#36 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Have you been to TikTok?

Imagine that, you go to Mars for some shopping and learn how to drive at Tesla. Sounds impossible? Well, Uzbeks make it possible by giving small businesses big names.

Foreign visitors may see just another copyright violation here but let’s dig deeper:

A good alternative
Instead of opening yet another “Mini Market” or “Book Café” here are more interesting and memorable names and themes.

Conventionalism
You can’t be too unique when choosing a name in Uzbekistan. Naming businesses after brands or famous products has become a normal thing to do.

Copying as compliment
Westerners often see copying as an attempt to get some kind of unfair advantage. But it doesn’t have to be. It may actually express admiration.

---Vocab---
📍violation = breaking a rule 📍dig deeper = think about sth more deeply 📍memorable = easy to remember 📍attempt = try 📍admiration = looking up to sth/sb

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#37 Travelogue Uzbekistan: "Bookism"

Books are a symbol of culture, of education and of knowledge itself. Everywhere in the world. But in Uzbekistan they are so much respected that they may seem unreachably far away, like from another world that has nothing to do with our daily life. What makes this issue so awkward?

Free Libraries
That beautiful idea of providing books to the public. Sadly it doesn’t work quite so well because the idea doesn’t come from the public but seems to be some policy thing.

”I like reading books”
Ask someone what their hobby is and you’ll often hear that this someone likes “reading books” rather than just “reading”. Do you believe it?

Textbooks
Teachers often insist on using textbooks page by page. It makes their job easier and is the best way to make students hate books.

---Vocab---
📍awkward = giving you a strange feeling

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#38 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Wow! Here in Andijan?

“I thought I was in Europe last night”, said a friend, and I felt the same. The concert of the Uzbekistan Youth Forum was pretty high standard by any standard. One superstar after the other and all professionally organised. But hey, what wasn’t like Europe?

What’s a mask?
In Europe, such a “superspreader event” is unthinkable in corona times. People had to wear a mask at the entrance but it was more like a ticket, something you put into your pocket after you enter.

Ladies & Gentlemen
Where it got crowded there was natural gender separation. People were civilised and security wasn’t tight at all. In Europe there isn’t so much trust between people, and in America even less.

Let the others react
The hosts had a hard time moving the crowds. It felt like me talking to myself in Telegram groups. Only towards the end there was collective euphoria thanks to patriotism, confetti and fireworks.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#39 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Clean Russians, dirty Uzbeks?

Have you ever seen any cleaning product made in Uzbekistan that has Uzbek written on the front? Soap, shampoo, washing-up liquid, washing powder – there’s only a list of ingredients in Uzbek on the back, everything else is written in a mixture of Russian and English. What might be the reasons for this?

Imitation
Imported products are generally trusted and thought to be of higher quality. Customers may assume high quality when it looks foreign, even when it’s not.

Convention
When other products have no Uzbek written on them, why would anyone try to be different? There are different conventions for different types of products.

History
With the exception of soap, most other types of cleaning products were introduced during Soviet times, and that was all about Russian.

❗️ If you can find a cleaning product with Uzbek writing on the front I will give you 5,000 soum paynet. Max. 5 participants. You have one week!

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#40 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Fun Compilation

Here are four photos, choose which one is the funniest for you!

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#41 Travelogue Uzbekistan: The Grieving Mother

Before the last war gets totally forgotten, let’s talk about war memorials in Uzbekistan. Apart from a few Soviet-style flames for unknown soldiers and name lists of fallen soldiers the memorials seem to be all about grieving mothers. Let me offer some thoughts:

What did the soldiers die for?
The fighting was far away from Uzbekistan. Uzbek soldiers died defending the Soviet Union, not their Uzbek motherland. That’s why, unlike in Russia, heroism cannot be the central theme.

Mother-ism
Women may not hold much power in public life, but as mothers they hold families together. Uzbeks have written countless sentimental songs and poems about mothers.

Family collectivism
Losing a family member, especially an unmarried one, is a real tragedy. It’s not so much about individual suffering and losing one’s life but what the war did to Uzbek families.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#42 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Copybook vs Notebook 4:1

The snappy word daftar is translated in two ways apparently – copybook sounds quite odd in English but is a good description of how this thing is often used, unlike what the word notebook suggests. What’s the difference?

Copybook
You copy random texts from the screen of your phone or your classmate’s daftar into your own daftar. You have no idea about what you write, nor do you care. Your teacher collects it and calls that “education”.

Notebook
You write what you need to remember in your own style and for your own use. No one checks it and no one collects it. Perhaps you won’t look at it again but when you took your notes you really thought about it all.

Daftars exist in the exact same format in Russia and also have exciting designs. But I doubt they can they match these ones here. 😜

---Vocab---
📍snappy = short and clear 📍apparently = it seems 📍odd = strange

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#43 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Bygone Uzbekistan

There’s something strangely attractive about relics of the past found in Uzbekistan. Why is that?

