I Get all of My Clothes at Weddings

I love Kazakh weddings. Not only are they are beautiful celebrations of love with lots of delicious food and vodka, but it also where I have gotten a lot of my clothing. It is a custom in Kazakhstan for the family to give presents to the various guests, usually the party favors are things like scarves, towels, the traditional Kazakh hat, but sometimes the swag includes dress shirts. For some reason, during gift distribution, I always end up with the shirts. In fact, the situation recently was so dire that I almost went to the bazaar last week to buy a couple. Fortunately however, my boss’ son got married last night and I was able to score two new ones, saving myself at least 4000 tenge. At first, I was worried, and a little offended, that I was getting the shirts because people thought I was not properly dressed, but now I am just grateful. The fact of the matter is that thanks in part to Peace Corps horrible advice in regards to what to wear in Kazakhstan, I did need a makeover. Furthermore, hand-washing really does a number on your clothes, so most of the shirts I brought from America are getting tired, and the shirts that I first got here in Kazakhstan have long since disintegrated. In fact, I know these two probably won’t last till May, and seeing that I will be here until next August, I will just have to hope that another acquaintance gets married in the new future. Kutti Bolsin!