Gulsaya also taught dance throughout the week. On the right, she is pictured with some of her Zhailau students.

                                                                 

 

 

To view a video of Gulsaya and her students performing at our closing ceremony, click here.

 

 

 

 

Speaking of dancing, at times people let loose and there were unstructured dancing "free for alls" 

 

There was a beautiful dombra performance during Zhailau opening ceremonies by Assylgul Dalabayeva (left).

Assylgul traveled from Almaty to perform and teach dombra and to teach traditional Kazakh crafts.

During small group dombra lessons, Assylgul taught the history of the dombra and told entertaining traditional stories about how it came to take its place in Kazakh culture. Pictured to the right is Assylgul with Bakhtiyar Baidaralin serving as English translator during a dombra lesson.

Students took their dombra lessons seriously.

   Parents took part, actively participating in their children's learning.

People of all ages got to play.

Assylgul also directed small-group traditional craft making.

Pictured to the left, Assel from Astana helps children make bride and groom dolls using materials that Assylgul brought from Kazakhstan.

One day, an American feltmaker named Caroline Owens taught us how to make felt, and children used the felt they made to make toy yurts. 

Caroline and her husband operate their own sheep farm in New Hampshire, and Caroline regularly gives feltmaking classes, http://www.owensfarm.com/

We learned that feltmaking is a lot of hard work, and in the nomadic way, often requires participation across generations. 

A lot of personal pride was 'felt' at the completion of each stage of the process. 

We were honored that our Kazakh friends cooked a delicious traditional Beshbarmak lunch for the entire Zhailau group one day.

              It was a cross-cultural group effort.

While the Beshbarmak was cooking, the Yurt was raised by adult campers.

    Don't be fooled by the boasts of some......

.....Raising the yurt was a group effort!

Once raised, the yurt was a special place for children and their parents to attend lectures on nomadic life by Daniyar Baidaralin.

The yurt was also a special place for meditation and small group gatherings throughout the week.

Special evening activities were provided. For example, one night, we had Kazakh language games for the whole family. On other evenings, we had Kazakh Story Night, a silent auction, opening and closing ceremonies, and nightly campfires. 

Pictured to the left is Bakhtiyar listening attentively to Assylgul during Kazakh Story Night.

No camp would be complete without traditional camp activities, and Aul family campers enjoyed familiar fun, too.

Our host site, the Geneva Point Center (GPC), has three private beaches on Lake Winnepesaukee.

Pictured here are two GPC lifeguards organizing water games for Aul children.

Campers had the option to partake in organized activities, or to just "hang out."

The GPC provides a beautiful site for our annual camp. In addition to beaches, canoeing, and kayaking, there are also miles of beautiful nature hike trails.

During our week there, campers participated in GPC nature hikes, organized games, and even a scavenger hunt.

Most of all, Zhailau was about connections and having fun.  Here are some more memories:

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Copyright © 2004 Kazakh Aul of the United States, Association for American & Kazakh Families
Last modified: January 23, 2008