No longer a foreigner, but a Central Asian citizen

July 13, 2015

His name is Neil Thurman Clancy Pauling, but he also introduces himself as “Нил Дарренович Полинг” (a Russian way of writing one’s names, literally meaning Neil Son-of-Darren Pauling). Meeting him for the first time, you might get startled when for your question about his Russian language skill he replies “Ну, я думаю, что я говорю по-русски очень хорошо” (translated as “Well, I think that I speak Russian quite well”).

Originally from New Rochelle, NY, Neil is a 4^th year university student majoring in International Relations and Russian with the focus on the former Soviet Union. It’s been almost a year since he arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on the scholarship to study Central Asian Politics, Russian and Uzbek.

- So, Neil, why did you decide to study Russian, at first place?

- I’ve always been interested in former Soviet Union republics and their peoples. Politically speaking, Russian is very important language. In addition, where I grew up, in Westchester County, there is a very large Russian speaking population, and also for some reason Uzbek, so when I am home I can practice my Russian all the time with my friends.

 

- What was the initial push that made you start learning the language?

- This might sound pretty strange, but once I had stumbled upon a YouTube video which happened to feature Cossacks who were singing in Russian, and they had costumes on. I just fell in love. But as time went on, my interest spread eastward, and I became interested in Tatars, and then made my way all the way here to Kyrgyzstan.

 

- What have you been doing in Bishkek since you first came here?

- Since August I’ve been studying in London School, a private language school in Bishkek. My main focus of studies was Russian, but I also took Uzbek classes. During the second semester we had an option to take a course about Central Asian politics. We’ve learned about the economics of Central Asia and International Relations of Russia. Everything was in Russian. And since June, I’ve become a member of Summer Internship Program at American University of Central Asia (AUCA).

 

- How did you decide to come to Kyrgyzstan?

- I went through a couple of pages on Wikipedia, and my interest in Kyrgyzstan only became stronger. There’s actually a funny story about it. Once I was coming back from another international trip, and on the plane I was sitting next to a woman who worked in Manas airport. She gave me a one-som bill which apparently doesn’t exist anymore. And she said that in next 2-3 years I’ll surely visit Kyrgyzstan. This was 3 years ago. Of course, I took it as a joke at that time, but I am glad that I ended up here. I learned a lot, I made so many friends from so many cultures. I think that the beautiful thing about the post-Soviet space is diversity.

 

- What do you think about the mentality of Central Asian countries? Is it much different from what you’re used to?

- Much different. Especially coming from New York which is sort of a “closed” society. You can walk by someone on the street of New York and they won’t even turn to you and say hello. But here everyone greets me, people actually come up to me and ask to exchange phone numbers, to take pictures with me which is always fun, and even pay for my entire meal. This never happened to me in US. Generally, the hospitality of people in this region is precious.

 

- What made Central Asia so attractive to you?

- I used to watch a TV Show called “Globe Checker”. Basically, the hosts visit different countries, talk about history, culture and even food. They had an episode about Central Asia, as a crossroad between Europe and East Asia, a crossroad between culture, history, people, and food again. I just got this fascination about these two things coming together into completely different world.

 

- You’ve mentioned “food” several times and you seem to be excited about it.

- I am excited about Central Asian food, even though it’s hard to pick the most favorite one. Oh, plov! I just love plov. And beshbarmak. Once we with other international students were having a dinner at one of our hosts’ house. And they brought beshbarmak and asked who was the oldest. Somehow I ended up being the oldest, so they gave me the head and were like “cut this piece off”, “cut the ear off”. I got really excited cause I am usually into adventurous food.  Before I left US, I thought that I ate a lot of meat, but once I got here I realized how wrong I was.

- What about a cultural shock? Are there any differences you were not prepared to?

- I know it depends on family you live in, but as I noticed, here men are not supposed to do any housework. Every time I try to wash the dishes, my host-mother laughs at me. So, I tried to prove that men can also cook. I made for my host-family a French dish, coqauvin, which is a chicken in garlic sauce. As expected, I impressed them.

There’s another thing I simply cannot used to. As much as I love food, I cannot eat 3-4 plates at once. But my host-mother still keeps refilling my plates and bowls adding “Нил, кушай, кушай!” (trans. “Neil, eat, eat!”)

 

- What about the classes you’re taking in AUCA?

- The highest level of Russian classes they have here is intermediate and I just finished it, so I am taking only Politics in Central Asia. My professor is a local, but he’s been all over the world, he’s been teaching in the States. The quality of classes is good, just like in States. They are very student-discussed; professors are making sure you understand the lectures.

 

- You also have internships to do, right? What is yours about?

- Mine is in the Mountain Societies Research Institute of University of Central Asia. I am working on a project concerning ethnic and resource conflicts. Earlier I did a research project on national identity in the former Soviet Union. And I discussed an importance of national and ethnic identity of Uzbeks, because they are the largest minority here as well as Caucasian deportees from 1940s. I discovered their national identity coincides with ethnic identity, even though everyone here sees themselves as citizens of Kyrgyzstan. From what I’ve been researching lately, especially now since I have been working here, a lot of ethnic conflicts refer back to recourse conflicts, especially Uzbek-Kyrgyz relationship. Right now I am working in the office, but hopefully later on we’ll go to the southern regions like Jalal-Abad and Osh to do some field research. It is very difficult to get an Uzbek perspective here. So I was trying to find Uzbek/Russian documents to base my research on. That’s a brand new project I am developing and designing right now, so I am excited about it.

 

- Are your plans for future connected to Central Asia?

- I definitely see myself coming back to Central Asia in a nearest future, especially career-wise. For example, I am planning to become a diplomat in the future, so I definitely don’t see myself siting behind the desk in Washington. I see myself sitting behind the desk in the embassy… in Bishkek, for instance, or any other Central Asian capital.

 

The article was originally written by Aida Kentassova for the course on Effective Storytelling for Media from the JMC department.

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