Gratefully Guesting?

18:45 31 January 2009

Yesterday, as I came into Karakol to use internet and have an important meeting about my upcoming Winter Camp, I had the most bizarre taxi ride of my life. It is not an unusual or unsafe practice here to hitch rides- many Kyrgyz are happy to have the extra passenger and a little extra income on their commutes to an forth. Also, at certain times, marshrutkas and taxis become unavailable so it leaves one with little choice in transportation. On this particular transit, I got a ride in a very nice Honda minivan and the family there was very interesting- the son spoke excellent English and I was really enjoying my ride (it’s usually about a 30-45 minute ride into the city from my village). About halfway there, the mother of the family in the car asks if I minded if they stopped for five to drop something off at a relatives’ house. As I was not in a hurry and enjoyed their company, I assented and said it would not be a problem.

Of course, in a spit of remarkable naivety, I forgot the Kyrgyz guesting traditions. Therefore, as a 15 minute acquaintance, I was ordered to come in, drink tea, eat salads, and was offered vodka that I had to decline. Then tea turned into dinner and so I had to wait for them to prepare a dish with meat and potatoes. All the while the son who spoke English kept apologizing for the delay but I assured him that I didn’t mind- hey at least I got a free dinner. Finally, we got back on our way again, and I realized that the five minute stop had turned into a completely unexpected two and a half hour guesting. I got into the city later than I hoped, but with no real harm and a good story to my credit.