An online questionnaire sent to about 50 of my expat friends this past month yielded some good responses about their impressions of Kazakhstan. From 27 responses, I found out what is the most common question asked of them by Kazakhs, are the following:
59% Where are you from?
22% Why are you here?
4% Do you have children?
14% other comments (of those the follow up question was usually “Do you like it here?” OR “Which is better the U.S. or Kazakhstan?” How does one answer THAT question? You see, most of my friends are obviously American)
But first the results of these people when queried “Why are you here in Kazakhstan?” 38% said place of employment, 11% exotic place to live and seek adventure 5% spouse is Kazakh 3% know Russian, 5% interest in this part of Central Asia, 32% spouse has job in KZ. Another question asked was “What is the most onerous thing about living in Kazakhstan?”
In yesterday’s blog I put the extra comments for Question #6. I asked in a matrix format the following eight questions about what *I* thought was troublesome about living in Kazakhstan:
1. disparity of income in cities of KZ compared to the rural areas
30% very true
37% somewhat true
33% neutral
2. old Soviet era methods of doing things
33% very true
41% somewhat true
26% neutral
3. politics in this new “democracy” with residual nepotism
37% very true
33% somewhat true
30% neutral
4. traffic gridlock and cars getting too close to pedestrians
19% very true
22% somewhat true
52% neutral
7% not true at all
5. air pollution or cold weather or both
15% very true
30% somewhat true
30% neutral
26% not true at all
6. police and their wand wave for trumped up fines to drivers
26% very true
26% somewhat true
41% neutral
7% not true at all
7. laws that are too complex to understand about visas and work permits
30% very true
15% somewhat true
52% neutral
4% absolutely false
8. feeling cheated or feeling like you are not wanted in Kazakhstan
7% very true
7% somewhat true
44% neutral
15% not true at all
26% absolutely false
The last question is somewhat surprising in its being so emphatic about being 41% FALSE!!! The feeling *I* have is that I am definitely needed as an expat with my expertise of teaching English and infoliteracy to Kazakh student but I am not wanted simultaneously. Very difficult tightrope to walk, challenging conundrum to be in.
