All Together

All Together 
Eating Kazakh foods and gathering are my favorite things to do. Communicating with people makes me feel part of the community and gives me joy. For me Kazakh foods are the kings of all dishes. However, since I moved to Chicago, I haven't been able to meet my relatives, friends, or eat my favorite foods. Although I have friends and acquaintances that I can spend time with in the United States, it was always unique, fun, and comfortable to gather in Kazakhstan. In United States my English is not good enough to talk fluently, or sometimes I don’t understand people’s jokes. It feels like some kind of block is stopping me from the conversations. As time passes, the community feeling that I felt in Kazakhstan is disappearing. 
In Kazakhstan going on picnics with my relatives was the best thing to do. Imagine twenty-five adults, and around fifteen kids all together next to the mountains and a river that is flowing slowly. It is typical in Kazakh culture for men to do barbeque, and for women to make other dishes. At the picnic some play musical instruments, sing a song, and children play around trees or swim in the river. Chicago is in the Midwest, so there are no mountains that I can go to. In fact, it takes at least three hours to see mountain. Even if I go there, my relatives are not there. Moreover, it is easy to communicate with relatives because we have same language, religion, and background. In United States people are from different countries, so sometimes I don't understand them. 
Additionally, I miss some traditional Kazakh foods like, camel milk, horse meat, and irimshik. I used to eat bauyrsak almost every day. It is similar to donuts, but without sugar. I made them a few times in Chicago, but they take a long time to make. Also, they make my home full of smoke because of frying. My favorite food is kazy which is horse meat, but in the United States I can’t find it because it is banned. Furthermore, I can’t bring these foods because airlines don't allow people to transport meat, and camel milk. Another of my habits was to drink black tea with milk in any restaurant. In United States most places give iced cold water and don't serve tea. When I visit my home country, I try to enjoy every bite and sip. 
Moreover, when I spend time with my friends, we can’t notice how quickly time passed. I have two close friends in Kazakhstan. We have been friends for eleven years, so we know almost everything about each other. Every time we meet, our gathering will be until our parents call us to come home. Because of the time difference, I can't call them any time. Even though we can talk with phone, it is not fun when we are not sitting face to face. When we meet, we remember funny things that happened to us, and we laugh until tears come out. Yes, sometimes these kinds of moments make me feel happy, and on the other side sad because I miss them. Especially, when we had a free time, we used to invite each other to have some fun, but in Chicago I don't have close friends yet. Instead of meeting friends, I watch movies or do yoga to get some joy. 
Eating foods that don't exist in the United States and gathering with my relatives and friends will be apart from me as long as I live in this new country. Also, as I live here my interests and way of thinking is changing, so I am afraid that when I meet my relatives in the future, I won't be able to talk like before. People say that humans can adopt quickly to a new place, so maybe one day I will understand United States culture better than now. For now, I am happy that I have great friends around me even though they are not from my country.  

Comments

  1. Annie chaljubMarch 6, 2020 at 10:56 AM

    Hi, I hope you are having a nice day. I just read you essay and i found it really interesting. I tried one Kazakh dish last month and i really like it. my friend who is also from there cooked, and another thing that caught my attention is about the picnics, I love picnics and i understand your opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 3:41 PM

      Hi, thank you for your comment. Glad that you had a chance to try! I wish we all can have a picnic one day🙂

      Delete
  2. AilingMarch 7, 2020 at 3:05 PM

    Hi! I never try Kazakh food, but the food in the picture look delicious. I think Kazakh food is similar to Inner-Mongolian food in China. They would like to roast a whole lamb and make the salty milk tea. Besides, your family gathering in Kazakhstan is such a big gathering!!

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 10:21 AM

      If you want to try, there is one restaurant called Jibek Joly, they have really good dishes. 🙂Yes, some people used to drink tea with salt, but now most people drink tea with sugar😄

      Delete
  3. Liuyi WengMarch 7, 2020 at 11:07 PM

    omg, your picture makes me hungry. I never try Kazakh food, and after read you essay, I really want to try. As immigrants, we need time to used to new life in a new country, anyway, life will be getting better and better, I am glad to hear that you found some nice friends.

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 10:29 AM

      Kazakh and Kyrgyz foods are almost same, so there is one Kyrgyz restaurant called Jibek Joly, they have very good dishes.🙂

      Delete
  4. nawlelpweMarch 8, 2020 at 3:04 PM

    Hi, your traditional's food look delicious and I also miss my country's food like you. I also afraid that I would get adapt to American cultural and forgot my cultural. That's why I try to find and make some of traditional food every couple of weeks or months.

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 10:33 AM

      Thank you, is there any your countries restaurant in Chicago?

      Delete
  5. barbrahtunMarch 8, 2020 at 4:01 PM

    I have never tried Kazakh food but it looks delicious according to the picture and I want to try it someday. I also have two best friends and we used to hang out together in Malaysia but they are now in Perth, Australia. I miss spending time with them I can understand how you feel.

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 10:42 AM

      There is restaurant called Jibek Joly, they have really good dishes. I would recommend to try samsy, plov or lagman, and honey cake is super delicious!🙂

      Delete
  6. EsmaMarch 8, 2020 at 7:00 PM

    Hi Juka. Turkish people also like picnic, and Turkish community in Chicago do picnic one a week in summer. However, we miss to do picnic next to mountain like you. I hope one day you will join us in this summer :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. KailinMarch 8, 2020 at 8:42 PM

    Hi Juka. The scene in Kazakh looks so beautiful and make me feel comfortable. I hope one day I could travel to your country. I also miss my close friends in China and miss the time we spent. Maybe we should try to find some close friends here~ :)

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 3:59 PM

      Hi Kailin, thank you for your comments! If you travel one day, you can ask me where to go 😉

      Delete
  8. hyehwan97March 8, 2020 at 8:43 PM

    I miss my friends, too. I cannot contact with them very often because of time. We have 14 hours time difference and that makes me sad. I cannot even call with my parents very often.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 3:45 PM

      I can understand you☹️, at least we have a video call that we can call sometimes and see each other🙂

      Delete
  9. Jordan March 8, 2020 at 10:37 PM

    Hi Juka. You have lot of delicious food picture. I'm so hungry right now. I really miss my friends, but I can't contact them too often, because we are have different time and I think they are also busy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 3:54 PM

      One day, when you get hungry, you can go to the restaurant called Jibek Joly, they have really good food🙂 I think, now you can call without thinking that they are busy because they might be bored sitting at home... It is good time to call and ask how they are. If you ask, tell me how life in China is these days 🤔

      Delete
  10. LuBaiMarch 10, 2020 at 10:09 AM

    Hi Juka, the picnic looks very happy. I also like eating outside with friends. Enjoying the sunshine and looking the beautiful view. we can also chat with each other. Keeping close with the nature is good for our health and emotion.

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    Replies
    1. Gulnur ZhanibekMarch 12, 2020 at 4:02 PM

      Hi, thank you for your comment! I hope one day we all can go to the picnic☀️🌈🧺

      Delete
  11. WinnieMarch 14, 2020 at 11:00 PM

    Hi Juka, I empathizes that you are worried about your thinking and habits are changing so that they might not fit the culture in your home country. When I visited my home country China last year, I felt that most of my family relatives and friends said I had changed. And sometimes I couldn’t get their ideas or jokes during conversation. To me, it was getting hard to keep conversation without any English word involved when I was talking with my friends and family in China.

    ReplyDelete

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