Is chaos the new normal?

In the past two weeks, there has been a lot happening here. I finished my annual medical checkup, which may have included a few local people yelling at me for "cutting in line" (I'd actually been in the line, been sent off to do something else, and then returned), and has left me with the determination to take as few sick days as possible, simply because sick day = going back to the clinic.

We also had to make our final decisions about whether we wanted to renew our contracts. This chat happened for me the same day as the yelling situation, and I had decided firmly in the taxi on my way back to school that staying for another year in Kyzylorda was simply not an option unless I either wanted to go completely insane. I wanted to keep some options open, so I said that I wanted to transfer to a different school in Kazakhstan.

That all happened two Tuesdays ago. On the following Monday, meetings were set for all staff staying to sign their contract renewals. Until two of my colleagues (including my closest friend here) were told that, even though they had requested to stay, their contracts weren't being renewed. The official reasons given to both were practically identical and frankly rather suspicious seeing as no concerns had been raised prior to this meeting. Our interpretation (which was hinted at by our international vice principal) was that the director was very unhappy with these colleagues for signing a letter regarding the holiday pay dispute. Only six of us ended up signing that (I was one). Three of us had asked for transfers. Two wanted to stay. The other's position was being made redundant, but he was wanting to stay/transfer into a different department (he's been teaching art but is also qualified for English). This guy was fed the same complaints as the two being fired at the end of the year, but was told that unless he fixed the problems in three weeks, he's going home then. Needless to say, it all came as quite a shock.

In the wake of this, I and the other two requesting transfers were expecting the worst for ourselves, but I was surprised to get an email on Wednesday from HR in Astana asking for my updated CV, to be forwarded on to a school in Almaty for a vacancy there. I actually interviewed with their international VP this morning, and it went well. I really like this IVP's attitude, but it seems like the management problems I struggle with in Kyzylorda are practically the same there. So, if I'm offered the job, I have a lot of praying and thinking to do about whether or not it's worth staying for another year.

The other "excitement" for this week happened on Wednesday morning, when I was getting ready for school. I picked my glasses up off my dresser after doing my makeup, and one of the wings just fell off. Broken hinge. I messaged my aunt in Australia, and she's ordered a replacement part for my glasses. I got a friend to help me tape them back up, but on Thursday I went into what is considered one of the two best opticians in town, to see if I could order a temporary backup pair. My prescription is rather complicated (I have progressives amongst other things), and getting the exact prescription wasn't an option, but I have something that's kinda close enough, which set me back a grand total of 84AUD. My real glasses cost close to a grand, and I've realised that I'm a complete and utter diva when it comes to glasses. This new pair feels cheap and tacky. They don't fit properly, and even without wearing mascara, they constantly get smudged from my eyelashes. I'm actually wondering whether it'd be better to walk around with a pair of taped-up broken glasses instead of these. I'll stick it out for a few days still before I make a final decision on these, but I can't wait for this replacement part to arrive from Australia. (Lesson learned - have a backup pair of glasses. In the 20 years I've worn them, I've never had a pair break, but I've always had my last pair of glasses accessible in the event that this happened. I just forgot to pack them to bring to Kazakhstan.)

Can this month be over already?

This place and my health are not good friends. I'm at the point where I'm swinging between anxiety and fury at the thought of having to deal with our medical clinic.
I was supposed to go in each evening this week for a 20-30 minute massage, followed by a 250ml glucose drip. I only did one evening of the glucose drip (I know that all the carbs we eat turn to glucose in the body, but when I eat little to no sugar, that much straight into my system is a bit too much). I gave up on the massages after three days, when the young male masseuse became a little too flirty and familiar for my comfort. Along with this additional "treatment", I was supposed to complete my annual medical check. Kazakh labour code requires a yearly check which includes blood and urine tests, a chest x-ray and ECG. I did the tests and x-ray last week when I was home sick and already heading into the clinic to get my sick leave papers organised. I had forgotten about the ECG, so on Monday when I was in for the massage, I asked about that. I had to wait to Friday: the ECG technician apparently only operated until 5pm, and I'd need to see a doctor afterwards for the final results, and Friday was the only day that they had appointments available and when I could get away from work early.
Friday afternoon rolled around, and I collected my x-ray on the way to the clinic. Once I'm there, I sat around for almost an hour, as the English-speaking receptionist had asked if I could wait while she filed some paperwork (off premises, it turned out). At about three minutes before 5, I used Google Translate to ask another receptionist if I could just do the ECG already, so she took me up. I got the ECG and went back down to the ground floor, presumably to wait to see the doctor to get the final stamp of clearance. But no, apparently I also need to see a "woman doctor" (pap smear, maybe?), which I couldn't do then. I simply do not understand the logic (or incredible lack of logic) of the people in this city/country. Why couldn't they have told me that I needed this extra step LAST WEEK when I was in there 3 or 4 times? I now need to go back yet again on Tuesday morning (no free time on Monday), and risk having to skip half a class to do so. This time of year is insanely busy for me and I have very few consecutive spare lessons; it takes 15-20 minutes by taxi each way from home/work, not to mention the cost (which is actually dirt cheap if I convert into dollars, but still an inconvenience).

