Kinja reply list

I volunteer for a nonprofit organization that invites professionals and artists to come and stay in the U.S. for cordial exchanges of ideas. It's financed by USAID and our group invites mostly individuals from former soviet territories. I hosted two lovely ladies from Kazakhstan (I still exchange emails once in a while).

The group arrived two months after Borat came out... Yes, you an easily picture what we went through as they stayed and visited Boston & New York for a few weeks.

First, because Kazakhs are Asians with a (lost) Muslim faith and because, at least this particular group, was clearly unimpressed by American humour... or really humour in general.

After a late night event, my guests were not ready for bed and we stayed up and exchanged stories... Me, being an immigrant (more than once) and them who became immigrants in their own country after the USSR took over. They have a serious heroin epidemic, absolutely no jobs or prospect of such, completely corrupt political system, no way out of the country and no freedom within, as well as a serious identity crisis... life is extremely bleak. They have very little reasons for laughing they told me.

I have this beautiful coffee table book they brought me with images from their country and, I swear, there are no words to express how gorgeous this place is! Whenever I pictured Eden in my mind (when reading, for example), never did I think that such a place existed!

It must be awful to live in Paradise but your life is hellish with no hope in sight...

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ThePriceisWrongHellavestor
12/31/14 10:08am
But is one of them #1 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan?
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HellavestorThePriceisWrong
12/31/14 10:57am
HEY! That's my sister!

In 2007, a court ordered the government not to transfer Mohammed Abdul Rahman, one of the Tunisians, back to his home country over fear that he would be tortured.

So we kept him in Guantanamo to make sure that he would be tortured?

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PattyOFurnitureTopher
12/31/14 10:10am
Well we don't want someone ELSE torturing him. That would just be inhumane.

Ugh, Kazakhstan. I guess when you've been at Gitmo that long this couldn't possibly be worse. But, man.

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cyberathenaJohnBrownSecondComing
12/31/14 10:28am
I volunteer for a nonprofit organization that invites professionals and artists to come and stay in the U.S. for cordial exchanges of ideas. It's financed by USAID and our group invites mostly individuals from former soviet territories. I hosted two lovely ladies from Kazakhstan (I still exchange emails once in a while).

The group arrived two months after Borat came out... Yes, you an easily picture what we went through as they stayed and visited Boston & New York for a few weeks.

First, because Kazakhs are Asians with a (lost) Muslim faith and because, at least this particular group, was clearly unimpressed by American humour... or really humour in general.

After a late night event, my guests were not ready for bed and we stayed up and exchanged stories... Me, being an immigrant (more than once) and them who became immigrants in their own country after the USSR took over. They have a serious heroin epidemic, absolutely no jobs or prospect of such, completely corrupt political system, no way out of the country and no freedom within, as well as a serious identity crisis... life is extremely bleak. They have very little reasons for laughing they told me.

I have this beautiful coffee table book they brought me with images from their country and, I swear, there are no words to express how gorgeous this place is! Whenever I pictured Eden in my mind (when reading, for example), never did I think that such a place existed!

It must be awful to live in Paradise but your life is hellish with no hope in sight...
Read More
CaptainandtheToenailJohnBrownSecondComing
12/31/14 12:20pm
Well, Kazakhstan is the 53rd ranked country in terms of GDP and is the largest economy in Central Asia. Possibly the prisoners could have been sent there because there is universal health care!