For New Year’s I traveled with my Kyrgyz friend Bakyt and German friend Frieder, to Bakyt’s home 
and I some insistence to convince Bakyt’s parents that we wanted to help with chores but quickly we were put to work. I took on many of the more traditional female chores: milking the cows, helping cook manty and bread and scrubbing the floors. But I also joined Frieder and Bakyt to help with the “male” chores such as herding animals and cutting up compressed animal manure to dry as fire burning material. I finally made it to Lake Issy-Kul, Frieder and I hiked the dozen kilometers down from the village.Incredible clear water! The lake is quite large, over 182 km (113 miles) long. It is the second largest highest mountain lake in the world after Lake Titicaca.
Our days settled into a bit of a routine. We would wake before dawn and stoke the fire. As the Bakyt’s mother started boiling water and milking the cows, his father would go and prepare the animals to go to pasture. All the animals from the neighborhood are grouped together to make a herd or flock. Daily sheparding duties are rotated through the owners. After the animals have headed out, morning tea and bread was served before starting daily duties. Women are responsible for all things in the household and men most things outside. Especially in the 
winter, it seems that women bear the grunt of the work: preparing food, cleaning, getting water and tending to males. Most winter duties revolve around maintaining life, food and shelter. Bakyt’s family is almost entirely self-sufficient with their food besides salt, sugar, rice and flour. Bread is baked every few days in an outside kiln, dairy collected daily, animals are occasionally slaughtered, carrots and onions stored in a root cellar and other fruits and veggies are canned for the winter. In the afternoon, the animals would return from the pasture splitting off from the herds to their respective homes unaided. We would feed they some hay as the winter pasture is insufficient before penning them up for the night. Outside work would continue until it was dark upon which dinner and tea was served. After eating a starch heavy meal, Bakyt’s family would usually would watch an hour or two of television before heading off to bed.
Bakyt had many friends to visit as he does not often make it home. In
With Bakyt in Kara-Koo, the pattern of guesting became apparent after a few visits. Upon entering the home and
removing our shoes we were always ushered to the table where heaps of candy, breads, jams, salads, cakes and dried fruits sit. Piles of boorsuk, little fried bits of dough, are heaped around all of the food. From the moment you sit your tea mug and your plate will and should never be empty. The first few guesting experiences I had I
would eat upon arrival until I was full at this point. I quickly learned that this is the wrong approach. Because the initial table spread is usually just the beginning. At least one more course, sometimes three or four main dishes will be served. Soup is followed by plov (rice and meat) and/or besh-barmak (noodles and meat). I never seemed to do a good job pacing myself and always ended up overstuffed. I found the best technique for dealing with the pressure to eat to be leaving some food on my plate as whenever it was empty it was refilled. My “jok, men toidum” (No, I am full) never seemed to be heard. Tea is continued to be served until the guests or the elder initiate the end at which Amin, a Muslim gesture of thanks, is conducted. We were always sent away with a goodie bag filled with candies, fruits, borsok and bread. Being with Bakyt entailed guesting multiple times a day. I have never eaten in the quantity, never felt that kind of pressure to eat and never put on weight so quickly.
New Years Resolution: Try to take things in as slow as I can. Cheers!
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