Monday, February 1, 2016

Culture Day

August 19, 2008

Culture Day

While it wasn't what I expected, it was still a lot of fun. The trainees live in 8 different villages and each of us portrayed a piece of Kyrgyz or Central Asian culture. Our group performed a skit about bride kidnapping, which, although against the law today, has been a part of Kyrgyz culture for centuries. We added some humor to it to lessen the “controversy effect,” and I added a disclaimer before my introduction saying this was one of several scenarios that could be portrayed and we are in no way condoning this practice. (I was the narrator for our skit.) We must have passed the test, because we received “no complaints” (oigo-good-ai).

Kyrgyzstan considers itself the Central Asian capitol of artistic talent, the land of artists, musicians, singers and poets. From the local talent that performed this morning, I would agree. They were phenomenal.


For lunch we ate plov, a very popular dish and some melons. I don't know how to spell “andeleek,” but I know how to eat it. Lots of it. It's shaped like a watermelon and tastes like canteloupe, only much, much sweeter. It's definitely my favorite discovery to date, food-wise. Second place goes to the homemade yogurt, called airan (eye-rahn). Some people add sugar to it, but I like it straight. Oh yeah, you drink it. Next time I'm going to add fruit to it.

Bride kidnapping. This occurs whenever a girl is taken against her will—sometimes it’s consensual—and forced to marry. Occasionally she knows the guy, but most times she doesn’t. She can call her father to come and get her, but he'll rarely come to the rescue. Several of my students were victims, at least five that I can remember; there were most certainly more. Why do boys, with assistance from cousins and friends, continue this outdated and humiliating practice? A few reasons. Some families can’t afford to pay the dowry to the girl’s family; a lot of boys lack the self-confidence to find a girlfriend the way most of the world does; I’ve also been told they do it because it’s a cultural tradition, although many Kyrgyz argue that it’s not and never has been.

In the book I tell the stories of three of my students, how they were kidnapped and how one escaped.