It is strange to be sitting down with a glass of wine right now, when back at KU the Geography Dept. is gearing up for tonight’s huge “Globe-O-Mania” competition to end up Geography Awareness Week. Normally on this day, I’m running around with lists and trying to maintain some semblance of sanity (frequently a lost cause). The event is always tremendous fun and a great opportunity for students to see a different side of the department (and no one has been too traumatized yet!).
The situation here will change tomorrow, though. When all of the volunteers—and Shannon, especially—are able to sit back and relax somewhat, the pace here in Almaty will speed up dramatically. I’ll be assisting with some of the preparations for a Thanksgiving dinner to be held on Sunday (good thing I finally learned how to make pie crust this summer, Mom!), so there will be some shopping as well as cooking involved over the next three days. And lots of list making—my inner control freak is completely and blissfully happy at the moment!!
Thanksgiving dinner is not the only event on the horizon, though. Early Monday morning I will be picked up by a diplomatic vehicle (how cool is that???) for my first overnight trip outside of Almaty. Next week is International Week, and each year the embassy/consulate works with an orphanage somewhere in the country to try to provide the children (or in this case, the teenagers) a broader perspective on the world. The goal is to encourage them to think beyond their immediate future—many of these orphans have no idea of life beyond limited confines of the orphanage. They have little thought of a university education—and face extremely limited prospects for the future.
The goal of the embassy program is to let the young adults in the orphanage know that there are opportunities if they are willing to put in some effort. The US government sponsors many programs to bring students to the States to study, and are additional outside scholarships available as well. The four Fulbrighters in the area have been invited by the consulate to travel to Taldykorgan (the capital Almaty oblast, about 3 hours from the city of Almaty) to speak at an orphanage and to give some idea of what university life is like in the States. Our role is to provide encouragement, and to let the young men and women know that there are possibilities to effect change in their lives and improve their future prospects. Often, they are never given any encouragement, so it will be an extraordinary opportunity for us to try to provide some hope for a different life.
We will be in Taldykorgan for two days—the first day at the orphanage, and the second day at local schools giving the same presentations.
I’ll write more after returning from the trip, and try to provide more of a description of the area. In the interim, here is link to some information on Taldykorgan. http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/taldykorgan_kazakhstan.shtml. The site also gives a good idea of the intense love of statistics over here. It should be readily apparent that the author is not a native speaker of English. Considering that I will be going to an orphanage where there are a large number of children who resulted from teenage pregnancies, maybe stating that there are “27 treatment - prophylactic establishments” is not the best possible wording!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Happy Veterans Day!
It is a little strange being in Kazakhstan on Veterans Day—it is been a day that has reminded me of how much I miss the sight of the American flag flying in the breeze. Veterans Day is not a day that is celebrated here in Kazakhstan, so there were no parades or ceremonies. Instead, I went to the remembrance memorial in the park near my house where there is a large monument to those who served in WWII, as well as another statue dedicated to those who took part in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many family members and friends who have freely served our country. So, on this Veterans Day, I’d like to thank Dad, Catherine, Noel, Pepere, Grandpa Burke, Gramp Chandler, Uncle Leon, Neil, Brad, George, Wally, as well as others too numerous to name. To Geoff Stewart and all those who are deployed to distant places away from their loved ones—words cannot express what you do. Be safe, and come home soon.
Veterans Day should also not pass without recognizing the incredibly important part played by the family members of those who serve their country. They also make tremendous sacrifices, but do not receive the same recognition.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many family members and friends who have freely served our country. So, on this Veterans Day, I’d like to thank Dad, Catherine, Noel, Pepere, Grandpa Burke, Gramp Chandler, Uncle Leon, Neil, Brad, George, Wally, as well as others too numerous to name. To Geoff Stewart and all those who are deployed to distant places away from their loved ones—words cannot express what you do. Be safe, and come home soon.
Veterans Day should also not pass without recognizing the incredibly important part played by the family members of those who serve their country. They also make tremendous sacrifices, but do not receive the same recognition.
