Serving up Adoption Culture. Buffet Style.

Any adoptive parent worth their salt will tell you the importance of preserving the culture of the adoptive child's country of origin. In our case, that means preserving both the Kazakh and the Russian cultures, because while the kids lived in Kazakhstan, the Russian culture and language was predominant.

If I was a good parent, I would expose my kids to all the cultural what-not without the use of a filter. But my parenting leaves much to be desired, and I choose instead to serve up their culture buffet style so I can pick and choose.



I'll take a heaping serving of the Russian language, please. This is the language all my adopted kids spoke for the first _____ (6, 10, or 13) years of their lives. How cool will it be if at least some fraction of them can remain bilingual.




The Russian Tongue





Pass.






Tongue






It is theorized that it was the Kazakhs that first domesticated the horse, so dish me up a serving of horse (ummm... I'd like to teach my kids about the importance of horses to Kazakhstan and vicey versey. I don't want to actually eat a serving of horse, which is often on the menu in Kaz.)

Kazakhstan Horses






A Kazakh sport, similar to Polo, wherein the object is to get a headless goat into the goal (while on horseback).
I'm gonna take a pass on this cultural richness as well.


Buzkashi





Russian folklore about a man named Father Frost. Similar to ol' St. Nick.
I'll take some of this, please.







Father Frost







With a sprinkling of snow.






Snow





I'm feeling pretty full, so I'm gonna pass on having my children stand in the snow, in their underwear, and pour buckets of cold water over their heads in order to build their immunity.



Building Immunity








Alright, even though I said I was full when I got to immunity, I left a little room for dessert. I'll take a sampling of Yurts, Matreshka Dolls, and apples.







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[All images courtesy Google Images Clip Art]