Kazakhstan - NOT Borat Land

By Chris Merriman

SUMMARY: An article on how life really is in Kazakhstan, from the point of view of a Westerner who moved here in 2006. Ideal for those wanting to learn more, for either an upcoming holiday/vacation or purely for educational purposes.

I have written this article to help people who want to learn more about Kazakhstan. Whilst the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was funny, it did not paint anything like an accurate picture of this country. Some people want to learn more about Kazakhstan purely for their own education, others may be thinking of taking a vacation here. I moved to from Britain to Kazakhstan in April 2006, to Astana, where my wife's parents live. Since then, I've learnt a lot, and seen many of my mis-conceptions blown away.

Things that may grab your attention whilst you’re over here:

Men nearly always shake hands upon meeting one another, even more so if it is the first time you’ve met. Women don’t. If they are family, there may be a peck on the cheek, or a quick embrace. This area is still a little fuzzy to me, so I just stand back and accept whatever comes my way :>

If someone thinks you look a little different to the accepted norm for a Russian or Kazakh person, they will simply stare at you. This shouldn’t be taken as an insult (or an invitation to get to know one another ;>). It is just if they want to get a good look, they won’t be subtle.
People have different coping mechanisms for this behavioural trait. Some avert their eyes, others pretend not to notice. Still others will decide to turn it into a juvenile game. Whoever breaks the stare first loses, and you can keep a tally through the whole day you are out. Once you are up at the end of a day (18-3 for example), you can assume you’re no longer feeling like such a wimpy foreigner. Ummm, or so my friends tell me ;>

Whilst we may all joke about British manners and overly polite social standards, standing in line for something over here is an experience you’re not likely to forget very quickly. You’ll also be likely to quickly re-appraise your understanding of the term 'line' or 'queue'. People will have no shame, nor should you, about pushing their way to the front of what could have been a perfectly civil and organized wait for the bus/ticket desk/shop assistant/train.
I still draw the line at elderly/young people, other than that, its every queue jumper for themselves, ultimately. (This does tend to mean most elderly/young people get served/on the bus before me, but I have this thing against trampling over brittle bones/people smaller than me.)

Upon arrival/exiting the country, be it 8.30pm, 3.45am or 3pm, you’ll likely find yourselves being greeted with a small (OK, more likely a table laden with more stuff than you’d normally see for a ‘light’ meal) snack and some drinks, to celebrate your arrival/time in the country, if you are staying with people, rather than a hotel.
You might not feel exactly like wolfing the whole lot down, but if you take your time, with the food and the drink, you should do fine. DON’T feel obliged to down shots of Cognac/Vodka each toast. Unless that’s your adjusting mechanism to the flights & time difference ;>

Bureaucracy - if you are on holiday, rather than emigrating, coming into and out of the country is the most likely area you’ll possibly encounter any problems. To be fair, we’ve not been stopped in a couple of years, but if they decide you look like a likely person to have violated a rule, there isn’t a great deal you can do about it. Coming into the country, they can decide not to let you in at all, and worse, leaving the country, they are only too well aware that you need to be available to get on a plane pretty soon.

Once you arrive in the country, you will need to register your presence, within 3 or 4 business days. There is nothing to worry about regarding this procedure; it is just so they can know who is officially registered where. Whilst this country is a lot ‘freer’ than it may have seemed to Westerners 15 or 20 years ago, you will have to remember that the approach taken by the government over here to maintain control of the population is not how we view ‘best practice’ in the West. Tough luck, their country, their rules, which, all in all, seems fair, if the roles were reversed, we’d not expect people to complain too excessively about our customs/social rules/laws.

Re. CDs/DVDs vs. portable hard drive. I’ve read around, and people have less difficulty taking hard drives out of the country than lots of discs, apparently. I couldn’t find any info on importing. Personally, I’ve never had a problem in either direction. There is apparently a rule, on your way out of the country, that if Customs discover discs in your luggage, they must have been previously inspected and sealed by a dept. elsewhere in Astana. You’ll need to do this four or five days before the flight. Some people stock up on cheap Software, Music and other media, though don't forget your home country may not allow you to keep these items if they search your luggage on your return.

