KZBlog

Urgent Help Wanted (4)

8 March 10

Came across the site Mojazarplata.kz [MySalary][RU]. The site is only in Russian so it’s not much use to expats but it seems like an interesting resource for tracking salaries, jobs in demand and other work trends. There’s a few surveys you can fill out, including one on whether or not your work is violating labor or safety laws.

For the general public, the list of jobs in demand [RUS] in Kazakhstan is very useful (Neweurasia.net has published the article translated into English here apparently). Not sure where the site got its research; I wish they were citing their sources–is it official information or is it the results of their surveys?

Anyway, I think we can see why the jobs that are in demand are not being filled by the younger generation. The highest paying jobs on the list are electricians with an average salary of 80,000 tenge ($533) a month and metal workers at 65,000 tenge ($433) a month. Both jobs require technical education which is a time and money cost and both jobs are potentially dangerous. “Experienced specialists in energy” can make up to 80,000 tenge. Don’t be fooled by the abstraction of the formal Russian; they mean people working in the oil fields or power plants–as the chief engineer of Almaty Airport says in a quote on the site: “This sphere lacks enthusiasts ready for intense mental and physical labor, as well as tremendous responsibility” Hard and stressful work and a lot of responsibility and if you live to be very experienced you might make over the national average salary! Can’t think why people don’t want that job! Food process engineers apparently also have a higher than average monthly salary (70,000 tenge) but again it would be tedious work in a factory. Who needs it?

Add to this the fact that in Kazakhstan workers don’t usually receive annual adjustments for inflation or job benefits like healthcare, and that employers frequently pay late or violate safety conditions and it’s understandable why most Kazakhstani dream to work in some office job–where it’s safe and they can make a lot more money. Let’s also note that in Astana, at any rate, you can pay 75,000 tenge just in rent. If you want to eat meat for lunch and dinner every day of the month (as many Kazakhs do), that’s half a kilogram a person a day or 15kg a month–around 10,000 tenge a monthy per person in your house. In other words, these salaries are not only small in comparison to Western countries, they are small in purchasing power. Honestly, I am a pretty frugal shopper and we own our own apartment and I still blow about $1000 a month on food, household goods and the occasional dinner at a restaurant.

What do you think? Are wages just too low in Kazakhstan? Are prices too high? Is there some other way to attract people, especially young people, to the jobs that are in demand?

Happy Valentine’s Day: You’re Under Arrest! (1)

6 March 10

Missed this cute little story: On Valentine’s Day, policewomen handed out flowers and cards instead of tickets [RU] to traffic law violators in Kostanai province. On the back of the Valentine’s Day cards were explainations of the traffic laws.

The head of the traffic police section in Kostanai was quoted by zakon.kz as saying, “Today, in honor of the holiday, we warn people that the violation of traffic laws brings grave consequences…Through [today's] actions, we want to attract drivers’ attention to road safety and respectful and lawful behavior on the roads.” translation mine

It’s a cute idea. And not ineffective I suspect because 1) many people don’t seem to actually know the rules of the road or forget them after time and 2) people are so terrified of seeing traffic police that they are often aggressive with them, in turn making traffic police aggressive and nasty. Maybe we can move to more cordial relationships between drivers and police and make getting pulled over a tolerable, if never pleasant, experience.

Is Russia Making It Up? (0)

5 March 10

Just as the lease comes up on Baikanour and the Kazakhstan Parliament considers increasing the price (Subscription Only) for Russia to rent and operate the base, Russia is making accusations that Kazakhstan is interfering. The charges are sufficiently vague:

Kazakhstan’s position on various matters regarding the use of the Baikonur cosmodrome is complicating the execution of tasks in Russian space exploration,” Anatoly Perminov was quoted as saying.

“Kazakhstan has announced an array of approaches to the organisation of international cooperation in space, limiting Russia’s role and degree of participation,” he added, quoted by Interfax and ITAR-TASS.

The best the journalists could dig up was that Kazakhstan passed a law in 2007 that banned rockets from flying over areas where the president is visiting. Furthermore Kazakhstan gets only $115 million a year for rent and Russia basically controls the town of Baikanour as well as the space operations. Kazakh citizens who want to go to Baikanour have to get permission from the Russian authorities. So it’s basically a small Russian state in the middle of Kazakhstan. It’s a lot to ask of the country and then make vague accusations that they want some control over their own base.

There are also clear and concrete reasons why the government of Kazakhstan should have authority over operations. This week it was announced that Proton rocket launches will continue even though they are an environmental danger. Proton rockets use toxic fuel and have crashed a few times, damaging the environment of Kazakhstan.

It seems a bit odd that Russia is complaining about Kazakhstan and not the other way around.

