brief thoughts on Kazakh culture...

Reading a language book one day, I came upon a traditional greeting of the Kazakh people. The greeting literally translated to "How are your animals?"

Curious about this greeting, I went and asked a fellow teacher about this greeting. He said prior to when Kazakhs lived in cities and town. Life for the traditional Kazakh prior to the Stalin era's forced collectivization was that of rural pasturization. A Kazakh would tend his sheep (rich Kazakhs would also have horses and maybe even camels), and move his animals dependent on the season to areas which were warmer or had better patures.

The life of a Kazakh and his family was entirely dependent upon the health of their animals to survive, since everything from candles, fire stock (animal dung), rope, and clothes were created from their animals. A wealthy family one year could be struck by a disastrous winter and be poor or even dead the next. No family prior to soviet rule had many material posesstions and none had much material wealth that could not be moved regularly, other than the family's animals. Also this meant that many Kazakhs did not have the ability to read or write. And that was how life was for hundreds of years.

In the social hierarchy for Kazakhs was:
1st: Animals- they were the life givers
2nd: Family- they were dependent of animals and continued the family line
3rd: Friends and Country- really a far forth since most Kazakhs had huge families

But this social structure was completely crushed during the forced collectivizations of the Stalin years. Animals were slaughtered by the hundreds when Kazakhs were forced onto the farms, the entire social structure had its foundational pillar destroyed. The Kazakh identity was put asunder, forcing its people to find a new identity. I think this may be the reason why Kazakhs are the most russified of the central asian peoples. In the lack of identity that was forced upon them they reached for the only identity they could and the only one they had on-hand was that of the USSR.

This new social hierarchy replaced animals with family from below and since country was a huge aspect of USSR politics. Country took a far second.
1st: Family
2nd: Country- Even now Kazakhs have intense patriotism. I believe this is a leftover of the once powerful induce patriotism of the Soviet Union
3rd: Friends

Even now Kazakhs in my village are suffering from identity formation from the this still young nation its fascinating to watch. I can only wonder what it will look like in 10 or even 20 years.
But were does this leave me? I am neither a friend really nor am I a countryman. Nor am I related to anyone in my village since everyone seems to be related at least by marraige to each other.

I hate the question that I eventually recieve after I explain I don't get paid that I volunteered to come to Kazakhstan. "What do you get out of this then?"
The answer a cultural experience and knowledge of another kind of life doesn't fly here. It is only recieved with a look of bewildered shock. But I guess I didn't expect to be greeted with open arms but at times life as the perpetual outsider in a strange land can be dauntingly lonely.

Kazakh Lesson- Part 2

Earlier I wrote a brief segment on Kazakh. Kazakh originates from the Turkish language tree and because of that the verb is always put at the end of the sentence. So for an english speaker the entire language reads a little backwards. This is probably the trickiest thing when it comes to reading the newspaper. The action or the verb of the sentence is always at the end of the sentence so usually I have to read a sentence, then re-read the sentence to track who actually did the action.

Take the simple phrase.
Me -yen Ooh-lin O-kay-min

It litterally translates to
I a poem read

But if a I add 2 sounds and change one sound in the sentence the meaning will completely change

Me-yen-nin Ooh-lin-in O-kay-cin
(She) my poem reads

(She is implied in the verb conjugation)

Also the verb can also change from verb to noun depending on the ending. Making conversations rather confusing if you start listening in the middle of a conversation.
Take- to read again

Oh-k: (READ) command form/ verb
Oh- kuu: (to read) infinitive form/verb
Oh- kuu- shhh: a writer (noun)
Oh- kuu- shhh-lar: writers (noun)
Oh- kuu- shhh-lar- muuss: We are writers (noun and verb) -(to be is not said in present tense)

I can continue this exercise for another 5-6 lines but you can see that you can have entire sentences created and negated by sounds that are rooted around a basic verb. Kinda weird, kinda cool, but really its just difficult for a learner since its a language that has very little literature of learning created for it. Since it was on the brink of death and now is being revived.