Days 181 to 210

8^th July, I got to head home. After a frantic 45 minutes of trying to find out where the minibus got to, I am safely delivered to the airport. I also had to endure the 10 minute detention at passport control. The officer even left his booth with my passport to talk to someone else. I could not help thinking of another colleague that tried to leave a week ago but his police registration had expired. He was refused entry to the plane and taken to court the next day. He was fined in excess of 30,000 tenge and it took another 6-7 days before he could get his passport back. I think he had this trouble a year ago and seemed pretty chilled about it. The university helpers in the International Affairs and Hiring Office issued several reminders that they are not responsible for checking the validity of the passports, visas and police registration expiry dates. Funny that, because very few can actually read the blooming things let alone understand the rules and regulations of this country. I guess it’s their way of shifting blame.

It the holidays and we’re back in the UK. Greeted by my wife and girls; Matthias had an overnight stay with his grandparents, which he enjoyed immensely as Rebekah had a chance to meet up with a friend and go to her old school in Eastbourne. I had a day to recover and then off to Disneyland Paris. This was the start to a busy holiday.

This blog is supposed to be about Kazkahstan experiences, so will not be writing much during the holidays, but will perhaps cover anything relating to Kazakhstan.

So I managed to embarrass Ali. Not too difficult when she is married to me, you say. How rude! It was on the second day back in the UK and we go to Sainsburys to prepare for the trip to France. It is an amazing experience when you can walk into a supermarket and read everything on the shelves, understand what other customers are saying and the cashier when she asks you questions. Of course I should learn some Russian for our time in Astana. But when I saw Sarsons vinegar, I was very moved. Close to tears. Almost hugged the cashier and gave her a couple of hundred tenge notes I had for her grandchildren.

There’s lots of great things about coming back to the UK. The friends and family we stayed with and met. Those we camped with at New Wine. Those we shared fantastic meals with. But sadly we could not get to see everyone. I was hoping to completely ignore work, but had a few things to attend to at Brighton Uni. The situations there with a whole load of renovation reminded me of what I had just got away from in Astana. There will always be struggles and stress where work is concerned, perhaps that is rooted firmly where money/salary is a necessary part of the job.

I did have to Skype into an interview with a chemical engineering consultant somewhere else in the UK as part of my attempt to apply for Head of Chemical Engineering and for Full Professor. Although my chat with people back in Astana had said that neither was going to be a possibility this year. So spent an hour trying to first explain the situation at NU and then convince him that I was an ideal candidate for the Full Professor position. This sparked emails with the Dean of Chemical Engineering at NU who said that, in discussion with the rest of the Engineering Interview Panel, which comprised the senior figures (Heads of Discipline) in the Engineering School, I needed to improve my research profile and demonstrate my ability to publish and raise money at NU. So they had advised against giving me an interview. So I was shocked that I was asked to Skype in. Perhaps the last 6 months had gotten the better of me, so in response to the Dean I listed all Full Professors in the School (apart from the Dean and Vice Dean) and their H-index (an often overused and not very telling metric for research) and number of publications. And then listed mine. Turns out that I have over twice the number of publications and H-index value than the best performer of the Full Professors currently in post. I also suggested that we could look at the impact factor (another research metric for each journal), over-citations, etc, because I knew I had been successful with this – I am fully aware that some of my contemporaries in the same field of research have developed far better metrics than I, but then there’s a lot of history to unpack, especially regarding which universities they’ve been at, which groups they’ve associated with, etc. I also reminded the Dean that I had been running several research grants successfully and that the ability to perform at NU was part of the job description not the Full Professor application. So far, all communication has gone quiet.

It may sound like I have been moaning and perhaps I have. I think in some respect I talk about it to distress from that situation. However, the event seems to hammer home that NU has a long way to go to get things organised. There appears to be some internal battles going on, between the Schools and the Administrators. I wonder if the sudden Skype interview had something to do with another Full Professor wannabe who happens to be Kazakhstani and I’ve become a pawn in a game of politics. I doubt I will ever know. It underlines the thought that expatriate staff are bought and paid for. We are just window dressing. If we said yes to our current position, why pay us more by giving us a better position. Still, I carry a small amount of hope.

Towards the end of the holiday and worrying about our return to Kazakhstan. This is not helped by emails saying that we will be without hot water for 3.5 weeks and their solution to it is to send us by bus (at our expense, albeit with a discount) to a sauna in the city (at our expense, albeit with a discount), only twice a week. And no mention whether children are allowed. In trying to discuss this with the Managing Council of NU, we are dismissed out of hand and told to face the difficulties for the good of the university. For us old timers at NU (even after 6 months!) this is another drop in the well. Another tale in the saga of life at NU. But for new staff, this will put them on the back foot. I cannot count how many faculty members have all said that they are looking for a job elsewhere.

We got back safely to Astana. We had checked the flight path before boarding. Whilst it goes over Russia, I wonder if Air Astana will be affected by the closure of Russian airspace to EU and US flights (or perhaps it is only the country of the registered owners of the airlines rather than destinations). Our apartment is still here and there is a sense of returning home, despite the lack of hot water. We did blow the electrics trying to fill a bath for the children with a kettle. Now we battle on till Christmas. So much to do. Hopefully it will keep our minds from missing the UK too much. Rebekah was my greatest concern, but she found her friends back here and is happy. Matthias earned enough money to buy his Lego Star Wars Rancor set. Kyria is as she ever was. Ali, I think, misses home. Family, friends, coffee. They’re here in Kazakhstan too, but some will take a bit longer to cultivate.

The most immediate challenge is to get to sleep earlier each night and wake up earlier in the morning. Currently we've got it down from 3am to 1am sleep time, and from noon to 10am waking up time. Jet lag. Such a pain.