Kazakhstan 2

So last time I promised that I'll write more about Kazakhstan and life on the grassland.
I've decided to divide this topic into a few parts.
When I went to Kazakhstan I was very stressed, because I knew little of this country and I have never been there before.
For me Kazakhstan was always this country with poverty, kolkhozes, grasslands and repatriated people. But Kazakhstan is a very rich country, because it has a lot of natural resources like hard coal, oil, natural gas and metals. This country cultivates cereals and crops. Astana – the capital of Kazakhstan – is a very specific city, because there is everything there! There are churches, mosques, synagogues, orthodox churches, pyramids, monuments, modern arts and even a zoo with a white tiger, a nearly extinct species! Okay, maybe there isn't everything there – in Astana animals do not exist outside of the zoo.
I've been a few times in this city and I saw ONE dog! One dog at 10 pm on the outskirts of the city!
There aren't any mosquitos, flies or other insects there because the city is sprayed with insecticides.

If you want to eat dried fruits, go to Astana! If you want to eat the best candies ever, go to Astana! If you want... anything, really,
go to Astana! But if you want to see the real Kazakhstan, you need to go on the grassland, to the people who are living there.
One hour drive from Astana and I saw fewer beautiful buildings and more insects and animals. I saw poverty, more and more with each kilometre. I saw poorer houses and roads, I saw emptiness. I saw the real Kazakhstan and then I fell in love with this country.
When I went to the countryside I saw colourful houses, a lot of animals like chickens, ducks, gooses and cows. COWS everywhere!
In this country every morning cows are going on the grassland with a... cowherd? What a funny word! A man who is like a shepherd but he has cows! And at 6 pm he sees the cows out and the cows come back to their houses all by themselves!
They know which house is theirs and they go there. I know that seems impossible but it's real!

The Kazakh food is amazing, because everything is natural.
People are selling watermelons, melons and other citruses on the road, much like strawberries are sold in Poland.
And their taste is weird! People are kind and they bring a lot of food for volunteers from their native country.
One day they brought us 15 kilos of tomatoes and a few litres of milk and cream. It means a lot to these people that young people from Poland come to 'their' country to help and to spend time with their grandchildren.
The Polish spirit is still alive there, these people remember of their homeland.
They talk in Polish and sing Polish patriotic songs. They are still waiting to return home.

In the next posts I'll show you some photos!