CT44 – Chechnya “In Their Own Words!” | Abdullah the Tour Guide & Couchsurfing Expert

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The people of Chechnya are probably some of the least well-understood in the Caucasus to outsiders. In the spirit of our ongoing series “In Their Own Words,” today we give the mic to our Chechen friend and tour guide to share about his place and people from his own perspective. Aside from being an experienced tourist host through Couchsurfing.com (see a link to his page below) with over 100 satisfied reviews, Abdullah is, like many Caucasus people, informed about history and articulate about the treasures of his own culture, such as the Chechen code of honor, nokhchal. As always, we are sure you our listeners will be refreshed and encouraged by this honest and fascinating inside look at Chechens!

Links for Episode 44

Couchsurfing.com – Abdulla’s page
Meet: ZaBeast / Zabit Magomedsharipov

Timestamps

01:43 – Sports segment – The next big thing in MMA: Zabit Magomedsharipov a.k.a. “ZaBeast”
02:17 – 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon
05:38 – No “f” sound in Chechen language
07:56 – Welcome Abdullah! The Vainakh People
10:50 – A brief history of Chechnya and Ingushetia
15:16 – The elephant in the room: Stereotypes about Chechnya
20:14 – Most important Chechen values
21:40 – Nokhchal / Нохчал = “Chechenness”
22:28 – When tourists come who are different
27:20 – How Chechens and Ingush are similar and different
29:00 – Famous historical Chechen leaders
35:01 – Tiny Biebolt?
36:54 – Foreigners’ top 3 impressions of Chechnya

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