5. 20+ diverse people and Uzbek curiosity

Our group

As you can imagine, a group of more than 20 people walking around together would stand out and arouse curiosity anywhere.

Bear in mind that Uzbekistan is not an ethnically diverse country – about 80% of the population is Uzbek, 10% is Russian or Slavic and 10% is representative of Central Asia nations – as we could witness during our time there.

And, our group had people from different parts of the globe, being quite diverse in relation to ethnicity, mother tongue and age. We dressed, spoke and acted differently than the native culture. We could not go unnoticed.

People used to stare at us everywhere, some approached us to ask where we were from and what we were doing in Uzbekistan, some of them even asked to take pictures with some people from our group. In the beginning I found it a bit weird and uncomfortable, but then I understood that Uzbek people were just curious and living up to the reputation of good hosts.

Their effort to be pleasant and make us feel comfortable was remarkable. As a consequence of their hospitality and the Uzbek participation in the globalized world, we could notice that the younger generations are learning english.

In the night before going to Samarkand, a part of our group went food shopping and while me and my friend were getting some cherries – by the way, cherries in Uzbekistan are amazing! –, we were being observed by a woman and her two children. Once we finished packing our fruits, the little boy came to us to ask where we were from IN ENGLISH. It was the cutest thing! He was lovely and his sister also spoke to us while their mother was encouraging them to keep the conversation with us.

They were so friendly. They wanted to know what we were doing there, if we had been to Samarkand, what we were thinking about Tashkent, which university we were going for the Summer School, if we liked it etc.

Even though Uzbek people knew that I was not from there and that I could not speak the language, I felt so welcome everywhere I have been during those ten days. I am truly glad for the opportunity to experience this care and affection with the other regardless where he/she is from.