When in Kazakhstan...

…Do as the Kazakhstanians do.

Item No. 1- the Bannya. An experience that I feel everyone should take part in at some point. We had been informed of the bannya tradition in our host family orientation session, and I’m not gonna lie – I was a little nervous.

So what is the bannya? The bannya is a washroom, and kind of like a sauna. There is a big water heater in one corner, and a big basin of cold water in the other. So when you wash, you take a scoop of hot water, and a scoop of cold water and mix it together in another bucket. Then, you wash yourself.

Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well, it really wasn’t. A little awkward trying to get the hang of washing and rinsing though. And it was a very small room with short ceilings, so that made washing my hair a little more difficult as well. So why was I so nervous about this? Well, apparently it’s common for all the women to wash together, and all the men to wash together. And on top of that, they often have branches in the bannya that you use to whack yourself (or the other person if you’re not alone) because that’s supposed to further cleanse and rejuvenate, I guess. But I was able to bannya privately, and no whackings were involved, so I think I did alright!

Item No. 2 – the squat toilet. Yep. Need I say more? Mine is a nice 50 yards out behind the house, through the garden and past the laundry lines. Another first for me. And I have to admit, it wasn’t quite as horrible as I had expected it to be.

It’s actually pretty nice here. The weather has been mild, and the people have been nice. I live in a house about 10 minutes (walking) from the gymnasia I study at. I feel lucky, since most other people are about a 40 minute walk in the apartments. But at least they have showers and indoor toilets! Right now I’m living with a host family that consists of a mom, her 21 year old son and her 11 year old daughter. She’s a nice little girl, and loves trying to talk to me. We went for a walk last night, and she introduced me to 2 of her friends, who were sooo excited to see an American! I threw rocks at glass bottles with them, then went down to the store where she bought sunflower seeds and a piece of bubblegum for me. We went and sat on the street corner and ate the sunflower seeds (which must be a common thing for her – there were shells of the seeds all over that corner!) and then came back home. She painted my fingernails and braided purple yarn to put in my hair. She also played for me all of her favorite Russian music, as well as some favorite English music as well. I gotta say, I’ve never been so relieved to hear Usher before!

Anyway, a pretty good experience so far. The food hasn’t been too scary – though the number of carbs I have consumed is. I tried horse milk today. I don't recommend it. But my host mom was so excited to give it to me, I managed to down it all anyway! It's basically like drinking sour cream. Awesome.



I'm not sure if this picture will show up... but it's the family's cat. It loves me. And I love it. I've asked for it's name about a dozen times, but I still can't remember it. So, Koshka will work just fine. This cat is right at my door first thing in the morning, and loves to sit on my stomach while I'm reading or on the computer. So presh.

I only have a few other pictures right now, all of the little girl in my host family, she looooves my camera. But I'll get some more of the city soon and share them with you as soon as I can!