February 4

So... I just posted the last of my entries from my European trip... I wrote the posts about 3 weeks ago and basically left them as they were,  just adding photos after I sorted through the 1000+ that I took. One reason I think it took me a while to get them all done was that I have needed to not remember the holiday for a bit. Confusing I know, but I've been rather miserable and looking back at the photos would have depressed me more about being back here.

I've mentioned some problems at work - we have a pay dispute going on at the moment that is creating some unpleasant tension among the international team. I've done my best to keep my personal and professional lives separate, so I don't think anyone from work has any knowledge of this blog nor knows details to search for it, but just in case, I won't explain what's going on, except to say that this has pretty much been the final straw for my decision to leave here as soon as I possibly can.

The school year will finish May 25th, but we'll be expected to stay for 4 weeks of summer school after that, meaning I'll be free from the end of June. I'm in the process of job hunting, but that usually requires me finding some really interesting jobs, bookmarking them, writing about 5 sentences of a cover letter and then taking a break and watching a TV episode or 17 and not coming back to them. I've always hated job hunting (apparently, that's human) and my current state of mind is not exactly conducive to selling myself. What I really want to write is: "Dear __________, I really really really really really want to work at your school because I hate where I am now and please give me the job!" Not quite what HR people are after :(

At any rate, my goal, which has always been the long-term plan, is to get a job in Europe somewhere, ideally Germany, Switzerland or Austria. However, EU jobs are not easy to come by for non-EU citizens due to the pesky process of obtaining work permits. If nothing pans out over here or anywhere else, I'll come back to Australia and find a job there again. I hadn't thought I wanted to work in Australia again, but you have no idea how enticing and wonderful it is to have legal rights and avenues of mediation and dispute resolution.

So, apart from the staff tension, work has been so-so. My application to attend a TESOL event in the UK in April was rejected by administration, partly because the international teachers are not allowed to do any type of external professional development, which really annoyed me. The curriculum is as weird as ever. Our 12th-graders have just finished a unit on "Psychology and Observation" and we're now moving on to "Carbon Dating". No joke. I'm an English teacher and I'm supposed to teach carbon dating. Then something I can't remember and then a unit on maths. Another factor influencing my decision to leave. The one joy has been my 12th-grade Critical Thinking classes. I've got half a dozen or so students preparing to take Critical Thinking exams for university entrance, so I actually get to use my brain for a couple of hours a week. I should mention that I like all my kids, but the subject matter is not always appealing which dampens my joy for teaching.

In spare time I've been catching up with church friends or hanging out with colleagues and partners, but mostly just relaxing at home. I mentioned on Facebook that I loved watching "Mozart in the Jungle", and this week I've finally gotten around to watching "Sherlock", and kicking myself for not watching it sooner.

Anyway, I'll leave this here.

Lots of love,
Annie. 

Tallinn

I have wanted to visit Tallinn for years. When I first lived in Russia 13 or so years ago, I was told by numerous people that Tallinn (and Estonia) was the most beautiful of the three Baltic capitals, and I'd have to say now that I agree.

Old Town in Riga is basically just a section of the city with older buildings and cobblestoned streets, but in Tallinn, there's actually a wall around a large chunk of it (kind of like a kremlin, I suppose). And it felt more ancient, as well. The apartment we stayed in almost felt like it was a medieval building converted for modern use. We also had fresh snow there, and again it was freezing (-15C before including the windchill factor). We only ventured from Old Town once, to eat at Estonian Lido (not as good as the original in Latvia, but we were much wiser this time round), so I can't speak for the rest of the city, but Old Town is very tourist-oriented along with housing the government building and numerous embassies. It seems that Estonians have wool, felt, linen, amber and wood products. Vlada and I went a little crazy after discovering the knitted Moomin scarves and mittens, but didn't end up getting any. It was a very pretty town, but it was so cold out (and Vlada's knee was really painful by this stage as soon as it hit the cold) so we stayed in a lot more in restaurants (blinchiki!!!) and museums.

Idyot Sneg! (Russian for "It's snowing!" - one of my favourite sentences in this language)
Also, I had an absolute blast travelling with these two.
I realised that I don't think I've spent this much time with Pete in one place since he finished school. 

