In a couple of days I will be in Astana, Kazakhstan. Astana is the coldest capital in the world. My weather widget says it is 16 degrees there now at about 12:30am. Although it is spring like in Spokane, it is still winter on the other side of the world. I will be teaching 3rd grade instead of Kindergarten. I'm happy for that! The school is Quality Schools International. Most of the students are children of oil workers, so they speak English. All instruction is in English. I will be living in an apartment with another teacher, who is retiring. QSI is in 27 different countries, so I hope to be able to transfer to another country one day.
Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, was once part of the Soviet Union. The president was the head of the Kazakh Communist Party at that time. When Kazakhstan became an independent republic, they wrote a new constitution which allowed the president to serve two 5 year terms. Nazarbayev changed the constitution and has been "democratically" elected since 1995. The news media is state run. Religiously, 70% of the people identify as moderately Muslim.
I'm looking forward to enjoying this new adventure. I welcome your comments and come visit me!!