Just a quick note about sending a message to the “Kazakhstan Updates” group—any messages sent to this address automatically is forwarded to anyone who receives updates from the blog. While I love hearing from people, I don’t want to clog up anyone else’s email accounts. If you don’t have my email address, the best way to get a message to me is to add a comment to the blog—these are sent to me before they can be posted for anyone to see.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Shopping for Jeans
Yesterday I finally broke down and went to the bazaar to buy a new pair of jeans. After looking at the recent pictures from Tamgaly-Tas, I decided that it was well past time to retire the jeans I had brought from home. I also needed to buy a new purse, since the zipper on my old one no longer works. So…a trip to the bazaar was definitely in order.
How to describe the experience? Well, let’s just say that a trip to the therapist or a few glasses of Old Tbilisi might be in order. I knew that finding the right jeans would likely be the most difficult part of the excursion, so I headed to the clothing section of the Zelyony (Green) Bazaar first. There are numerous narrow aisles of stalls, packed full of any type of clothing you can imagine. Most of the jeans were pretty awful—they looked like someone was set loose with a bedazzler. However, there were some that were quite nice as well as flattering. The selection was further limited by whoever was operating a particular stall. There are no changing rooms at the bazaar—the merchant usually holds up a sheet to give you some semblance of privacy, so I would much rather have the merchant be another woman. It’s a little more comfortable that way.
When I finally found a pair of jeans that I liked (strangely enough, they happened to be [real] Levis), the fun part began. I had to climb over all of the jeans lying out on the stall counter, and then sit down to try them on. Apparently, that particular merchant doesn’t offer the amenity of a sheet. The woman also felt it necessary to…um, assist. The entire time, people were walking by and looking to see what was going on—strange men, grandmothers, school children. The bright side is that I was able to garner multiple opinions before deciding to buy the jeans. Fortunately, it seemed to be a unanimous decision, and I only had to try on one pair before clambering back over the counter to the pedestrian area.
What goes better with authentic Levis than a knock-off purse? Fashion is paramount over here, although it often seems to be taken to extremes. The most important accessory—a purse, of course. I finally found one that I liked—an imitation “Miu-Miu”. I really wanted to buy the imitation Versace, but had issues with the “Mede in Italy Ciani Versace” embossment. I suppose it is fine if you don’t read English—but it was a bit too much for me. I really like the note that was tucked into the purse I bought, though.
Don’t put in the sun and don’t touch rain
Don’t touch corroden, t, acid and alkaline (the actual spelling)
Don’t touch rough things
With any luck, I won’t have to go shopping for jeans again anytime soon. But if I do…well, I’ll know what to expect! And I’ll make a stop at the wine stall at the bazaar before heading home.
How to describe the experience? Well, let’s just say that a trip to the therapist or a few glasses of Old Tbilisi might be in order. I knew that finding the right jeans would likely be the most difficult part of the excursion, so I headed to the clothing section of the Zelyony (Green) Bazaar first. There are numerous narrow aisles of stalls, packed full of any type of clothing you can imagine. Most of the jeans were pretty awful—they looked like someone was set loose with a bedazzler. However, there were some that were quite nice as well as flattering. The selection was further limited by whoever was operating a particular stall. There are no changing rooms at the bazaar—the merchant usually holds up a sheet to give you some semblance of privacy, so I would much rather have the merchant be another woman. It’s a little more comfortable that way.
When I finally found a pair of jeans that I liked (strangely enough, they happened to be [real] Levis), the fun part began. I had to climb over all of the jeans lying out on the stall counter, and then sit down to try them on. Apparently, that particular merchant doesn’t offer the amenity of a sheet. The woman also felt it necessary to…um, assist. The entire time, people were walking by and looking to see what was going on—strange men, grandmothers, school children. The bright side is that I was able to garner multiple opinions before deciding to buy the jeans. Fortunately, it seemed to be a unanimous decision, and I only had to try on one pair before clambering back over the counter to the pedestrian area.
What goes better with authentic Levis than a knock-off purse? Fashion is paramount over here, although it often seems to be taken to extremes. The most important accessory—a purse, of course. I finally found one that I liked—an imitation “Miu-Miu”. I really wanted to buy the imitation Versace, but had issues with the “Mede in Italy Ciani Versace” embossment. I suppose it is fine if you don’t read English—but it was a bit too much for me. I really like the note that was tucked into the purse I bought, though.
