Kazakh and Russian are the main languages spoken here.
The Kazakh tenge is used here. One US dollar equals about 500 tenge.
A bottle of water costs approximately 350 tenge, or $0.70 USD.
My host mom made manti. Manti are dumplings filled with meat and vegetables, and they are awesome. I think manti might be my favorite dish here and my host mom is an amazing cook, so they were really good!
This week I listened to a lot of Kazakh music! One of my favorite new songs includes the word "сендер қанағаттандырылмағандықтарыңыздан," which is one of the longest words in the Kazakh language and would sound like "sender qanağattandırılmağandıqtarıñızdan" in English. It roughly translates to "since you are not satisfied." The song is super upbeat, and I have had a lot of fun trying to listen for words that I know!
This Saturday, March 8th, was International Women's Day. While this holiday is not really celebrated in the United States, it's a big deal in Kazkakhstan and other countries in the region. I bought my host mom cookies and flowers to celebrate.
