The beauty Kazakhstan

The beauty of this country is enough to take your breath away. Although the cities are expanding and more and more western goods are showing up in increasingly walmartesk shops, much of Kazakhstan is still untouched. The mountains are majestic and the villages picturesque. Driving through it’s almost as if time has stood still. Old women sit on benches outside their homes exchanging the latest gossip about their children, grandchildren, and neighbors. Men sit alone or together smoking in solidarity of a long life lived. Children toddle among them happy and dirty. And always, someone is working whether they are hauling water, prodding along an unwilling calf, or working on some piece of ancient machinery. Time moves slowly marked by the seasons, births, weddings, and deaths. And there’s a beauty to it, a simple life to be envied by those whose life is so dominated by things, places, and schedules. But of course it’s always easier looking in. While we in the west see the hard working laborious life as a relief from the burden of prosperity, I’m sure that electricity, running water, and health care are no small lacks in these villages. The challenge I think for us all is to seek contentment no matter what the circumstances.