Country info and advice - Kazakhstan
The following comments are from teachers who have taught, or are currently teaching, in Kazakhstan. If you are a teacher and have some advice to share, please add it here.
Kazakhstan is still not very
open to the West or Western ways. English tends to be taught by Kazakhs (badly)
and it is generally thought that native speakers aren't needed. The cost of
living in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau is very high. Make sure any ESL job includes
a base salary of at least $30,000 paid outside the country PLUS housing,
utilities and local supplement and air fares (very high). Ensure any ESL
employer gets visas sorted out in advance or you won't get into the country.
Don't hand over your passport after arrival. Stick to a one year contract only.
Very strict on visas!
Kazakhstan is still very Soviet with lots of bureacracy
and red tape. English is not widely spoken anywhere and signs are all in Kazakh
or Russian. It isn't a tourist destination as yet and they are not geared up for
it. Alcoholism is a major problem - supermarket shelves are stacked with
hundreds of different vodkas - the only thing apart from cigarettes that is very
cheap here. Winters are cold and miserable and summers hot and dry. Avoid the
police as you might be fined for just being foreign or not having your passport
handy.
That advice is pretty gloomy!
There are some great aspects to life here, too. You will never feel as
appreciated as you are made to feel by your students here. They are very
respectful, and very interested in people from other countries. In the bigger
cities, people are very interested in the west and western ways. Sometimes to a
startling point (I've had three people in the last three days ask me if I could
either help them get to America or help them study English because they (or
someone they know) want to go to the west. It is pretty hot in the summer and
can be very cold in the winter, but the spring and fall months are delightful.
Plus, in Almaty, it is one of the few places in the world that has four healthy
seasons. It is very expensive, with Almaty being one of the most expensive
cities in the world (literally). And rental prices are also expensive. But, as a
foreigner, you can also get a pretty good salary for teaching. Probably much
better than you can in the west in a public school! But you do need to stay on
top of things like visas and so on. And you need to be vigilant just like you
would be in any big city. I would say come, if you are adventurous, and want to
see a part of the world not many westerners have seen.
First of all, I have resided
off and on in Kazakhstan for 12 years now, so I think I know the place
reasonably well. To be fair, Kazakhstan can be quite daunting to the
uninitiated. There is a great deal of bureaucracy, with regards to visas,
registration, work permits, and generally walking about.
As regards the latter, this means that you should always carry your passport
with you in case the local police (“militsia”), usually roaming about in
groups of three or four, ask you to present it. Indeed, you are required by law
to carry your passport on your person at all times. The U.S. embassy had worked
out a deal with the Kazakhstani government to permit Americans to simply carry a
notarized copy, just as they had for the Almaty registration office to allow
travel around the country with only Almaty registration, but the police never
seemed to honor, or maybe even know about, this rule. A friend of mine was
forced to call his seven-month-pregnant wife to run over with his passport,
which he had forgotten at home, when he was accosted by a band of police after
leaving my office. They tried to take him away while she was on her way, but I
kept blocking them for the approximately 30 minutes it took her to get here.
They had asked for KZT 10 000 (at that time about US$80) to let him go, but as a
general rule, I never pay bribes.
Indeed, though corruption is ever present, if you never pay bribes, you can
still get done what you need to. After all, there are laws here, and everybody
knows them (or should), so nobody wants a scandal, especially with a loudmouth
American, like me. Should you pay a bribe, even unknowingly, you become part of
the system, and you will find then that bribes become inevitable. Word of an
idiot foreigner spreads quickly. Along those lines, never just go with the
police if they just ask you to, always call a local, preferably a lawyer. Of
course, if you have actually broken the law, or some other party has filed a
formal complaint against you, then you will have to go with the police, but at
least then someone will have been informed as to what is happening, and so can
begin the process of helping you. It is of utmost importance to have a mobile
phone.
A word of advice, if you go out at night, never walk home after drinking you
will be harassed. Always take a taxi trusted by the establishment, which can be
done simply by asking security to take you to one personally. There are sort of
unofficially designated places for foreigners to cut lose in relative
protection, including Mad Murphys, Guinness, Dublin, Stetsons, the American
Bar & Grill, and several others. The safest places are of course in the elite
hotels, such as the Intercontinental and the Hyatt Regency, but unless you are
out for the regular Whiskey and Cigar night (by invitation only by the way),
those places do not really hop, and are more for formal or official events.
As regards the weather, this is a minor issue. Kazakhstan has great climatic
swings. Having traveled about the whole country, excepting Shymkent and Uralsk,
in winter I have both sweated in Almaty and frozen in Kostanai. Conversely, in
summer I have found Pavlodar quite temperate and the cold mountain breezes of
Almaty to be frigid. Americans, with our great regional climatic differences,
should be used to weather swings.
The biggest problem you should fear is neither weather nor bureaucracy, but
crime. Almaty, at least, is infested with poor young men, mostly from the
outlying regions, who prey on the unsuspecting. They are known by the slang term
gopniks. Often, they do not ask for your money and valuables, they just
attack. They are known to hospitalize victims, and have even killed a few. Never
walk in dark places at night, unless you happen to think you can defend yourself
against four or more strapping farm boys who hate you on general principle.
Remember, these guys are resentful they lack the opportunities that those who
preceded them in the 1990s received, and have been relegated to low-wage,
dead-end jobs, or to unemployment. Nonetheless, some confidence tricksters are
also about, so if someone comes up to you on the street all friendly like, the
best thing to do is to say izvineeti, and walk away.
