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The Absurd Power of Language
And how we take it for granted
Earlier this year, I found myself in the completely everyday situation of sitting on a bench on the shore of a cool little gem of a lake in South-East Kazakhstan, attempting to converse in Russian with a very old Kazakh man.
After a 6-hour taxi ride from Almaty, my girlfriend and I had reached the Kolsai lakes national park, on the border with Kyrgyzstan.
There I am, sitting at the shore of the first lake of the national park, reflecting on the 3-hour hike we’re about to do to reach the second one.
There’s a sizable family set up pretty close to me, looking like they’re having a barbecue or something. The kids are having a great time pushing each other into the lake. I notice how happy they are just to be there, living.
It’s early afternoon, a few clouds dotting the sky. It’s starting to get a little cold, with the wind picking up.
My girlfriend isn’t with me, she had forgotten her scarf in the taxi, and had headed back up with our driver to fetch it.
I sit there lost in thought. “What if we don’t reach the second lake by nightfall?”, “Are there bears around here?”, “What’s the Russian word for lake again?”