Is Toyota Motors Doing Anything? (3)

3 March 10

As most of the world reacts to defects in Toyotas that can cause them to accelerate suddenly, not much seems to be being said about it in Kazakhstan. In Astana, every other car is a Toyota including most government cars. If Toyotas are dangerous, one would think it would be making major news. So far all that Toyota.KZ has to say is Toyota Europe’s statement [RU]. Nowhere does the statement directly address Kazakhstan or talk about what Toyota Motors here in Kazakhstan is doing.

The models affected are:

• AYGO (February 2005 – August 2009)
• iQ (November 2008 – November 2009)
• Yaris (November 2005 – September 2009)
• Auris (October 2006 – January 5, 2010)
• Corolla (October 2006 – December 2009)
• Verso (February 2009 – January 5, 2010)
• Avensis (November 2008 – December 2009)
• RAV4 (November 2005 – November 2009)

Of those models, Corolla is an extremely common model for corporate and government cars. RAV4s are also popular and Avensis is not unheard of. Not long ago a woman lost control of her Toyota which was accelerating out of control and killed a soldier as well as other pedestrians and herself in a crash at the corner of Beibitshilik and Moscovskaya in Astana. Coincindence?

Has anyone else heard anything? Are drivers aware that they need to take their cars in? Should I be as worried as I am?

If You Can’t Get It at Home, You’re Gonna Go Looking (0)

2 March 10

Tennis World has an article up about Kazakhstan’s buying of Russian tennis players. This is nothing new; I covered the purchase of Sesil Karatantcheva, a Bulgarian which has been going pretty well for the nation. And our recent medalist at Vancouver was also brought to Kazakhstan from Russia.

Tennis World’s interview with Evgeny Korolev is interesting because it dives a bit into why players come to Kazakhstan.

Korolev says, “[Kazakhstan is] most of all taking care of the players. They call you, make sure everything is OK. They give you everything — everything that Russia doesn’t want to do anymore.” That sounds like he gets a good chunk of change and some pandering; One imagines calls from the Minister of Tourism and Sport: ‘Did that gift basket come? And the Egyptian cotton robe? Do you want to go to the wildlife preserve tomorrow in my private Range Rover? See some flamingos? Or how about a champagne brunch?’

Beyond the material, Korolev seems to like being top dog, even if it’s in a smaller pond. It must be tiring being number 163 behind world famous stars like Sharapova, Kuzentsova, Davydenko, Youzhny and Safin. Tennis World says:

Not long ago, before he took the money, Korolev was “Baby Marat,” because his musuclar build and strong, aggressive game resembled a smaller edition of Russian star Marat Safin. “I hated that name,” he said. “Now,” he added with amusing pride, “they call me the Prince of Kazakhstan.”

They also have a useful list of all the players Kazakhstan has recruited:

* [Evgeny] Korolev: Born in Moscow, 22 years old. Homes in Moscow, Germany and Miami. ATP rank is No. 46.
* Andrey Golubev: Born in Volzhski, Russia, 22 years old. Lives in Bra, Italy. ATP rank is No. 95.
* Mikhail Kukushkin: Born in Volgograd, Russia, 22 years old. Lives in Astana, Kazakhstan. ATP rank is No. 120. Well, there’s one who at least pretends to be Kazakhstani. [Seriously, can't they talk one of them into actually moving here?-KZBlog]
* Yaroslava Shvedova: Born in Moscow, 22 years old. Lives in Moscow. WTA rank is No. 43.
* Golina Voskoboeva: Born in Moscow, 25 years old. Lives in Moscow. WTA rank is No. 134.
* Sesil Karatancheva: Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, 20 years old. Lives in Sofia, WTA rank is No. 139.

The article also dances around how much money Korolev gets. The author seems to be convinced he gets $1 million though Evgeny isn’t talking. I hear from my sources that the government has budgeted up to $1 million to recruit athletes and also $250 000 for them to buy an apartment–I guess they must all need property here. Change of citizenship is of course, a must–ATP/WTA/Olympics rules, I’m sure.

I certainly hope that some money is being put away to train our native athletes as well.

Seriously, We Need to Empty the North of this Country (1)

28 February 10

A teacher who comes from Pavlodar told me that school there has basically been canceled since January because of the extreme cold. In Kazakhstan, they close school when it gets too cold, not when it gets too snowy–call them frost days instead of snow days, if you like. The idea is that children can get sick from being out in the cold. Now it’s bad enough that students are missing out on school for two whole months. One would think someone could have come up with a solution-especially since this must have happened before. Pavlodar, incidentally, is right on the border with Russia and about as far north as you can go and still be in Kazakhstan.

However the story gets more interesting. See, Pavlodar is not a big town.v So there’s really only one thing for kids to do: go to the outdoor skating rinks. Yes, the local government shuts down school to keep the poor kids from having to go outside and walk to school in the cold. What do the kids do? Spend the whole day outside ice skating!

Shouldn’t the akimat have caught on by now and just sent them to school anyway?

Can any readers from Pavlodar confirm or deny this? Anyone else got any stories like this?

