Viewing topic: Kazakhstan

Has anyone here been to Kazakhstan?

I'm thinking of going there to teach, although the money might not be as good as SPB or Moscow.

I'm of the opinion [I can only have an opinion so far, and so far it's not with much base] that Kaz and Kir are both places which are interesting, but the conditions of working and living may not be the best.

Barring a breakthrough [salary of 1,000 and cheap rent for 20-25 contact hours per week], I will be off to Asia I think. By Asia, I mean the orient. But Central Asia would be really cool though.

I did the Ukraine thing for a while. A LOT of crap jobs, a LOT of cheating, a LOT of stealing. Xoxly Ukr was cool otherwise - just that the work situation is rediculous.

Call a spade a spade. Otherwise you risk your comments being the muzak of the internet.

WK

I was in Bishkek, Kygryzstan for 5 months. It's not a nice place. It's relly unsafe. At night, you can't go to bars or clubs (except for the one ex-pat place) without having a problem with a local. Ditto for walking around late. While I was there, one ex-pat was murdered, one commited suicide under suspicious conditions, and 2 german aid workers were badly beaten in a mugging attempt. Bear in mind that there's not near as many ex-pats as in Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Also, if you speak Russian, you'll find the place very depressing. There's basically no opportunity in the country, so anybody, who can do so, leaves. That means that pratically anyone who graduates from the better universities leaves; making it difficult to find intelligent people to talk to. Also, in a lot of cases, uneducated but relatively nice girls will work as prostitutes or hostesses in Europe or the Gulf states in order to get out. However, they only have temporary visas. So, a lot of the girls you meet hanging around the ex-pat places are former sex industry workers. The infrastructure is starting to fall apart, so a lot of people live in relly poor conditions. In general, you get the vibe that things are getting worse on a monthly basis.

Don't spend more than a month there if you can avoid it. Khazakstan, however, is a much nicer.

Tim