Apples...Really?

Apples are from Kazakhstan seems like a joke, right? Who would name their book that? It's seems like a joke, especially if you are under the impression that Kazakhstan is a made up place from a really weird movie. But....drum roll please: apples really are from Kazakhstan and the history behind them is fascination.

When first seeing what book we would be using for film class, I was completely thrown. I was thinking, "What in the name of all that's holy is Bjorn having us read? Apples, really? But once I decided to open the book and stop being a baby about it, I was drawn into it. Robbins (the author) has decided to go on an adventure, to what used to be the USSR to find out about these apples and what in the heck that person was talking about when they told him where apples come from. It's sort of like when you hear a truth you've never considered the answer to before and now that you've heard it, you have to go investigate and see/hear it all over again. Well that's what AAFK is all about. Well not technically all about. AAFK is about a lost generation, a lost way of life. It makes you a little sad reading it, because the apples represent how Russia/USSR used to be. How the old man Valivov misses it dearly. I was surprised to know that apples could mean so much to people and how they aren't as important anymore. Wild apple orchards? I didn't know such a thing existed. Kazakhstan has miles of unclaimed history and no one could care less. Flying in apples from Europe and other such places, when the country itself has apples that used to be prized and used as air fresheners and were used practically as money. How could people not want that life anymore? APPLES! APPLES! Who ever heard of something so ludicrous? Well, I suppose I shouldn't call it ludicrous, but it's more...unheard of, I guess. The country has a lot more history than I expected it to, but I didn't expect the story to make me feel sad. And I do feel sad. That this place is disappearing before our eyes. A country (it's kind of big and kind of south of Russia) that we never acknowledged before Borat. It makes me wonder what other countries have this sort of sordid history. Have they got fascinating stories about lost fruits or jewelries? What else are we ignoring, not on purpose, but with the passage of times we just simply, forget they exist. I think it's time we remember that every country has something to offer.