Also, my favourite part was that our apartment had a sauna. It meant that I've been able to finish the holiday on a very relaxed note, and am as ready as I can be to head back into the chaos that is work at the moment.

Moomin knitwear for kids! 

(I've written the bulk of all these posts during a 10-hour layover at the airport in Moscow, with the plan to add photos as I download them from my camera. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was really happy to escape Kazakhstan for a while, and to be honest, there were a few moments in the first half of the trip when the thought of going back in 2-3 weeks' time was putting a dampener on the actual holiday. I'm definitely more at peace about returning now, but I'm still not thrilled about the prospect. There were some actions and decisions made by certain people/departments that a number of us were unhappy about, including one of my favourite colleagues being fired two days before the end of term. In addition to that, I found out from another friend on staff that I had offended most of my department after one person read and shared a joke/comment on Instagram about my being excited about returning to "civilisation, aka a place where non-dairy milks are an option". And it's not the first time my Aussie humour/sarcasm has been taken literally. So basically, there have been a ton of small things that on their own would have been fine, but when they add up together, it becomes a bit overwhelming, depressing and frustrating when living and working there.)

Riga

This is one of the few cities I've ever revisited in all my years of travel, so it was pretty cool. (And, apart from moving to Moscow to live, Riga was the first international city I ever visited.)

We had rented an apartment in Old Town, which turned out to be about 100m from the main shopping centre. That was handy, as we had gone from Berlin with no snow, to SNOW! EVERYWHERE! in Riga, and Vlada's shoes weren't up to the task of surviving the ice, especially with her knee post-surgery. After getting her new shoes, we headed off to Lido, based on the recommendation of a Latvian friend and my fuzzy memories of the place.

What is Lido? you ask. "Is it like Sizzler?" asked Peter and Vlada. Well, yes, if Sizzler charged per dish (rather than a buffet) and is on steroids with all the wonderful Russian/Baltic dishes you can think of (at least 180 to choose from) and has been attacked by Christmas decorations and probably has mini-golf outside during the summer. We spent about 15 euros each, including drinks, and had So. Much. Food. It was fun for me watching Vlada get excited about seeing all these dishes that she grew up with (Herring under fur coat! Blinchiki!) and both of us introducing Pete to the wonder that is Russian cuisine.

Excited for food! (And snow...)

The following morning I took some time out and had my hair done at an eco spa. The Baltics have so many natural/organic cosmetics and skincare lines, it's fabulous. Otherwise we just wandered around and overate yet again.

Sunrise while walking to my hair appointment. 

Apart from two days in Vilnius in August a few years ago, I've only ever visited the Baltics during winter, but I absolutely love that region. Yet another place I want to live at some time! 

Berlin

The part of the trip everything else had to revolve around. Kinda. Like I said in my first post in this series, I decided to travel across Europe during my winter break because Pete and Vlada were coming across to visit her family in St. Petersburg. Because it's rather expensive to fly directly to St. Pete's, Vlada had decided to first go to Berlin, then travel through some of the Baltics before heading across to Russia, and I was up for that, so decided to join them. We left Pete out of most of the planning because of course. (This is a guy whose sisters remind him of any birthdays in the family: Pete, it's Mum's/Dad's/Scott's/Grandma's/etc. birthday today... and here is the number in case you forgot/lost it.) But the itinerary was pretty much what they had organised, which turned out quite nicely. I had assumed that Vlada had been to these places before, but apparently she hadn't. Pete had spent a grand total of about 15 hours in Berlin on a band tour a year or so ago, and I'd visited Riga 13 years ago.

I honestly spent a lot more time in Berlin just relaxing in the Airbnb apartment we'd rented, because I hadn't had any proper down time in the entire trip thus far, so it was nice to be able to do that. Pete and Vlada therefore saw a few more places than I did, but I was cool with that.

I saw: Holocaust Memorial.

This is what you see when you approach the memorial from the street. I was not expecting...

... this. We didn't want to take any selfies or anything at the memorial, but I did get this photo of Pete, who's 6'3" or something, just to give some perspective to how "deep" it gets.

Checkpoint Charlie.

Well placed there, McDonald's. Well placed.

Eastside Gallery (a part of the Berlin Wall that has been converted into an outdoor gallery. A large chunk of it has been graffitied, hence the fences. Most pictures have something to do with the division of Berlin, the Cold War or the reunification.)

New Year's Eve involved buying and setting off our own fireworks, but we didn't go into the city centre because the other two were still very jet lagged and none of us felt like dealing with the crowds.

I also spent a day shopping, and another at church. This was probably one of my favourite days of the whole trip. I have made a few new friends, and moving to Berlin in the future is an attractive idea now.