Koz korkup, kol batir. This is a simple Kazakh saying that you might hear repeated in our home every so often. We ended our night last night saying it with a smile and started our day saying it to each other with hope!
The Kazakh people are truly a hard working people and their perseverance, as a whole, is to be admired. This saying is a proverb that they all have heard from their parents, who heard it from their parents and so on... for generations past.
Koz korkup means "Eyes are afraid" and kol batir means "Hands are the warriors"
Essentially the phrase means that you get afraid, or your eyes look with fear, when you look at the work ahead. You might feel overwhelmed. ...by the mess, by the "to do" list, by the day ahead. But, no worries, just get your hands moving and they will fight for you! Get to work and before you know the battle has been won!
Last night we had a sweet time with neighbors for a dinner party. After they all left, my husband and I looked around the room and the disarray was absolutely overwhelming (especially at 11 pm!). "Oh! Let's just go to bed...", he said. "We can deal with it tomorrow". I knew, though, that waking up to a mess like that (none-the-less trying to fall asleep when dishes are strewn throughout two rooms) wasn't appealing. Time for the saying and time to push through and let our hands do some fighting for us. Koz korkup, kol batir!!
So, we just dove into the mess. In no time at all, it was all done! It worked! We smiled as we whispered the saying to each other and went to sleep with a clean kitchen.
Today we began the day knowing we had to clean out the garage. For the past 6 months our garage has been nicknamed, "the bear pit". It was a nightmare mess!! So, all four of us looked at each other this morning and my husband said, in his most convincing tone, "Koz korkup, kol batir". Again, we dug in and got to work... and as we put our hands to the test--- the battle was won! The garage, as I sit here and type, is clean and ordered!
We truly learned a great deal from our Kazakh friends while living among them a few short years. This is among the greatests of the lessons we learned... or, are still learning!