love to hear peoples thoughts and information about this place.
seems to have good schools, ok pay, but there is so little information about life as an expat there.
could you live long term?
im a single guy, no dependants, no debt, just want to save, travel, and become a better teacher while working in a good school
thanks in advance.
Almaty Kazakstan?
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jimmycajun
- Posts: 23
- Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:56 am
Re: Almaty Kazakstan?
Almaty is a decent city to live in for an expat, and the most convenient in the country. Big mountains at its doorstep, Shymbulak ski resort, ample hiking opportunities within a couple hours of town, safe, and plenty of Western comforts. Air quality can get a little sketchy, especially in the winter as most houses use coal. The tenge has taken a nose dive over the last 6 months and has lost almost 40% of its value due to the oil crisis but hasn't affected the prices much, except imports. If the school pays you in the USD equivalent (which most do I think), the fluctuation shouldnt be an issue. Could you live there long term? Depends how much you're into the culture. It is a city that is trying to Westernize slowly but is still very Soviet. In terms of becoming a better teacher, you would have to choose your school carefully as some aren't conducive to that aspect of education. Good place to save money if youre a responsible spender. Easy to travel to other Central Asian countries for relatively low cost.
Re: Almaty Kazakstan?
@psyguy: Dave, after 472 repetitions, your racist aversion to countries ending in "stan" is duly noted. Do you have anything to share about places that end in "wan" or "ung"?
Comment
@Walter
Its not racist when its true (even if it is racist, when race is a valid predictor the label becomes irrelevant). It is irresponsible to ignore data.
I find it difficult to believe its 472, but given that you appear to have spent the time and resources in quantifying them, I will accept that number without further citation.
Its not racist when its true (even if it is racist, when race is a valid predictor the label becomes irrelevant). It is irresponsible to ignore data.
I find it difficult to believe its 472, but given that you appear to have spent the time and resources in quantifying them, I will accept that number without further citation.
Re: Almaty Kazakstan?
Kazakhstan is a place I know a little more about than most. Kazakhstan is quite western and much more affluent than all of the countries around it. This is mainly due to it's resources sector but the government is feeling the pinch thus the drop in the Tenge a couple of months ago. It was becoming too expensive to keep pegging the tenge at the previous level specifically with the depreciation of the rouble.
Almaty is a nice city and I could easily live there. There is skiing and it gets cold but not too cold compared to the rest of the country. It's not a huge city and there is an interesting Kazakh/Russian mix in the population. Yes the country is classed as muslim but you would not really know it apart from Kazakh New Year. Pork can be easily purchased in the supermarkets and even in many restaurants.
Kazakh food is a little meh - but there are plenty of nice restaurants in Almaty. I suggest trying Georgian food - or better still if you move there travel to Georgia for a holiday. That's a hidden gem - but I would not want to live in Tbilisi.
Some problems with living in Almaty is even though it's a nice city, there is not heaps to do there and English is not used much. Unlike other countries in the region- ATM cards (including overseas card) do work here and there is a good 4G mobile phone network. But back to the weaknesses - there is not a lot to do in Almaty itself. You can get most of what you need - but you will need to travel around a bit to get it. Also oddly bedding and bath towels are prohibitively expensive which is strange.
Day to day costs are low if your apartment and amenities are included. There are a couple of nice historic towns close by such as Shymnkent and Turkistan but if you go North everything is flat - and I mean flat.
The country is what I would call a mainly benevolent dictatorship - slowing moving towards semi-democracy. Others will have other opinions. When I was there - I did not find any problems with accessing overseas websites such as what you might find in China or Vietnam.
There are however a dearth of international schools in the whole country - including Almaty which I consider to be the economic capital of the country (plus it has a real history compared to Astana which used to be a cow town called Melinovka). On a funny side note - Astana in Kazakh means "Capital". As there are not many international schools in Almaty or the whole country, there are reasonable schools but nothing that I'd consider amazing. Read the paid section as I don't want to paint a too broad brush. Just read between the lines on this one.
To put it simple - I'd live in Almaty but I'm not sure I'd find a school which I would be very happy working for (but every person is different).
Almaty is a nice city and I could easily live there. There is skiing and it gets cold but not too cold compared to the rest of the country. It's not a huge city and there is an interesting Kazakh/Russian mix in the population. Yes the country is classed as muslim but you would not really know it apart from Kazakh New Year. Pork can be easily purchased in the supermarkets and even in many restaurants.
Kazakh food is a little meh - but there are plenty of nice restaurants in Almaty. I suggest trying Georgian food - or better still if you move there travel to Georgia for a holiday. That's a hidden gem - but I would not want to live in Tbilisi.
Some problems with living in Almaty is even though it's a nice city, there is not heaps to do there and English is not used much. Unlike other countries in the region- ATM cards (including overseas card) do work here and there is a good 4G mobile phone network. But back to the weaknesses - there is not a lot to do in Almaty itself. You can get most of what you need - but you will need to travel around a bit to get it. Also oddly bedding and bath towels are prohibitively expensive which is strange.
Day to day costs are low if your apartment and amenities are included. There are a couple of nice historic towns close by such as Shymnkent and Turkistan but if you go North everything is flat - and I mean flat.
The country is what I would call a mainly benevolent dictatorship - slowing moving towards semi-democracy. Others will have other opinions. When I was there - I did not find any problems with accessing overseas websites such as what you might find in China or Vietnam.
There are however a dearth of international schools in the whole country - including Almaty which I consider to be the economic capital of the country (plus it has a real history compared to Astana which used to be a cow town called Melinovka). On a funny side note - Astana in Kazakh means "Capital". As there are not many international schools in Almaty or the whole country, there are reasonable schools but nothing that I'd consider amazing. Read the paid section as I don't want to paint a too broad brush. Just read between the lines on this one.
To put it simple - I'd live in Almaty but I'm not sure I'd find a school which I would be very happy working for (but every person is different).