and Kazakh tradition is because we sampled it on the
Wednesday. We attempted to eat the national dish – Beshbarmak – but due to
miscommunication we didn’t realise that the ingredients had to be ordered 24
hours in advance, so our large group of fifteen moved onto a nearby restaurant.
Turns out it’s quite difficult to fit 15 onto a table, so the managers took us
upstairs to plan B.
Above the
restaurant three white tents sat proudly in the evening air. We would probably
live in them, but they were padlocked to prevent the homeless folk of Astana
setting up shop in a beautiful new home. And what a home.
It feels
like another world. Colourful carpets and wooden wicker adorn the interior of
the nomadic tent. The vertex of the structure is known as a shangrak, and holds the yurt together. You sit on
the carpets and are surrounded by peace and tranquillity. Well, aside from the
hi-fi in the corner. There was also a toy horse in the yurt, but unfortunately
we weren’t allowed to play on it.
Kazakh fun fact: In old Kazakh communities,
the yurt itself would often be repaired and rebuilt, but the shangrak
would remain intact, passed from father to son upon the father's death. A
family's length of heritage could be measured by the accumulation of stains on
the shangrak from decades of smoke passing through it.
In addition
to the wonderful setting, the food was also fantastic. We were introduced to
baurzaki, which is warm fried bread that tastes and smells like a doughnut. The
shashlik was also sumptuous here, and served on a very large, thin sword.
Manti, the large dumplings, have fast become my favourite Kazakh food, and were
enormous at this place. They didn’t last long on our low table.
Whilst here
we were introduced to what initially we thought was another Kazakh tradition,
but turned out to be just a personal choice of the assistant librarian. Tea –
with salt. I tried it, realised it tasted like sea water, and returned it to
the table. That will not be tried again.
This trip to
the old-school tent was a welcome change from what I was doing the rest of the
week – sorting out our new apartment. I love my current place, but had made it
clear from the very beginning that I didn’t want to be living alone. We also
lived on the more expensive side of town, away from the locals and the fun. So,
after viewing numerous apartments and having numerous issues (the fact that they
count in ‘rooms’ instead of ‘bedrooms’ here being a particularly annoying one)
to deal with, we have found a place, and signed for it on Thursday. A process
that took two hours of my life due to the number of people involved in the deal.
I’ll show
some more pictures in due course. All you need to know is that it is bigger
than a yurt. Not that living in a yurt would be a bad thing. Especially if they
provided us with regular plates of baurzaki.
Love you all
Matt
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