I suppose, since this is a teachers forum, I should mention teaching here.
First of all, do not expect a high salary here, unless you have a contract with
a real company, like in the banking, petroleum or mining industries. Most of the
schools are locally owned, and pay a fiddling amount. There are lots of great
promises made of additional hours at better pay, but often you are just forced
to work extra for nothing further. Some of this cannot really be helped,
especially since the price of bringing in a foreigner has just increased, and
become infinitely more difficult, under the new law passed that limits the
number of foreign workers and how long they can stay in Kazakhstan.
As regards students, just like anywhere you have good students who need and want
to learn, as well as bad ones who do it because they are forced into it. Some
students will become your best friends and protectors krisha is the term
here. Others may just try to use you. On that last account, never issue a letter
of invitation to the U.S. in your own name for a student. By doing so, you could
end up with some hefty financial liabilities. Some students may just pretend to
be friendly in order to get free teaching time. After a while, you should be
able to tell the difference. Finally, keep work and pleasure separated. Never
sleep with a current student, as it is bad for your reputation, just like
anywhere. This is especially true if you are working in a university
environment, as you will gain the same reputation as local teachers who have
been known to give out good marks for money or sexual favors.
If you decide to come to Kazakhstan, I wish you the best of luck. Do not be
scared off by what I have outlined here, as I am only trying to forewarn you. It
really is a beautiful country, but just not one for the faint of heart.
For more information on Kazakhstan, please go to http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1150.html
Hello, I am from Kazakhstan.
However, I've been living in UK for a year, have travelled, worked and studied
in different countries including USA, Italy, UK and Spain and can easily tell
you that everywhere I found crime, buraucracy and horrible people. Regarding
crime only UK could be excluded from the list. It is really safe, but I didn't
feel safe at all while walking after 8 pm.
The other thing that you should understand is that all those things are common
for all places. Regarding the comment about police, I totally agree and advise
you not to break laws and minimise your communication with police overall.
Regarding people, I really can tell you that people are GREAT! Not because
I am from Kazakhstan and so on. No! The thing is that I have travelled a lot and
was residing for quite a lot of time in those countries. Especially
English speaking countries like USA and UK, particularly locals were quite unwelcoming.
I really do understand that we have different cultures and so on. However, in Kazakhstan,
Almaty you will find it not difficult to find friends among locals and even practise
your Russian or Kazakh. And YES, the cost of living especially in Almaty, Astana and
Atyrau is VERY EXPENSIVE:(though if you are really adventurous and open-minded
you will gain a lot more. Surroundings of Almaty and weather are absolutely
fantastic and I cannot compare it to the weather in England which is so depressive.
Just remember one thing while teaching and living in Kazakhstan, it won't be easy
if you come here with all those stereotypes, BBC movies about Kazakhstan and
stories of Borat. You will get a rewarding and invaluable experience in my dear Kazakhstan!
I'm reading this in Jan 2011.
What ESL Teaching post pays you 30,000 plus added benefits of housing and bonus? What a strange post!
I am from Kazakhstan and I have been living in China for a very long time.
First of all, being a foreigner in any country comes with a PACKAGE of problems, troubles and
warnings (personally US has been the toughest for me in this matter). Visas, regulations and
limitations - don't want to deal with it? Stay home, where you might not even need a passport.
Should you decide to go abroad to teach English, be prepared to add some changes to your
ways and habits, should you then decide to go to a developing country like Kazakhstan be prepared
to almost rethink your whole lifestyle.
There is a ton of aspects that annoy and frustrate even Kazakh people themselves.
However, for every frustration there will be a payoff. For example, it's tough to become an "insider"
with locals, but once you are in, you are in for good. You will find Kazakh people to be cold and
sometimes even mean to strangers, yet very loyal and sincere in their friendship, very respectful
of traditions and beliefs, very caring and giving to people that they come to care about. It's
extremely expensive to rent flats in Almaty and Astana, but there are quite a few families that
would open their doors for you simply after becoming more comfortable and trust you, and
the benefit of not being too developed and capitalism oriented yet? - money is not of great importance,
so you won't be expected to pay for every step (which is the case in China). Dancing, singing and
entertainment in general is very important, for everybody from teens to retirement, so learning to
enjoy yourself even in a very different way than you are used to will help you a great deal. Alcohol
IS available, true, and can be very inexpensive, but the store shelves are not packed with them
(unless you walk into the specialized liquor store...), and alcoholism is not as bad as in neighboring
Russia and Mongolia. Local police is not famous for being the most fair and objective to say the least,
that's true. To this I personally think that "blending in" might be a great help. Kazakhstan is full
of people of different colors and sizes, so don't walk around with a huge camera and open mouth and
you most probably won't be bothered at all. Corruption is still quite an issue though, and
even locals at times fall victims to it, to which I can only say c'est la vie, deal with it.
All in all, coming here with an open mind, a genuine interest in local culture and extra cash for the
first few months should give you a chance to experience and be part of the growth and maturation of
one of the youngest developing countries in the world. You can learn to accept and love the differences
and have a blast or have it your way and go home watch discovery channel instead. Either way, good luck!
I am a Filipino Teacher who has worked in Kazakhstan for almost 2 years now. In 2 years of my experience, never have i encountered bad moments nor annoying circumstance that would lead me to say... not a good place. Indeed for me Kazakhstan is one of the best places I've been. People are very nice, friendly, kind and hospitable.
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