Русский Язык EXPERIENCES

OF KYRGYZSTAN: AN UNEXPECTED BEAUTY

by Chloe Woodward

You’ve probably never heard of Kyrgyzstan. If you have, it’s highly likely you know me. Since spending a month teaching English there last summer, I have become known as ‘the girl who talks about Kyrgyzstan’ (trust me, I live up to the name…). You may expect that, as it is a former Soviet Republic, that Kyrgyzstan is going to be an extension of Russia. However this is certainly not the case. Kyrgyzstan is very much its own country: it’s Muslim for a start, and while one of the official languages is Russian, Kyrgyz is the language of choice in the villages. They’re very proud of their culture – from ‘besh barmak’ (the national dish) to the Lake Issyk-Kul, which they couldn’t show off enough.

I stayed with a Kyrgyz lady called Anipa, her husband, her five sons and her grandson. Anipa was the model traditional woman: she cooked, she cleaned, she worked for the local school, and in the feminist NGO I was volunteering for called Erayim, and she socialised with her neighbours a lot. On top of all that, for the month that I was there, she was fasting for Ramadan! Her twin eleven year old boys were my best friends for that month, and her grandson was gorgeous. He and I didn’t actually share a common language, as he spoke zero Russian and I spoke zero Kyrgyz, so I just chatted to him in English and he babbled back to me in Kyrgyz. It worked for us!

The kids I taught were an absolute joy. They were so keen to learn, and I had so much fun teaching them. I will never forget the lesson I did on questions – I got them to ask me questions about England, and they asked me things like ‘Have you met the Queen?’ and one more advanced student asked me ‘Do you know what is going in England at the moment?’ I didn’t, of course, as I had been cut off from the world for two weeks by then. What had actually happened were the riots, but she told me there was a revolution going on...

The organiser in the UK is currently looking for people to take part in this year’s project. If you want the details, please don’t hesitate to contact me (cxw943@bham.ac.uk). You have to have the equivalent of at least AS level Russian to take part but it’s otherwise open to anyone.

Tweet us (@LinguistRussia) with your ideas and comments.

Прощайте, товарищи!

By Ella Nicol

Want to know more about Russian Culture, but didn’t know where to start? Well, you’re in luck! Welcome to the first of many reviews of Russian music, cinema, theatre, art, and anything else we can think of! This issue, I’ll be reviewing one of Russia’s big metal bands, Чёрный Обелиск, also known as Black Obelisk outside of Russia.

Жанр - ХевиМетал

Годы– 1986 –НашиДни

По-моему, Чёрный Обелиск улучшается больше и больше с возрастом. Их ранное творчество может быть трудный найти на «YouTube», но когда вы слушаете «Тебя Болше Нет» или «Пятая Песня», вы не будете разочарованы. Если вам нравится «Iron Maiden», вы будете любить Чёрный Обелиск. Ожесточенное пение и мелодичный гитаре делают их новые песни, как «Сука (Разговоры)» и «Капли Дождя», особенно броским. Я рекомендую албум «Нервы» дляновыйслушателей.