Don’t put in the sun and don’t touch rain
Don’t touch corroden, t, acid and alkaline (the actual spelling)
Don’t touch rough things
With any luck, I won’t have to go shopping for jeans again anytime soon. But if I do…well, I’ll know what to expect! And I’ll make a stop at the wine stall at the bazaar before heading home.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Tamgaly-Tas
[WARNING: this post is relatively academic in nature!! J ]
Kazakhstan is a relatively new country, achieving independence only in 1991. One of the fascinating questions (for me, at least) is how people and the government of the country have shifted from accepting a common Soviet identity to a new vision of what it means to be Kazakh. Within a very short space of time, the citizens of the Kazakh SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) had to re-imagine themselves as citizens of a country that had never before existed in the modern sense of statehood. To complicate the matter even further, ethnic Kazakhs did not even comprise a majority of the citizenry. According to the 1989 Soviet census, the population of the region was about 40% Kazakh and 38% Russian. How, then, would it be possible to create a new Kazakh identity that validated the country’s existence? An obvious solution for the government was to draw upon the history of different groups in the region, and to create historic sites as well as to construct monuments and markers throughout the country. [In case you are wondering, this is an abridged version of a section of my Master’s thesis and will likely show up in the dissertation. It’s definitely a little more readable in this format—omitting such references as “Hooson’s seminal work on effective national territory” and “Agnew’s imperative not to view the state as a container of a homogenous society”. So now you know a large portion of what I do, without all the extraneous verbiage!]
Tamgaly-Tas is a great example of a site established by the government that emphasizes modern-day Kazakhstan’s connection with the far-reaches of history. It is located in the middle of nowhere—as I described in a previous post, it took over an hour to drive between 20 and 30 kilometers to the site. There is also nothing at the site—no souvenir shops, no restaurant, no place to buy anything. The only amenity is what was described to me as a ‘primitive bathroom’. That statement is an exaggeration (the word bathroom suggests that there is some sort of plumbing—which does not apply to a thatched-roof hut with a rough hole cut in the wooden floor. Outhouse is a better word). I do not want to suggest, though, that it was impossible to spend money at the site. When we arrived, we were met by several men on horseback. For about $10, you could take a horseback ride around the site and across the steppe. Kazakhs were historically a nomadic people, and horses have always been an important part of the culture. It is truly a beautiful sight to see someone riding a horse across the steppe—a National Geographic photo brought to life.
As we drove closer to Tamgaly-Tas, I began to understand more about the decision to use brilliant turquoise blue and goldenrod-yellow in the Kazakh flag. It was a beautifully clear day, without a cloud in the sky. The colors perfectly reflected the colors of the flag, from the blue sky to the yellow of the grassland vegetation. Driving across the steppe—on a path that had first been built for the merchants of the Silk Road—it looked as if the sky was reaching down to the ground. When we finally stopped and got off of the bus, the first thing I noticed was the air. It was the first time that I could truly breathe since arriving in Kazakhstan. The air in Almaty is incredibly polluted—so much so that I have developed a (second hand) smoker’s cough. In Tamgaly-Tas, the air was incredibly clean and pure, laced with a faint spice from the grasses—a wonderful scent.
The site at Tamgaly-Tas was established more than 3,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age by the Sakha people—or Scythians. The religion at the time was based on the worship of Mithras, the sun-god. However, this god was replaced by Tengri, the sky-god. The petroglyphs are part of a sacred site, located where the gently rolling plains of the steppe abruptly rise up in a series of low hills that have large areas of exposed slate (perfect for petroglyphs). The inhabitants of the area viewed Tengri as the originator of the universe, to be worshipped by all animals and people. Tengriism was an animist religion, in which shamans played a key role in bridging the gap between the heavens and earth. The petroglyphs at Tamgaly-Tas reflect this religion, depicting both mythical and real animals, the creation of the universe by Tengri, and shamanic ceremonies (including one of the most important, that of sexual relations between the shaman and an animal—usually a bull—which was seen as a sacred and desirable event joining the animal and human worlds. The site is situated so that on key days during the year (vernal and autumnal equinoxes, summer and winter solstices) very specific and sacred areas receive direct sunlight. Ceremonies were held to celebrate these events, and their locations are marked by sacred trees where people still tie white ribbons to mark their prayers.