Sting Gets No Slack (3)

27 February 10

An electronic media feeding frenzy is taking a bite out of Sting, the British rocker and self-styled defender of the environment and the downtrodden. In recent days, British newspapers and blogs have savaged the musician for playing a concert in Uzbekistan, which is home to one of the world’s most repressive governments. Sting may have exacerbated his image crisis by appearing unrepentant over his appearance in Tashkent, for which he reportedly received over $1 million.

Sting made his trip to Uzbekistan last October in connection with Art Week Style.uz-2009, a culture and arts festival, organized by President Islam Karimov’s daughter, Gulnara.

from Eurasianet.org

UPDATE: While I was offline earlier this year, I missed that Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears came and performed at Aliya Nazarbayeva’s birthday party. Alia is the youngest daughter of the president of Kazakhstan. I haven’t hear that J. Lo or B. Spea (yes, I made that one up) are getting any flack for that so I guess Kazakhstan’s human rights reputation is a lot better than Uzbekistan’s (which I would tend to agree with). Or maybe because Sting has a better reputation for caring about politics and human rights–do you really expect Britney Spears to be up on Central Asian diplomacy and the state of civil society in former Soviet states?

Movie Review: Tulpan (1)

26 February 10

So I finally saw Tulpan. I don’t want to post any spoilers, so I’ll keep my observations general.

I thought it was a great movie, definitely one of the best to come out of independent Kazakhstan. However it was not what I expected. In earlier posts I had given the impression that it was a roll in the aisles comedy. Looking back on reviews I read, I’m not sure where I got that idea. It has some funny moments and it’s lighthearted–especially compared to a lot of Kazakh films which tend to be heavy handed and dramatic. But it also has some dramatic touches and the overall story of a sailor from Russia trying to fit in on the steppe is touching. Particularly his attempts to seduce the only women who lives anywhere near him, Tulpan.

Most interestingly, the film shows life in the steppe of Karaganda in modern times. The main characters live in a yurt in the middle of nowhere. Literally, there’s no one else around. They herd sheep, and during the movie they are suffering from a plague of still-borns. There’s one one truck that serves the entire steppes to bring feed or fertilizer or goods-and it’s a jerry-rigged tractor that keeps breaking down. They are certainly not well off. Yet they are not portrayed either as pitiful or as noble in their suffering. In fact they don’t appear to be suffer. It’s a very straightforward look at real life that few films outside of documentaries can achieve. In fact, most documentaries don’t manage to show their subjects this directly and unbiasedly.

Another wonderful facet of the direction is the way the camera doesn’t always focus directly on the main subject. There’s a great scene of a veterinarian examining another still-born and talking to someone who keeps following him. Eventually the camera pans out and we see a camel screaming at him. In this way, you feel you are in the scene, because you don’t have an omniscient point of view. This technique of keeping something off camera is also used to great comedic or dramatic effect in some scenes.

That being said, some might be put off by the lack of plot. There is a plot of sorts but the film is not driven by it. One result of this is that there are many scenes of the family in the yurt, doing very little and certainly not moving the plot forward or entertaining the viewer in some way. However it’s an effective device once again to show what life is really like on the steppes of Kazakhstan. There’s a wonderful series of recurring devices–a little girl singing, a boy listening to the radio–that again make the audience feel present in the moment.

In short, I highly recommend getting Tulpan and checking it out!

Clean Up Your Act (0)

24 February 10

I only post this Reuters story from Russia because it’s so funny and because it gives you an insight into the post-Soviet mentality. When a big man is coming, see how painstakingly people go over their city or school or home.

Theater posters proclaiming “We await you, merry gnome” were taken down from a Russian town shortly before a visit by the country’s diminutive President Dmitry Medvedev , a local website reported on Friday.

The advertisements were for a children’s theater show, but were removed from a street that the president’s convoy was due to use on his visit to Omsk on February 12 , the nr2.ru website reports, citing local sources.

Russian media say Medvedev is 5 feet, 4 inches tall.

The poster depicted a child fairy but was one of a number of sudden renovation projects that took place ahead of the Medvedev’s visit, it reported, quoting bloggers and journalists.

The authorities recommended that fresh snow should be sprinkled over older dirty snow as part of the facelift, it said.

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney)

And of course, their elimination of the poster may be more of an insult than leaving it up. By getting rid of it, they seem to be saying quite clearly that they think Medvedev is a gnome. Reminds me of the old Soviet joke: During Stalin’s early reign, a man was running through the streets of Moscow shouting, “The world is being destroyed by one man!” He is quickly picked up by the KGB who strap him to a table and brandish all sorts of torture equipment before asking him, “Comrade, what man did you have in mind exactly?”
The man quickly answers, “Why, Hitler, of course!”
The KGB agents sigh a sigh of relief, unstrap him, shake his hand as a great patriot and assure him that his anti-Nazi attitude is admirable.
As the man is leaving, he turns back and says, “By the way, who did you have in mind?”