The Shanghai Summit went off without a bang or even a fizzling noise of the Central Asian republics frying under the massive heat of their fellow members from Russia and China. Putin is an honest man according to many here. When pressed, people don’t have a good reason for how honest he is other than the “lack of corruption in Russia.” I’ll leave that out with no comment, this ain’t no political blog!, writes James, the another Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.

I see my blog is also specified on linking the posts of foreighners, live or came to Kyrgyzstan by travel. For today, I’ve found another interesting post of Lauren and Martin, Peace Corps Volunteers in Bishkek, about “konoks” (quests). They are here from July 2007. In the Kyrgyz Republic, Lauren will be serving as a secondary school English teacher. Martin will be working as a sustainable NGO developer.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Kyrgyz societies is the tradition of konok, or guesting. Konok (gosti in Russian) is the process in which you go over and visit a neighbor. It generally involves tea and a lot of food. Usually, the person hosting offers their best food and sits the guests in the seat of honor, which is usually a raised seat at the end of the table. For Lauren, it is a little similar to the once tradition in Chile, except there is a lot more pressure to eat. Families invite others for konok for special occasions or just to make someone feel welcome in the neighborhood. So far, Lauren and I have gone on konok three times each and they are the times that we feel most welcome within our neighberhood.