It was very easy to see why the worship of Tengri might have replaced the worship of Mithras—the sky in the steppe is incredibly vast, and dominates the visual landscape. It seems to be a much more dominant power than the sun, and the light and shadows take on a life of their own. From the top of the escarpment, the steppe fades away into the horizon—very similar to the way the ocean shimmers off unendingly into the distance.
Even after the time of the Sakha people, the site continued to be used for ceremonial purposes. There are several graves from the Andronov period, as well as a burial kurgan (barrow) which would have marked the grave of an important personage within the tribe. The graves are all situated so that the individual’s feet pointed directly to the location of the sunrise at the time of their death. Women were buried facing the steppe, and men faced the sacred sites.
Two thousand years later, these same hills were part of the famed Silk Road. Markers (which have since been reconstructed) at the peak of each hill pointed travelers toward the main road which would eventually take them west to Europe or east to China.
I found it interesting that most people had never heard of Tamgaly-Tas until very recently (the last five or ten years). Although people knew of the existence of Tamgaly-Tas, it was not ‘discovered’ until the middle of the 20th century, when a Russian scholar explored the area. When I asked why the site was discovered so recently—and by a Russian, no less—I was told that the Soviet government did not view these to be appropriate cultural artifacts and preferred to forget their existence. More recently, though, the Kazakh government has cooperated with UNESCO to document and preserve the site. It is now an officially recognized World Heritage Site. In a relatively short space of time, the government has created a popular tourist site that celebrates the long-standing history of those who inhabited the vast steppes of Kazakhstan. Additionally, the site connects Kazakhstan to the Silk Road, even though most of the trade routes were further to the south. [As a note—the Caspian Sea, which borders Kazakhstan to the west, is named for the Silk Road. Caspian is a Persian word for silk, so it is the ‘Silk Sea’.] It was a remarkable opportunity to see such a beautiful place, one that tells so much about both ancient and modern Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is a relatively new country, achieving independence only in 1991. One of the fascinating questions (for me, at least) is how people and the government of the country have shifted from accepting a common Soviet identity to a new vision of what it means to be Kazakh. Within a very short space of time, the citizens of the Kazakh SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) had to re-imagine themselves as citizens of a country that had never before existed in the modern sense of statehood. To complicate the matter even further, ethnic Kazakhs did not even comprise a majority of the citizenry. According to the 1989 Soviet census, the population of the region was about 40% Kazakh and 38% Russian. How, then, would it be possible to create a new Kazakh identity that validated the country’s existence? An obvious solution for the government was to draw upon the history of different groups in the region, and to create historic sites as well as to construct monuments and markers throughout the country. [In case you are wondering, this is an abridged version of a section of my Master’s thesis and will likely show up in the dissertation. It’s definitely a little more readable in this format—omitting such references as “Hooson’s seminal work on effective national territory” and “Agnew’s imperative not to view the state as a container of a homogenous society”. So now you know a large portion of what I do, without all the extraneous verbiage!]
Tamgaly-Tas is a great example of a site established by the government that emphasizes modern-day Kazakhstan’s connection with the far-reaches of history. It is located in the middle of nowhere—as I described in a previous post, it took over an hour to drive between 20 and 30 kilometers to the site. There is also nothing at the site—no souvenir shops, no restaurant, no place to buy anything. The only amenity is what was described to me as a ‘primitive bathroom’. That statement is an exaggeration (the word bathroom suggests that there is some sort of plumbing—which does not apply to a thatched-roof hut with a rough hole cut in the wooden floor. Outhouse is a better word). I do not want to suggest, though, that it was impossible to spend money at the site. When we arrived, we were met by several men on horseback. For about $10, you could take a horseback ride around the site and across the steppe. Kazakhs were historically a nomadic people, and horses have always been an important part of the culture. It is truly a beautiful sight to see someone riding a horse across the steppe—a National Geographic photo brought to life.
As we drove closer to Tamgaly-Tas, I began to understand more about the decision to use brilliant turquoise blue and goldenrod-yellow in the Kazakh flag. It was a beautifully clear day, without a cloud in the sky. The colors perfectly reflected the colors of the flag, from the blue sky to the yellow of the grassland vegetation. Driving across the steppe—on a path that had first been built for the merchants of the Silk Road—it looked as if the sky was reaching down to the ground. When we finally stopped and got off of the bus, the first thing I noticed was the air. It was the first time that I could truly breathe since arriving in Kazakhstan. The air in Almaty is incredibly polluted—so much so that I have developed a (second hand) smoker’s cough. In Tamgaly-Tas, the air was incredibly clean and pure, laced with a faint spice from the grasses—a wonderful scent.