Globalisation
There are many things you can find anywhere in the world and hey, that’s super boring. When they take the trouble to come to Uzbekistan, foreigners want to discover something unique, even if that something is shabby.

East & West
We all have our ideas of other people and places and we’re always happy when we find some truth in them. Westerners may love to find shabbiness in the East as it tells them they won the Cold War.

”Ruinenlust”
This German word translates as “taking pleasure in ruins” and is a fascination with lost empires. Ruins let us imagine what life was like in the past and show us that nothing lasts forever.

---Vocab---
📍bygone = of the past 📍relic = sth left from the past 📍shabby / shabbiness = of low quality, in a bad condition📍ruins = leftovers of destroyed buildings

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#44 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Mini markets

Here’s a good example for glocalisation: Uzbekistan’s countless mini markets. It’s become normal to replace the local oziq-ovqat do’koni with the cooler sounding mini market. Why glocalisation, you ask?

Globalisation
“Mini market” is English, the global language, and the same word is used in many countries, although not really in English-speaking countries. The idea of a mini market is also quite uniform – small in size but clean, modern, brightly lighted, well-stocked and with good service.

Localisation
Mini markets usually belong to chains, the biggest of which is probably 7-Eleven from Japan. In Uzbekistan, however, mini markets are simple small shops run by families.

---Vocab---
📍glocalisation = mix of globalisation and localisation 📍countless = very many 📍uniform (adj) = same-looking 📍well-stocked = having a lot of products 📍chain = company with many branches

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#45 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan Airways

Most Uzbeks aren’t that proud of their national airline. I do agree that the logo sucks but I was pleasantly surprised by two things:

Pricing
To become more competitive, the government has lowered either airport fees or taxes, or both, I don’t know, but ticket prices have come down a bit. Flying to and from Tashkent used to be much more expensive than Bishkek or Almaty. In the future Tashkent airport could become a hub.

Safety Video
It is international standard to play a video that explains passengers how to stay safe. These videos can be really boring but not the one on Uzbekistan Airways flights. They shot a Silk-Road-themed video with people in historic outfits dealing with stuff like seat belts and oxygen masks. Definitely worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7s17LVn1JE

---Vocab---
📍sth sucks = sth is really bad 📍hub = central point 📍outfit = a set of clothes

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#57 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Welcome to Uzbekistan!

Uzbek hospitality is legendary, there’s no denying that. So let’s say you’re a non-Soviet foreigner and want to work in Uzbekistan. Be ready for this:

Visa
You get a friendly service but prepare to reach deep into your pocket. You choose: a) $125 for a deficient single-entry visa that allows you to leave and come back only once in one year, or b) pay $250 for a multiple-entry visa.

Registration
This is an authentic travel experience for the inauthentic price of $210. Go to a small building that feels like shipping containers stacked into one another. Inside you find a big bunch of people asking who’s last and fighting over who’s next. Shouldn’t they be fighting for better service?

Conclusion
That’s $460 then please! The prices seem astronomical to locals, but globally they are within a normal range. If your salary isn’t globally normal do make sure your employer pays!

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#62 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Linguistic crossroads

Uzbekistan – the heart of Central Asia. A space of in-between-ness. Between a Russian past and an international future. Between different languages with different alphabets. No wonder that things get a bit messy sometimes:

English
When English words enter the Russian language they are put into the Cyrillic script. As these words travel on to Uzbekistan they are put back into the Latin script but don’t quite match the original English spelling.

Gibberish
English just looks so damn cool, doesn’t it? Right or wrong – who cares? Since when is KFC a dish? And do the French fries really not cost anything?

Russian
Hasty Latinisation can literally spell disaster! The Cyrillic E is YE in Latin and Ж in Cyrillic Uzbek is J in Latin Uzbek, not ZH. Good job, presidential school!

A bit of everything
“Osiyo Trade Biznes” – wow, that’s Uzbek, English and latinised Russian all in one.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#63 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Lessons from a rural school

November is month of foreign languages at schools in Uzbekistan, and why shouldn’t it! So I went to one of those peculiar school events at a rural school. Let me share some impressions with you:

Hospitality
Uzbek hospitality is overwhelming as always and visiting a school is a very official affair, making you feel like you are the president of your country. Check out the video of a performance about “the virus” and Uzbek hospitality.

Chiroylism
Schools are heavily decorated places even when there are no visitors. But on special occasions like these they go out of their way to impress the guests with balloons, cool English slogans and functioning technology.

