Loyal Scaiaholics know one of my favorite activities is covering events with the Fort Worth Sister Cities program.

This dates back to pre-alanscaia.com. A group of kids had come from Iraq. I asked several children what they thought of Fort Worth. They all were having a good time, saying we had so much food and fun things to do. But one of these kids, a child who grew up in a desert region of Iraq, said she didn’t like the weather because [I swear] it’s “very, very hot.”

She went on to explain that back home in the Middle East, where 110 degrees is a cool day, it gets cooler at night because it’s so dry. In Fort Worth, it’s uncomfortable all the time.

This week, though, I met with a delegation from Kazakhstan.

Naturally, this led to a discussion of how Fort Worth is better than Dallas.

Continuing a theme of “this is gonna be the podcast I never actually start,” listen in to two Kazakh librarians talk about how, even though this was part of a program launched by Congress to help former Soviet republics build their own economies, one of their takeaways was that Fort Worth and Dallas should maybe try some outreach.

They even mentioned that any country ending in “-stan” has a blanket negative connotation, so while they’re here to learn about Texas, it’s also a chance for Americans to learn about the different cultures in Kazakhstan. Much like DFW, different parts of Kazakhstan have different identities [I did not get a chance to ask which part of Kazakhstan peters out].

This started when I asked what they’ve been picking up. The official answer is Kazakhstan sits atop a range of natural resources, including oil, so now that the country is able to build its own economy, they’re looking at Texas for ways to excel in the global economy.

The unofficial answer is both Texans and the Kazakh people love a good steak and cattle drive. At the risk of editorializing, I agree with them completely.