The site at Tamgaly-Tas was established more than 3,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age by the Sakha people—or Scythians. The religion at the time was based on the worship of Mithras, the sun-god. However, this god was replaced by Tengri, the sky-god. The petroglyphs are part of a sacred site, located where the gently rolling plains of the steppe abruptly rise up in a series of low hills that have large areas of exposed slate (perfect for petroglyphs). The inhabitants of the area viewed Tengri as the originator of the universe, to be worshipped by all animals and people. Tengriism was an animist religion, in which shamans played a key role in bridging the gap between the heavens and earth. The petroglyphs at Tamgaly-Tas reflect this religion, depicting both mythical and real animals, the creation of the universe by Tengri, and shamanic ceremonies (including one of the most important, that of sexual relations between the shaman and an animal—usually a bull—which was seen as a sacred and desirable event joining the animal and human worlds. The site is situated so that on key days during the year (vernal and autumnal equinoxes, summer and winter solstices) very specific and sacred areas receive direct sunlight. Ceremonies were held to celebrate these events, and their locations are marked by sacred trees where people still tie white ribbons to mark their prayers.
It was very easy to see why the worship of Tengri might have replaced the worship of Mithras—the sky in the steppe is incredibly vast, and dominates the visual landscape. It seems to be a much more dominant power than the sun, and the light and shadows take on a life of their own. From the top of the escarpment, the steppe fades away into the horizon—very similar to the way the ocean shimmers off unendingly into the distance.
Even after the time of the Sakha people, the site continued to be used for ceremonial purposes. There are several graves from the Andronov period, as well as a burial kurgan (barrow) which would have marked the grave of an important personage within the tribe. The graves are all situated so that the individual’s feet pointed directly to the location of the sunrise at the time of their death. Women were buried facing the steppe, and men faced the sacred sites.
Two thousand years later, these same hills were part of the famed Silk Road. Markers (which have since been reconstructed) at the peak of each hill pointed travelers toward the main road which would eventually take them west to Europe or east to China.
I found it interesting that most people had never heard of Tamgaly-Tas until very recently (the last five or ten years). Although people knew of the existence of Tamgaly-Tas, it was not ‘discovered’ until the middle of the 20th century, when a Russian scholar explored the area. When I asked why the site was discovered so recently—and by a Russian, no less—I was told that the Soviet government did not view these to be appropriate cultural artifacts and preferred to forget their existence. More recently, though, the Kazakh government has cooperated with UNESCO to document and preserve the site. It is now an officially recognized World Heritage Site. In a relatively short space of time, the government has created a popular tourist site that celebrates the long-standing history of those who inhabited the vast steppes of Kazakhstan. Additionally, the site connects Kazakhstan to the Silk Road, even though most of the trade routes were further to the south. [As a note—the Caspian Sea, which borders Kazakhstan to the west, is named for the Silk Road. Caspian is a Persian word for silk, so it is the ‘Silk Sea’.] It was a remarkable opportunity to see such a beautiful place, one that tells so much about both ancient and modern Kazakhstan.
Postcards
A few people have asked about sending postcards from Kazakhstan. While I would love to be able to do so, there is a problem. They don't have postcards here. Tourism is not as well developed as it is in other areas, and the idea of the 'souvenir stand' has not reached this area of the world. I'm posting a picture of the UNESCO designated "World Heritage Site" at Tamgaly-Tas to show just how little there can be at tourism sites.
There's also another factor in sending postcards--if you think that everyone looks at them in the US, it is nothing compared to here. Who knows what might happen--and if a postcard would even arrive? I will do my best to send something to those who have asked, but there are no guarantees.
Image from petroglyphs
More on the petroglyphs soon..here's a picture from yesterday, in the meantime. Just as a note--out of the 50+ people who were on the trip, only one other person wore hiking boots. I couldn't imagine hiking through all the loose shale in nothing more than a pair of Keds, but then...I'm American and fashion doesn't always come first. Instead, safety is a little more important.
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