camp and spend time with Kazakh friends, one of the English teachers
from our school planned a day trip to the lake. In America, a day at
the lake might include a cooler with cold sandwich fixings, chips,
soda, and water (this is mostly guesswork on my part…growing up in the
desert I never actually had a "day at the lake"), but in Kazakhstan we
bring the whole kitchen with us. We spread out blankets and
tablecloths on a tapshan (a raised platform for sitting, lounging, and
eating—apparently traditionally from Uzbekistan) in the shade; dug a
hole for cooking potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and meat in a cast iron
pot; washed and cut cucumbers and tomatoes for as salad; arranged
apricots and cherries in a bowl for snacking; and poured soda and
bubbly water into ceramic cups. While our meal cooked over the fire,
we splashed into the lake, where we enjoyed the cool and surprisingly
clean water and introduced our local friends to the joy of the
Frisbee.
We ate, napped, played cards, heated water for tea, swam some more,
sliced a watermelon, ate some more, then cleaned up, loaded back into
the marchutka van, and rode the 3 hours through the Steppe home to
dinner and sleep. Very sound sleep.
Oh yeah, and WE SAW CAMELS!
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