Day 57

Ali and I enjoyed our first night out away from the children. Wynter came over to babysit, which was a big hit with our children. And so we walked all of about 30 meters to the nearest cafe/restaurant. This time Segafredo was much quieter and calmer, unlike the birthday party we crashed a few days ago. Much needed time to unwind and reflect on the past 2 months of living in Kazakhstan and trying to plan the future. The staff were polite and full of smiles, although the waiter did not speak English and we were unsure whether we were allowed to order food as he kept trying to go away after we said an item, rather than wait for the whole order.

Coming to Kazakhstan has afforded a wonderful opportunity to spend more time with the children. Cutting out the laborious hour-long trek into work (I know many people would laugh at only having to spend a mere hour getting into work). And being in a place where, despite the seemingly frantic necessity to get things done, one is subjected to a lot of bureaucracy and therefore you have to take things a bit more leisurely.

Of course there are many aspects of the UK we miss. And perhaps when we do come back, we can negotiate greater investment in those bits.

Have heard that Kazakhstan’s President has urged calm over the Crimea crisis. I sense that Kazakhstan would side with Russia, though perhaps not overtly publically. Kazakhstan’s economic ties are too intricate to simply shut the door on Mother Russia, plus their nature is one of hospitality. However, this is a country that has the capacity for self-sustainability with vast reserves to comfortably survive a cold shoulder from Big Brother.

Ray