Thursday, October 14, 2010

Kazakh-American Wedding -- Part 2 -- Food!



Dinner was a buffet, full of interesting items, I took a lot to try them and relied on the pre-school teacher to try all of the food. He has an amazing appetite and always tries everything whenever we go places.

I ate something that made me feel sick as I ate it, it probably was pure fat and I shouldn't have eaten it. I didn't try the tongue, though. (There was tongue!) I liked the salad with cheese, olives, cucumbers, and tomatoes and some kind of yummy light sauce. That went quickly. I also liked the fruit--cut into amazing designs. Would you like an apple sliced and designed to look like a swan? It was yummy! There were plenty of foods that I'll categorize as "dumplings"--dough or bread surrounding meat or veggies or something on the inside. Something had caviar on the inside. (I didn't try it, sorry, I'm a picky eater!) There was this large, super-thin, hard & crispy, honey-glazed bread that was definitely delicious (and a bit sticky!)

There was even more food after that, plus two pies for desert, but I was pretty full!

After most people had eaten, the toasts began. I learned last year that Kazakhs love to give speeches, and so of course at a wedding there were speeches. The bride's family had come in from Shymkent (very far from Astana, in the southern part of Kazakhstan). Her grandmother, father, mother and aunt all gave speeches, as well the the school principal. Her grandmother was a typical Kazakh babushka, short, her hair covered by a scarf, and lecturing the bride in the firm yet loving way that grandmas do.

After the speeches, the 1st grade teacher and her assistant had a Newlywed Game prepared. The shortest married couple, the longest married couple, and one couple that volunteered all participated. She asked multiple-choice questions, they answered without telling their spouse, and then the answers were compared. It was a three-way tie.

Afterwards, we moved downstairs for cake, bouquet-tossing, and dancing.

The pre-school aide is from India and majored in Indian dance; she presented quite a show, an amazing dance. She is so expressive and beautiful, the dance was lovely.

It was an amazing evening, an American-style Kazakh wedding.

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