Third Culture Kid Interview: Anderson on Uzbekistan

 A third culture kid (TCK) is someone who is from one country, but who lives in another one most of the time. And often they blend these two cultures into their own third culture.

This month a TCK shares what it's like to live in Uzbekistan where 83% of people are Muslim.

Uzbekistan is in Central Asia. It was a part of the historic Silk Road. The Silk Road was a path people used to trade stuff with each other a long time ago. It connected people in Europe to Asia before it was easy to travel. Today Uzbekistan grows lots and lots of cotton!

Let's dive into our TCK interview to learn more about this old country.

Name: 
Anderson

Age: 
11

Country: 
Uzbekistan

How Long I’ve Lived Here: 
9 years

Main Religion Where I Live: 
Islam

What My Local Friends Believe: 

Most of my local friends are Muslims or Russian Orthodox. The kids I talk with at my taekwondo classes talk most about video games. It seems most people here care most about money and getting more stuff.

Language My Local Friends Speak: 
My local friends speak Russian or Uzbek. Uzbek is the main language.

How Well I Speak the Local Language: (1 = not at all, 10=fluent: can easily speak, read, and write it)

8

Favorite Local Dish: 

My favorite Uzbek food is osh (also called palov), which is made of rice, carrots, chickpeas, raisins, and meat.

What My School Is Like Here: 

I went to a Russian preschool for four years. Then I went to a Russian elementary school for a year. And now I homeschool with my sister. My mom is my main teacher. On Fridays, I do a co-op with some other kids as well.

My Best Local Friend Is: 

My best local friend is Doniyor, who is also 11-years-old. He’s Uzbek and lives in an apartment on the south side of the city.

Favorite Toy: 
My favorite toys are Legos. My favorite Lego is a submarine and a broken pirate ship with a cave. My dad says I have a good imagination and I often makeup games to play using my Legos.

What I Do For Fun: 
I like to read books and to hike. My favorite book series is The Wingfeather Saga. And my favorite place to hike is a mountain canyon with a stream running through it. It’s about 2 hours from my house.

Favorite Part of Living Here: 
My favorite part of living here is having the mountains close by. I also love Uzbek food and traveling to other cities around the country. And seeing the cool architecture.

One Way To Pray for My Local Friends: 

One way to pray for my local friends is that they would read the Bible so that they can trust in Jesus. I also pray that they would have a better school system and curriculum.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from Anderson and reading about Uzbekistan. But let's keep learning more about this ancient country! 

Here are some research questions for you to dive into about this Central Asian country:

1) What is the capital of Uzbekistan?

2) What is the main language spoken in Uzbekistan?

3) Draw a picture of the Uzbek flag.

4) Bread is served with most meals in Uzbekistan. It's called non. Uzbeks often decorate the dough with special designs before baking it. Using biscuit dough, create your own patterns for your biscuits.

5) Hunting with birds—called falconry—is a sport in Uzbekistan. And it's an important part of their culture. Watch this two-minute video to learn more about this special sport. (The video shows a family from the United Arab Emirates who do falconry.)

6) What is the currency (or money) used in Uzbekistan called? 

This wraps up our TCK interview series! I hope you've enjoyed learning about different countries from a kid's perspective!