Monday, May 12, 2008

Kazakhstan

Today we went to a presentation by a woman who lived as a missionary kid most of her youth. As a teenage girl her family lived in Kazakhstan. She spent 9-11th grades there. In her 10 grade year she focused on learning Kazakh so she could attend local schools as she wanted some friends. She would spend 5 hours or more a day learning the language. It is a very melodic and beautiful language.

Above you see a Dombra, an ornate tapestry, a head covering that matches the blazer of her native formal wear, and a blue head covering from Afghanistan (I do not remember what it is called, I will try to look it up), a vest, and a staple food that is a fry bread similar to donuts.

Here she is demonstration the head covering she would wear when she was in public while serving herself in Afghanistan.
Next you see our son playing the Dombura.

It was really interesting listening to her share about what is was like living in Kazakhstan. I'm guessing our son would say the best part was the bread (we got to eat it) but he did enjoy playing the Dombra too!

This is the Kazakhstan Flag.
The Kazakhstan flag has sky blue background. In the middle of the flag there is a golden sun with thirty two rays and this sun is placed over an golden eagle. On the hoisting side of the flag there is a golden ornamentation. The ratio of the flag 's width to its length is 1:2. This national flag was adopted first on 4 th June 1994. The sky color signifies several Turkic people and also indicates the sky god. The ornamentation stands for the cultural heritage of old Kazakhstan while the eagle indicates to the golden rule of Genghis Khan empire in Kazakhstan.

1 comment:

Chris said...

I would have loved to listen to her talk about Kazakhstan, what a treat for you all.

Very pretty flag too.