Kazakhstan

Population: 16.56 million

Capital: Astana

Currency: Tenge is the currency in Kazakhstan

Language: Kazakh and Russian Phrases: welcome (Qos, keldiniz) goodbye (Saw boliniz)

Climate: Because the altitude of Kazakhstan ranges from 21,999 feet above sea level to 433 feet below sea level the climate varies.  In summer the temperature averages 86 F, in winter it is -4 F.  Some points are covered with snow year round.

Religion: 70% Islam, 23% Orthodoxy, 2% Atheism, 2% other.  After independence was achieved one way to rebel against the years of suppression was to waive restrictions on religious beliefs.  After that hundreds of synagogues, mosques, churches and other religious structures were built.

Sports: Kazakhstan is known for Rhythmic gymnastics and boxing in the Olympics.  Other popular sports are rugby, speed skating, ice hockey and of course soccer.  Soccer is the most popular sport in Kazakhstan

Famous people: Marat Bissengaliyev is a famous violin player. Marat Zhylanbayev is a distance runner and the first person to cross the Sahara north to south. Shoukhrat Mitalipov is a scientist and first person to clone a primate.

Flag:

Facts:
* About twice the size of Alaska
* The Caspian  shore has some of the lowest elevations on Earth.
* Is the worlds largest landlocked country
* Kazakh means independent or wanderer
* believed to be the country where man first climbed on a horse thousands of years ago
* Archaeological excavations suggest that Kazakhstan is home to the Amazons, the brave women warriors

Culture:  The culture of Kazakhstan is largely influenced by the Turkic nomadic lifestyle.  Most of the practices relate to livestock because animal husbandry was central to a traditional lifestyle.  Good manners require a person ask first about the health of a man's livestock when greeting him and then ask about the human aspects.  The traditional dwelling is the yurt, a flexible tent that can be set up and taken down easily.  In modern Kazakhstan the traditional lifestyle is blended with influences from western societies in addition to Russia and China.  Their diet usually consists of lamb, horse meat and milk products.

Activity

Mario works in a very diverse place.  One day while I was there with the kids his co-worker, Aileta, came in and offered us some chocolate.  She had been telling Mario about it for some time and kept promising she would bring him some.  It was really good and she told us it was similar to what she would eat in her home country of Kazakhstan.  I will be honest, I had never heard of Kazakhstan before.  I am not totally geography challenged, I am just not super family with the Eastern European countries.  I always feel a little sheepish when I do not know anything about a country, so we decided to study Kazakhstan.  We had a nice little interaction with Aileta and she loved looking at the kids.

We found out that Aileta's husband actually fled the country because at the time, people that did not follow a certain religion would just disappear.  There was no warning signs, one day they would be out working in their yard and the next day they were gone and no one knew what happened to them.  Fearing for his life he left the country and came to the US.  Aileta followed seven years later.  Another amazing story of life and death situations and having to be away from loved ones. 

We didn't get any pic with Aileta, but here is a cute one of Shia

he didn't really like it.