When in the country, you will see some people walking around in army camo fatigues, most of these people are manual labourers, who use them as hard-wearing clothes to work in. If, however, you see a group of 2-6 young men wandering in ‘urban’ colour camos (blue/purple), these are some sort of street patrollers. No idea on their legal/military/civilian status, I just make sure I’m not littering/jay-walking when I see them around :>

Then you have the regular police force, who you will see in cars (often using their PA systems as public education systems (’Drivers! Do not park here’ or ‘Move out the way NOW’)), on foot, or in little kiosks at key strategic civic points. The worst you can expect from them is a request to see your ID and/or passport.

There is also a traffic police force, who occasionally turn off the traffic lights, and get out their little wands to manually direct the traffic. Unless you intend to drive over here (don’t forget to apply for an International Driving License in the UK, if so), you can safely ignore them.
Finally, you’ll occasionally see the Army guys marching round in unison, but they seem to stay off the streets for the majority of the time.

“So how much money should I bring?”

Well, not sure on total, but if I give you an idea of how much stuff costs here, you’ll be better informed to guess a holiday total I suppose... (All prices are approximate and sampled in Early 2007)

20 fags (Parliament) - $1.50

20 fags (Marlboro) - $1.00

20 fags (Russian smokable stuff) - $0.40

Bottle of coke in a shop - $0.50

Bottle of vodka in a shop - $1.60 to $8, depending on the brand (from drinkable to nice & smooth), whilst you can pay more, what’s the point?

Bottle of beer in a shop - $0.45 to $1.60 (Russian to European brands)

In a restaurant/cafe, fags, coke and beer maybe double the price, or there abouts, vodka costs approximately $4 for 200ml

PC Games/Applications/MP3 collections - $4 to $10, depending on the amount of discs in the box, and how obvious the copy is! Music CDs - About the same as American prices, normally

Taxi ride (real taxi) - $3 to $6 pounds for a 15 minute ride
Taxi ride (flagging down a random car off the street) - haggle on the price, normally around 30% to 60% cheaper than a real taxi

Meal in a cafe (salad, meat dish, french fries, coke, vodka) - Between $8 and $15 per person, depending on the type of place you go to

Meal in a restaurant (same menu as above) - Between $12 and $30 pounds tops, per person. Again, you can spend more if you go high class

Obviously, if you want to get drunk, rather than merely relaxed, add more money for the extra vodka/soft drink/beer in the prices quoted above

Entrance fee to a club - $5 to $20 - basically, the more ‘exclusive’ an activity or brand is, the higher the price soars, prices for drinks in clubs are a little higher than elsewhere.

Kazakhstan is next door to China, so disposable electronic trinkets, that might last 5 years, or 5 days, are to be found in plenty of shops.
If you want any ‘Kazakh’ souvenirs - cultural stuff, definitely bring along a little bit extra cash.

Re. Money - bring at least 100 euros or a little more in dollars, the rest is up to you - there are ATMs over here (don’t forget to budget for bank's commission/charges for this service), and there are at least two places that we know of that will exchange English pounds sterling for Kazakh Tenge, and all currency exchanges obviously accept dollars.

The Marvel of Space Flight! A Visit to the Kennedy Space Center

By Gordon Ficke

SUMMARY: A visit to Florida would not be complete without visiting the Kennedy Space Center. This is where the North American space program began and continues today. Visitors will be amazed at the history made here and wowed at the development of the technology that put man into space, to the moon and learn more about our vast universe. This is a must see attraction!

Amid the turmoil of the turbulent 1960's, one of the most exciting and positive events I fondly remember was watching the live early morning rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. Huddled around our livingroom, our family's eyes were glued to the black and white Philco television set, in breathtaking silence as the rocket boosters spewed copious clouds of white smoke that engulfed the launch pad, before the Saturn V rocket finally lifted off the pad and into space. Those early years of the space race were heady ones, filled with exuberance and a hope for a bright tomorrow. The future of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space program promised to free mankind from the confines of our troubled planet earth, once and for all.

A visit to Florida wouldn't be complete if it didn't include a visit to to Merritt Island and the home of the John F. Kennedy Space Center. This historical island, about six times the size of Manhattan, encompasses 140,000 acres, bordered by the Intra-Coastal Waterway on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. It is home to NASA, where space technology integrates with the surrounding wildlife habitat.

