It's Almost Time!

     No, no, no!  You're thinking of the playoffs for the NBA, or the NHL, or the RNC or the DVD.  No!  It's almost time for the 5th edition of the WORLD NOMAD GAMES!  DUH!!

     If you had forgotten, (c'mon people!) these are the every-two-year games first held in the Issyk-kul region of Kyrgyzstan in 2014.  After a three-time run there, they were most recently held in Turkey in 2022, and  now Astana, Kazakhstan gets its six-day time in the spotlight.  Or campfire.  Or whatever.  

     The Nomad Games are a celebration of the heritage of the nomadic people of Central Asia, and are an attempt to preserve some of their unique activities.  After the Soviet Union took over the area, the folks who used to move their existence with the seasons were mostly made to stay in one place and farm, mine or make tractors.  The last time the games were held, over 3,000 athletes from 102 countries competed.  

     Archery?  Olympic style?  Bo-RING!  How about this?!

      I suppose this style of archery was originally invented after your enemies had made off with your upper limbs or something.

     Wrestling?  Pfff!  Make it a little tougher by involving some horses.   After all, they were first domesticated right there on the steppe of Kazakhstan abut 5,000 years ago.  It is said that as soon as there were two automobiles, there was a car race.  Probably same deal - as soon as someone got the second horse to take orders, horseback wrestling was invented.  

     Dropped your iPhone while riding out on the steppe in 1,538 BC?  No problema, or as they say in Kazakh, Проблема жоқ!

     Kentucky Derby hats?  

     Pfffff once again.  The folks over east were going OG Kazakh cool WAAAAYYY before that...like a couple of millenia before that.  

     While the Olympics may have badminton,

it's actually a lot cooler if you can swoop down and EAT your opponent's birdie.

     Burning Man?   Once again, a hearty Pfffff!  How about Burning Kazakh?!

     A sport (I guess it can be included in that broad category) that is popular throughout Central Asia, and is even the national sport of Afghanistan is bushkazi, or as it is called in Kazakhstan, kok-boru.

     This 'game' had to have been invented by guys, specifically guys with horses, a few extra goats and boredom.  You do not want to be the goat or sheep, as it involves losing your head, and then being fought over by up to hundreds of guys on horses, and then tossed in a goal.  What could possibly go wrong?  If it sounds hazardous to more than the goat, you are correct.  Guys and horses go down frequently, but hey, it's a game!  Right?  If you are keeping score,  Kazakhstan's national kok-baru team currently holds the title of Eurasian Kok-baru Champions.  So there's probably a banner hung in a yurt somewhere out on the steppe. 

    I could go on and on - there are actually 37 different sports.  I left out asyk tu, a traditional game involving tossing and catching - what else - sheep knucklebones (we do that for Family Home Evening sometimes), and ashyrtmaly aba gureshi, or Turkish Belt Wrestling, which Paula now refuses to participate in.  Sore loser; I was on a winning streak when she quit.  

    Anticipating a real crowd, a lot of folks are getting their seats early.  

     So why the sudden interest in such cool stuff as the World Nomad Games?  Our daughter Ashley, her husband Brandon and their seven kids have lived in Central Asia for the last dozen years, and this gives us opportunities to collect interesting passport stamps, most recently the one from Kazakhstan.  

     Astana, where they live, is the second-coldest capital in the world, second only to Ulan Batar in Mongolia, so we were careful to book flights during what passes for summer there.  Wow!  We saw zero Americans except for a few at church on Sunday.  Ashley had cooked up lot of interesting things, from the National Museum (lots of knives and pots that Paula doesn't want in the kitchen)

to appreciating how utterly flat the steppe is immediately at the edge of the city from high atop the Bayterek Tower,

to riding horses ourselves on the steppe (Man!  If only I had a headless goat!  Gotta make a list next time!)

to 'glamping' in cool geodesic dome things out in a birch forest in the middle of nowhere,

as well as a lot of other things that can't happen or you can't see in Raleigh.  

     Aside from being really, really far from home in every category, from distance (30 hours travel time - not on a horse) to culture, it was great seeing Ashley and her really good family.

     The World Nomad Games actually take place in September so that it can start getting cold; we only saw some preparations being made.

     OK, that gives me some time; maybe I can borrow a bow and some arrows and ride around the neighborhood to get practice.

    The head gear is cool, and there are a couple of dogs I don't like and...

Dave