Days 211 to 220

Finally got back to NU and back to work. The holiday is certainly disruptive to the pace of life, so whilst we had set things in motion before the break we were assuming that it would mostly be resolved by the time we returned. So we are still waiting for certain claims to be reimbursed, which is over 2 months of waiting and talking and waiting some more. Things have progressed that one of managers has now sent it to the Kazakhstani’s version of the President of the university, the one has the actual power (rather than sending it to the President of NU or the Provost), called Maxat Mamashev. So we must wait even longer. The only thing I can say is that at least we did not have to worry about the claims sat on a credit card, but would be extremely frustrating had we been unable to clear the debt ourselves. It is a disastrous state of affairs for NU and yet they do not see it, or do not care or simply will not or cannot do anything about it. The one thing you need is expatriate staff to help develop and stabilise the university before its handover. In order to achieve that you need to ensure your employees are happy (generally speaking). Giving them the run around over finance issues and arguing over interpretations of the wording in the contract is not. Then having such a poor response to the hot water being turned off for 3.5 weeks is a killer.

Various people and the faculty senate raised this issue through the chain of command. The faculty senate was able to go straight to the Executive Vice President Maxat who in essence said that’s life and you’ll go through it for the good of the university. You can imagine how well this went down with the expats. Eventually, NU did come up with some ideas of what to do. Faculty staff could take a bus, at a discounted price, to a banya (sauna), at a discounted price, twice a week. Families tried to point out that this was utter ridiculous and all communication went quiet. About a week into the hot water switch off, they finally install some hot water heaters into the gym showers in our block, but didn’t tell anyone. It had to circulate by word of mouth, until someone told them that an email with information would be a good idea. During this time we were trying to fill baths for the children using a kettle. After 15 loads, the electrics blew accompanied by the smell of burning plastic. We went on to a combination of kettles and pans of water on the stove. It wasn’t that bad, but the poor response by the university senior managers was. Again, they fail to see the link between an academics personal life and their work life, given that the academic is (more often than not) living on campus and subject to the decisions and infrastructure that the university has decreed. Think Ali was somewhat frustrated too by going to use the hot shower in the gym just when they turned off that hot water too. Turns out that the engineering company effecting repairs had turned the hot water back on to our block, but again no-one told us.

A few cold showers during the Summer were not a problem for me after some cycles. But feeling very run down and feeling a lot of pain from my right hip. Possibly early onset of arthritis. So the running has ebbed to a few short sprints and the attempt to run the marathon distance has become a dream. Thinking that the hot weather is a little too oppressive as even getting up for a 6am cycle is taxing my body.

I am now gearing up for the beginning of the academic year and all the modules I thought I had are now changed for the undergraduate programme. I am coordinating chemistry for chemical engineers, but another department is actually doing the work. The thermodynamics I was going to help had been given to another entirely. And the PhD lectures have not been timetabled so I cannot even begin to prepare anything. The stress comes in two parts. The first is lack of real leadership within our department as it feels more like trying to carve out a day-to-day routine to cover what is necessary. The second is that we are understaffed and having to do everything that needs doing, but having to wait to the last minute because we do not know who will come back from the break. For our department all have come back that we were expecting, but the grumbling has escalated. I also heard from the grapevine that our Dean is going to replace the Head of our department, but no-one else was told who.

Was going to take Friday morning off, in lieu of having to work a number of Saturday mornings, and was going to go swimming, but my Dean asked me to go along to a Strategic Research meeting with the Vice-Provost, which actually held a smidgen of potential for the future. But I do not want to get over-excited.

Ali and children were really jet-lagged and this lasted for some time until Ali felt keen enough to get up and start schooling. Children have been non-responsive before 11am most days. Cannot say I blame them. I have dragged them away from their friends and family. They had a great Summer break and now back to Kazakhstan. Was very concerned, but Rebekah found her friends, Matthias had his Lego and Kyria was her usual easy-go-happy self. So that just leaves Ali with the kids 24-7 until we can get a babysitter. Have been trying to soften the blow and took them all to a restaurant called Ali Babas where the theme is Arabian including all the staff costumes. The food was really good, there was a play area for the kids and the menu was in Chicken. Or what I meant to say was in English, but the heat got to me, so I squawked like a chicken for a few minutes until the waitress took our order.

The other bribe or treat I should say, for keeping my family in Astana is a regular trip to find some DVDs. If you were ever wondering the power of branding, then look at this photo. The titles are in Russian and yet you wont need to know any Cyrillic letters to know what these movies are. You can tell from the style and colour of the lettering.