Day 37

Rough night with Rebekah having woken up with a nosebleed. We sent her back to bed as there was only a little blood. She then woke up again with more of a nosebleed, so we kept her in with us, after Ali had managed to calm her down. So the day for both of us was a little hard going. Did some research on how to deal with this dry climate and ran “saline nasal spray for children” through Google translator. Ali managed to get this from the pharmacy, although was interrogated about children’s ages and whether she had used it before. Bearing in mind the pharmacist only spoke Russian, Ali thinks that was she was trying to say. Anyway, tomorrow is humidifier buying day. And of course the compulsory burger and chocolate milkshake.

Finally making some headway of the PhD development in Advanced Materials, but essentially we can only run 6 months of intensive lectures and exams for PhD students, but at the moment have to send them away to do all their experimental work. There is too much risk associated with the opening of the new research centre, which is planned for middle of 2015. But given that the new student accommodation was promised each and every month to be opened since middle of last year and we are still in Riverside, I cannot see the research building opening before September 2016. Then of course is the commissioning of equipment; assuming that we can afford to purchase any equipment.

Had a nice evening out with some work colleagues; Ali did have her evening out last night. But alas there is still a lot of talk about the devaluation of the tenge and because a wife of a colleague is leaving tomorrow, we wanted to find out her impressions of Astana and NU. Alas, it was not that positive. For all the glossy promises of attractive salaries and benefits, there’s too many things that have gone wrong or have not been delivered upon, making this a harsh wakeup call. It is still a welcome respite from Brighton, but the lack of security and the now not-extremely-competitive salaries are a consternation (more of the former than the latter). The tenge continues to slide and there is still little communication filtering through the NU system. The baine of a new university. We must deliver everything from nothing. Ex nihilo education.

Looking forward to spending some quality time with Ali and the children over the weekend. This experience has still afforded time to spend together without so many of the distractions back home; as nice as they were.

Ray

Almost a holiday day today. No school except for a quick spelling test as I realised schools back home are all on half term next week. I'm sure we have a little catching up to do as we started a week later so we won't take a holiday until the weather is slightly better. But we gave ourselves a long weekend. Loving the flexibility!

 

To recover from a broken night of nosebleeds (out poor girls are suffering) we gave ourselves a slow start and then visited an international toddler group. Meeting in an apartment it's a little different from our Focus and Vicky bees but lovely nonetheless and a chance for Kyria to play and get more attention for a change. The older children behave great and take books to read or enjoy playing with younger toys for a change! Today they were teaching some little ones origami. We then went on to our homeschooling friends Olivia and Noah for a fun making of our very own marble run and a teddy bears picnic (indoors of course!).

The afternoon was finished off with a fabulous showing of Mary Poppins and then a relaxed evening babysitting for me while Ray spent Valentines eve with friends... I'm still impressed by my surprise non-valentines massage yesterday!

Ali