Kazakhstan truly is an interesting place

by Sophie Gollifer

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Kazakhstan truly is an interesting place. Please note that the word ‘interesting’ is neither negative nor positive…

It was actually everything I thought it would be…and more. Whether or not I was ready for it, I, along with our whole team (inclusive of two coaches, one ecstatic team manager and of course physios; G-Mei and Pretty Cloud) were in for seven days of tortuous freezy post game showers; in which I called out for my roommate in vain while trying to stifle my sobs, sumptuous yet suspicious meals, dry weather (not good for the skin), extreme language barrier, an odd feeling of nostalgia when it came to being locked in my haunted maids quarters (my private hotel room) and worst of all being at the mercy of the Kazakhstani sanitation system.

“We will hardly have time to breathe” quote by Capitan WANG after reading the itinerary, and boy was she right. After having Kazakhstan’s rich yet delightful culture shoved readily down our throats we soon got into a harsh yet productive routine. This included rising early greeting the sunrise followed by a shower; in some cases in pairs… (errr to save time), a light yet heated breakfast and then our scheduled daily training or every alternate day important match preparation.

During match time we pulled together but it was off the field that I felt we really bonded. Do not be fooled by the letters O.T.O.T. This was often a time to invade one another’s personal space or to steal your roommates tiger biscuits which she denied you earlier. Constant video game wars were on the keep up the competitive spirit while there were long queues and battles for the physios attention. Overall I feel that we did what we travelled thirty hours to do, play rugby, love it and make our mark.