Parking is free at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and I chose the standard ticket (currently $38.00 for adults and $28.00 for children 3 - 11 years old) that included the bus tour that runs throughout the day.

I first checked out the Rocket Garden with examples of early Redstone rockets, propulsion systems, guidance systems and technology as new discoveries advanced NASA's scientists to develop tools and equipment to enable astronauts to probe further and for longer periods of time into the new frontier of space.

After that I boarded one of the sleek tour buses and watched a video monitor as the tour guide gave us instructions as to when to watch and when to look out the bus window. The retired gentleman at the wheel also pointed out interesting things to us as we traveled through the natural reserve. We passed by a lazy alligator languishing in a drainage ditch.

Once our bus neared the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), which is the second largest building in the world per volume, the driver pointed out the enormous specialty crawler that transports the space shuttle and rocket to the launch pad. At one mile per hour, it creeps along on a unique gravel road bed designed to bear the combined earth crunching weight of the crawler and orbiter.

"I wonder what's going on here," remarked the bus driver as we observed employees gathered in groups sitting along the roadway. "I've never seen this before," he remarked with a note of concern in his voice. "Something must have happened." We discovered later that there had been a small fire inside the VAB and everyone was evacuated.

Our first stop was in front of the LC-39 Observation Gantry. The second floor vantage point allowed us panoramic views of the two space shuttle pads 39A and 39B. They were still quite a distance away, for safety's sake, separated by indigenous forest. The gantry also offered a bird's eye view of the VAB and Crawlerway. Once on the main floor, I joined others for a historical video about the Kennedy Space Center.

I hopped on another bus that took me along with a group of young students to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. It was here that the 'wow factor' came into play. Seeing the awesomely huge Saturn V rocket, even measured by today's advanced technology, is still the most complex device made by man! It dwarfed anything man made that I had ever encountered. Simply amazing! This completely restored example was first shown to the public in 1995. A model of the Lunar Rover is also on display here.

The doors opened to the adjacent room and there before us was the actual Apollo 11 Control Center, with details like tee shirts and jackets draped over the chairs, from the various contractors and suppliers like Boeing, IBM, etc. right to the same white ceramic tiles on the floor. Everyone was in reverent silence as the soundtrack played synchronizing with a colored light display that lit the affected command center areas, realistically depicting the events that took place that July day in 1969 when that historic launch that propelled Apollo 11 to the moon. That world landmark event that would result in the first men to walk on the surface of the moon. It was the fulfillment of the daunting promise of President John Kennedy to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The vivid memory of that hot July day when Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the lunar module onto the soft blanket of fine dust of the moon's surface is permanently etched in the memory banks of my mind.

Snapping back to reality, our tour group shuffled our way to the theater. In the comfort of those cozy seats we saw historical footage and heard comments from the key players during that exciting era. We heard first hand about the challenges NASA had to overcome in order to land the drifting lunar module safely onto the surface of the moon. A landing spot they hadn't planned on touching down. Now that was a landing by the seat of your pants!

After the educational show I checked out the various displays such as the Lunar Rover, space capsule, astronaut suit, etc., before catching the bus back to the Visitor Complex. Little time remained before the center would close, so I rushed to the mock up Explorer space shuttle. I examined the huge cargo bay tht could easily hold a greyhound bus. The ubiquitous Canadarm, Canada's valuable contribution to the space program was prominently attached to the side of the cargo bay. The storage area and pilot's cockpit were a huge leap forward from the cramped quarters of the capsules of the '60's.

The sun was beginning to set below the Floridian horizon and I made a few purchases of souvenirs and trinkets before leaving.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to see the I-Max movies or some of the other interesting exhibits. That will have to be left for another visit, hopefully in the not too distant future. My experience at the Kennedy Space Center was amazing. I had accomplished my childhood goal and really helped me appreciate those pioneers who contributed to the North American space program, as well as give me an insight for those dedicated individuals who work here today. They are at the forefront of the next exciting era of space travel and exploration.

The Kennedy Space Center is located 45 minutes east of Orlando and is open every day, except Christmas and certain launch days. For the true space enthusiast there is an interactive full-day experience that puts your skills to the test to see if you have 'the right stuff' to be an astronaut.