No word on a contract yet where I am. Most people expect to leave without a contract in hand. People have been given basic offer letters ("Hi! We'd like you to come back!") but no information on changes made to the contract, if any. It should be noted that last year, HR made a big about how they were "working on improving the contract" only to turn around and give us a document virtually identical to the year before. That might actually be better than a new contract, given that changes are generally not made for the worker's benefit. In theory, NIS can't ditch the visa stuff since they're required to do the lion's share of the work for people to even be able to get a visa in the first place. Eliminating flights would essentially kill the project--nobody's going to spend several thousand dollars of their own money to come to Kazakhstan. Working out transport to the regional areas basically requires a local to suss out and smooth things over.

When it comes down to actually honoring the current contract, Astana HR has taken a hands off approach this year and shunted everything down to the schools. Some get all 56 days of leave, no questions asked. Others get 46, thanks to some... interesting math. Labour law is a bit dodgy on the issue of vacation time; monthly leave calculations CAN be used but it's up to the discretion of the employer whether to use them or not. Given the style of management, this means things don't always end well when contractual issues come to a head. I know of one team leader being ousted by a school director for making a fuss over the contract and I've heard rumors of a second, more recent departure.

Will I come back next year? Who knows. Money's good, even if you don't get all of it, but it's a dull, dreary work environment. Privacy is an issue, inside and outside of school, for sure. We stand out in town and we're definitely being monitored. One of the reviews mentions emails being hacked by the school--I have trouble believing that completely, but a local colleague warned me that emails sent over the school network can be intercepted. Translated? That's an entirely different topic. Teachers' behavior outside of school has been reported back to administrators. Nobody behaves badly while on the town, but I don't like the idea of my "boss" knowing what I ordered at a restaurant and how many beers I had to wash the grease down.

Prospects aren't necessarily good for recruitment. Consider that last year, NIS had something like 34 or 35 international staff nationwide, and basically nothing came up when you searched for the school online. Now, with nearly 200 around the country, there's a lot more info and a lot of it isn't good. Management definitely reads this page--lots of hubbub over the negative reviews way back in the beginning of the year--but they don't understand how it could impact their efforts to bring in new staff.

Work day is from Monday to Friday for international staff. Days are long, typically coming in before 8 and leaving after 5. Workload is variable, anywhere between 10 and 20 lessons per week. I've even heard as low as 8 in some schools and subjects. The schools are open on Saturday for students and local staff--not sure if the Saturday schedule is the same across every school, but our students are here for most of the day.

Public transportation is available, and it's very, very cheap, but it's also crowded and seemingly random. An hour might pass with no bus or minivan, only to have three show up one after another. Gypsy taxis (essentially hitchhiking) are one of the main modes of transport, but they cost significantly more. Be prepared to haggle, particularly in the larger towns and cities.

Apartments really run the gamut--some are really, really nice and others are basically squalid. The school is reluctant to help teachers move for a range of reasons, not all of them good. Internet can be iffy, but mine has always been ok. Wired, and nowhere near as fast as you might expect, but certainly serviceable for Skype and streaming video. Avoid internet cafes, as they're mostly filled with prepubescent boys playing shooting games.

The reviews on ISR give a pretty balanced appraisal--both positive and negative.

All heating is central--the city turns it on mid-October and off in April. Depending on the kind of radiator you have in your flat, you may or may not have any control over it whatsoever. I typically cooked with my window open and occasionally slept with it open, too.

If you know for sure that you're going, start some Russian now (and the Kazakh niceties as well). Depending on where you live, you'll get most stuff from small shops where things may or may not be labelled and English is more or less non-existent. You'll see some imported stuff in the big supermarkets, but you'll also pay a premium.

I suppose there are some things for kids to do, even in the winter. There are lots and lots of big malls, some of them with play areas. It's highly likely you'll get a lot of stares and blank looks, but there are some friendly folks around, too. Outside of my colleagues and a handful of embassy people, I didn't really encounter much of an expat "scene." What I did find was typically well out of my age and price range. If your kids get tuition at Miras that's probably a pretty good deal and you'll meet a bunch of expat teachers and parents as well.

No idea what banking would be like with Miras, but the general picture isn't great. There are often large charges for using another bank's ATM (I'm talking in the neighborhood of 2500-5000 tenge, which is 15-35 USD). Online banking in a lot of banks basically doesn't exist and you'd likely have to make transfers in person. I understand that HSBC is pretty good, but if you get one of the national banks (Halyk, Kazkom, etc) they really don't measure up.

Astana is COLD. Snow comes in October and doesn't leave until early April. The wind is pretty bad, too.

Astana is also pretty expensive, compared to the rest of Kazakhstan (except Almaty). Lots of big empty shopping malls on the left side of the river, but the right side has a livelier atmosphere. You will definitely pay the "foreigner tax" when you buy something that doesn't have a price sticker on it. Taxis will also cost you more.

Don't know a whole lot about Miras, as I never met anyone who worked there. I heard both good and bad things here and there.

Yup, that sounds about right. The folks doing the interviews are totally unscrupulous--they'll tell you anything. The worst I've heard is them telling someone there's twelve weeks of paid vacation--ain't even REMOTELY close to the truth.

Sorry to hear that yet another person has resigned. Not the first, not the last.

Yeah, expect visa problems. Between the managing company that oversees all the schools and KZ's ministry of foreign affairs, there's plenty of ways things could go wrong.

You'll probably have to make a fuss to get it done. That's basically how things work here.

All of the schools and all of the locations have their issues, but I believe everyone in Semey is renewing their contract for the next year. Like the rest of the regional areas, it is a bit remote--trains take forever and flights are rare. I would ask for clarification about the clearance they want, since I can't say for sure either.

As for tickets, you buy it and then they reimburse you. Most of our reimbursements have been fairly quick, but you won't have a local bank account when you arrive and it takes time to set those up (lots of paperwork, then waiting for your actual bank card to get sent from Almaty... then more paperwork, etc). So you'll be waiting until September to get reimbursed for the flight, I'd bet. Money will be tight for the first month, unless you have some savings. They had big problems with that last year, so we're hoping that management has learned from the experience. On the plus side, cost of living is rather low by western standards, so you can get by rather comfortably without much money.

If the price is too much, try leaving from a different airport or getting a ticket for a day earlier or later, if possible. We've all seen some huge price drops and increases depending on when you leave and where.

As someone who currently works for one of the NIS schools, I can tell you that the offer looks GREAT, but you'll quickly find out that it's not what it seems. Everything is open for interpretation, and yours is not the one that matters. Whatever is "good" for the managing company will win the day, regardless of your contract, offer letter, or even the country's labor code. If you are able, I would suggest you get a Russian speaker to look over your contract before signing, since the Russian version prevails and there are numerous discrepancies between the Russian and English texts. After a year of working, we still don't have answers for questions we've brought up repeatedly throughout the year, and we've heard that teachers around the country are changing schools or moving on completely.

Still, even with all the broken promises it IS a very high-paying job and a work in progress. Be ready to fly by the seat of your pants.