Carrot & Stick
No school visit is complete without an open class in which the visitors can witness a carefully planned and perfectly delivered class. Watch the video of a modern and yet traditional classroom.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#66 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Shop till you drop

If you thought Navruz was in spring you’re only half right. It’s actually all year round now at Andijan’s brand new shopping complex in Dubai-ish architecture. What’s there to explore?

Festive vibes
New Year? Christmas? The songs sound a lot like it’s Christmas but the big illuminated “2022” outside tells us it’s New Year. The big tree and the old man could both be Santa Claus and Father Frost. Whatever it is, let’s celebrate as it gives us a reason to consume!

Food court
The corporate approach to dining has finally conquered Andijan. That means added value through branding and exciting displays, engineered portions and flavours, standardised procedures and replaceable staff as well as maximum profits through minimising cost by the gram of each ingredient.

At Navruz you can feel international and Uzbeks totally love that. But I hope “KFC” will always just mean “fried chicken”, not the actual fast food chain.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#69 Travelogue Uzbekistan: What is English?

We all learn English at school. But what English actually?

The language of England
The Union Jack tells us it’s all about the UK while Big Ben, the Tower Bridge and the red double decker buses refer to London. All of the UK and London – let’s just call that “England”.

The language of English-speaking countries
Native speakers come from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and then it gets complicated. Irish people are white, so let’s count them in. South Africa? India? Oh no.

A language of Uzbekistan
English looks really cool, not only on storefronts and people’s clothes but also in schools. It also sounds cool during demo classes. The best decoration ever!

Problem: Uzbek meets Indian. Uzbek struggles and blames Indian. Business doesn’t take off. Whose fault? Uzbek English teachers’! They fail to prepare their students for dealing with different Englishes.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#71 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Showbiz

Who would have thought! Uzbekistan is full of talented actors, and all it takes to activate this talent is a camera, a proper professional outfit (put your mask on already!!!) and the right location.

Good students
People expect to find them in a library, so let’s go there for some proper shots. Everyone gets a random book and acts as if they were fully immersed in it. And then have a student carefully sifting through the shelves in search for the perfect book – a real classic.

Happy foreigners
Up until 2018 foreigners working in Uzbekistan apparently had to go to Tashkent for their work visa. Now we get our work visa in the region where we live, so it’s relatively easier. Let’s celebrate that four years later and show some happy foreigners on TV. Little plastic flags, a smart-looking officer, documents with signatures and stamps, a pile of visa stickers, masks – all decoration.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#73 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Uzbekified Latin

The Latin alphabet doesn’t belong to one language only but the majority of languages in the world use it. The Uzbek take on the Latin script basically follows two principles inherited from Cyrillic and Arabic:

Spell as you tell
Spelling has to follow pronunciation. Foreign words enter through Russian and original Latin spellings are removed before they arrive. Some words like Internet survive this but most are less lucky, like chizburger (cheeseburger) or dizayn (design). If we insist on the foreign spelling people will punish us with mispronunciation, as Paynet, pronounced [paɪnet], not [peɪnet], shows.

One sound, one letter
In Cyrillic and Arabic, letter combinations exist but it’s not like English where two letters can be one sound (“sh”), four letters can be two sounds (“ough”) or one letter can be two sounds (“x”). “Tawkent” just feels better than “Tashkent”. Check out this earlier post.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#75 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Corona Society

The use of face masks, social distancing and hand sanitizers says less about the virus than people actually. What's there to analyse?

Face Masks
Uzbeks have worn them for some reasons other than protection: a) to go with the flow, b) to avoid paying a fine, c) to look more professional, d) to cover up as a Muslima or e) to distinguish oneself as a progressive global citizen.

Social Distancing
This was never really a thing here, thankfully. You can’t tell Uzbeks not to shake hands or hug. It spared them from the alienation that many westerners feel nowadays.

Hand Sanitizer
Some mask lovers got addicted to this ritual. It makes them feel health-conscious and modern. Sadly, some kids are still greeted by nurse-looking spray-bottle-wielding teachers every morning.

While the signs remain in place (laziness? decoration?) masks have been repurposed as number plate covers.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan

#77 Travelogue Uzbekistan: More than just water

There’s a peculiar design of water bottles in Uzbekistan that seems like it’s from the same brand, but actually all are made by different companies. What’s going on there?

Copying
Why come up with something new when you don’t know if it works? Copying gives you that sense of security. It's even a compliment for the original – it’s so good that it is copied.

Conventions
When products look alike then customers will also recognise them more easily. Like in the UK for instance full cream milk has a blue lid, semi-skimmed milk a green lid and skimmed milk a red lid.

Collectivism
Ultimately this is a deeper cultural pattern – one of valuing sameness rather than difference. Both producers and customers depend on the judgment of others and want to feel that they are normal.

It’s not just water bottles. It’s also chocolate bars, fake shampoos, numbers on pharmacies or naming shops after famous brands, to name just a few.

👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan