Why Kyrgyz culture attracts a lot of foreigners?
Most of the post-Soviet countries have one similar feature: internationality. People of different nationalities speak different languages, as well as learn other foreign languages. Kyrgyzstan is a perfect example of a country, where people from all over the world feel themselves curious about the local culture and try to become a part of it. Here you can meet Americans, British, Korean, Afghan, Indian, German people — a huge variety of different nationalities, who live, study, work or just travel in Kyrgyzstan.
Lynn Choi from South Korea, Émile Duchesnefrom Canada and Julie Bachelot from France found themselves in the Kyrgyz culture, making efforts not only to live here, but to learn the local culture diligently. Three people from three different parts of the world tell their unique stories about love and curiosity of the Kyrgyz culture.
Lynn Choi is 22 years old. She was born in South Korea, but moved to Kyrgyzstan in early ages. Over 20 years she’s been traveled around the world, but her heart is always stays in Kyrgyzstan.
“I studied here in Bishkek, and a few months ago I graduated from American University of Central Asia where I received a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. Now I am planning to go back to Korea at the end of this month” — Lynn says.
Her love to Kyrgyz culture, nature and people comes out in everything she is doing. Lynn plays Kyrgyz national instrument Komuz even better than some of the locals. Her first attempt to play Komuz was when she was studying on 5th grade at school.
“One day, I saw my mom playing Komuz at home. Basically, I have no idea where she got it from, but she was just about to learn how to play it. I was curious what instrument was that. So I asked mom to introduce me a Komuz teacher, and I began to master the art of playing this national instrument.”
According to Lynn, strings of Komuz are not very hard as guitar, therefore it is much more convenient to play Komuz than guitar.
“Komuz is more rhythmical comparing to other national instruments. Also, it is fun to make unique “movements” with your right hand while you’re playing Komuz”, — Lynn says.
As for the national songs which are played on Komuz, Lynn Choi knows many of them. She likes to play such compositions as “Chaikama”, “Chong Kerbez”, “Bala Kerbez”, “Mash Botoi”, and “Kara Ozgoi”. Among Kyrgyz writers and komuzists she respects Toktogul Satylganov the most.
“Actually, everything in Kyrgyz culture has its own traditional wealth and uniqueness in lots of spheres such as music, dance, patterns in design, etc. If I had a chance to continue living in Kyrgyzstan, I would definitely try to learn Kyrgyz national dance also. Oh, yeah, and how to cook Kyrgyz food, too!”
Another path that led to Kyrgyzstan is from French speaking part of Canada — Québec province. Émile Duchesne is 21 years old, he studies anthropology at Université de Montréal. Next year after receiving Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, Émile is going to begin a Law program. Two months ago his vital activity and curiosity led him to a far away located Kyrgyzstan.
“This is my first time in Kyrgyzstan. I came here for one semester as an exchange student at American University of Central Asia. The landscape here is reallygorgeous; this is one of the things that strike me the most. And I am very impressed with the kindness of people, who always tend to help and share experience”, — Émile says.
Studying anthropology makes Émile to have a strong interest in cultures and people. He uses his aspiration for knowledge in order to learn Kyrgyz mentality.
“It is really important for me to show the people that I am interested to know about their way of living and beliefs. It is a good basis to share our different experience with each other.”
As a post-Soviet country, in Kyrgyzstan most of the population speak two languages: Kyrgyz and Russian, so when Émile had to choose which language to learn here he didn’t chose Russian for personal reasons similar to his experience in Canada.
“I grew up in Québec and being told that it is important to protect and preserve the French linguistic heritage. We are only 6 million French speaking people in Québec surrounded by more than 300 millions of Anglophone people. So it was really important for me to learn the language of Kyrgyz people as I would like to see a stranger learn French in Québec instead of English”, — Émile admits.
But it is not the only thing that the Canadian guy tries to acquire in Kyrgyzstan. Considering the fact that Émile plays guitar since he was 7 years old, he was obsessed with an idea to learn playing Komuz.
“As Komuz is a stringed instrument, it was pretty natural for me to choose especially this Kyrgyz national instrument for learning. And as I am very interested in music and like to know new music and new sounds, it wasn’t necessary to ask myself the question “Do I need to take a Komuz class?” I just decided to do that with no doubts.”
Anyway there are always some difficult circumstances and challenges faced by every foreigner.
“Language barrier is kind of hard to pass-by. But still I am getting better every day. For now I don’t have a big knowledge of Kyrgyz language, that’s why when I talk to people who do not speak English I am using a weird mix of Kyrgyz, Russian and English words. When I came here I did not even know how to read Cyrillic alphabet. Now I am able to read, so I can see my progress, which is very motivating”, — concluded Émile.
The third heroine with a special passion about Kyrgyz culture is a French girl, Julie Bachelot. Julie is 25 years old. She was born in Bordeaux, a port city in the southwestern France. She spent her childhood there, and moved to Paris to study international business when she was 17.
Julie received her Master degree in France, but she also spent a lot of time studying at China.
“Indeed I went often to China to study and work, and I did a double degree. Basically, I was studying and passing exams in both my college in France and my university in Beijing at the same time”, — Julie says.
Julie considers her love of learning foreign languages as a hobby along with philosophy, mythology, classic French literature and horse riding and rock climbing. And her passion about different cultures and languages made her leave her home country.
“I love France, but I need to be abroad in an Asian country. If I had not met Kyrgyz people, I would have stayed in East Asia.”
First time Julie met Kyrgyz people was in China during the years 2010–11. She became friends with them, and in August 2011 she visited and explored Kyrgyzstan.
“To say the truth, I really loved the country, and I found it would be really interesting to participate to its development. That’s why I came here for my final internship I had to do in order to graduate from my college in Paris. And after that I decided to stay here and work”, — Julie says.
But Julie not only found a job for the soul in Kyrgyzstan, she also left her heart here. When she was in China, between her and one Kyrgyz guy appeared something more than just a friendship. Unfortunately, she declined to tell the details, as it is private, and she only told that her boyfriend was one of the main reasons she decided to visit this country.
For the time spent in Kyrgyzstan Julie Bachelot learned the local mentality, and got used to the national cuisine, even cooking Kyrgyz food herself.
“I consider that if you live somewhere even for few months, you should at least try to learn the language and the culture, it is just being respectful to your host country and being open-minded and tolerant. From Kyrgyz cuisine I cook such dishes as beshbarmak, dymdama, plov, samsy and borsoks sometime.”
She also studies both Kyrgyz and Russian languages, and doesn’t find any serious difficulties in that. According to Julie, learning languages and cultures is a real pleasure for her.
“The thing that surprised me here was the gender roles, and people’s relation to that. I also found that people love talking a lot about others, which is very surprising for me. But overall, it is an amazing country that deserves to be known. Kyrgyz nature is the added value of the country; this is something that makes it absolutely unique and magic.”
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Nurzhan Kadyrkulova for NewEurasia citizen media
