Thank you for your reply BluesealKZ. Could you reply to me privately? I'm easy enough to contact if you can figure out who or where I am.

[quote]Any comments on the recent ISR review that claims NIS has broken all contracts in violation of both Russian and English versions and that no Summer salaries will be paid?

Any truth to these allegations?[/quote]

Rumours are rife at the moment. People are leaving for holidays or for good without any clear information. Decisions are made and unmade almost on a weekly basis.

Last week or so (mid-May) I was told that I would have only 'earned' 46 days holiday at the start of my holiday in June (10 months worked at 4.6 days a month) so I would have to come back before the end of my contract to claim the remaining 10 days holiday. Sounded a bit crazy to me but then the following week my colleagues were told that the remaining 10 days were basically a contract renewal bonus - that they would be added to the following winter holidays but would be forfeited by those who didn't return a second year. No mention of any such thing in the contract.

The calculation for the daily rate of pay for the 46 days is based on days worked - which means that if any days in the previous months were taken as unpaid leave or sick leave then the average is below a simple monthly salary divided by days in the month. This is Kazakh employment law so can't be avoided.

The whole issue of holidays is so complex, controversial and must ultimately be approved on a one-at-a-time in front of the Director basis that I have been told that I must wait my turn till at least next week to go through the holiday request process. This will involve the HR and another KZ colleague sitting down together to calculate the days I'm entitled to. Once they have informed me how many days I may take I must write a handwritten letter asking the Director to allow me to take these days and allow me to take the remaining days to the end of my contract unpaid. The fact that I do not want to take all of those days off as they are unpaid is irrelevent. If the Director approves I will be informed of the amount that my average daily rate x allowed holidays will amount to.

In the meantime we have all been told to be 'signed off' by 12 or 15 members of administration. Until I have found everyone on the list, many of whom I have never met, and they have signed to confirm I am not running off with library books or with my intials carved into our desks, I will not be paid my holiday pay. Final flights out of here will not be paid until boarding passes are Fed-exed back to our schools.

'Those of us who plan to stay have been given official offer letters but though we ask continually for new contracts we have been told 'Astana is dealing with it'. Various rumours suggest that paid flights or visas will not be part of next year's contract. Rumours also suggest that there is not a huge influx of teachers begging to be allowed to teach here next year. While Astana penny-pinches more current teachers find new posts and leave with whatever they are offered and a 'good riddance Kazakhstan'. No-one trusts NIS enough to plan to return without seeing last year's contract honoured first, obviously, but nevertheless this is what they seriously expect us to do.

Having said all this, most of the local teachers and all of the students are wonderful. It's the easiest job I've had in terms of teaching. It's a shame the administration are just looking to cut costs and corners and bully the international staff in the same way they do local staff.

I would - I will - seriously wait till the very last minute to see if it is worth starting the new school year here. They will undoubtedly be desperate for teachers and will be recruiting up till they realise the whole project needs to be shut down if they can't recruit.

I shall keep you informed as things develop and would appreciate any information from teachers at other schools as there is so little cross-school communication.

@Higgsboson

I am in a rural school so get $5000 a month. After tax that is $4500. I spend on average less than $500. I eat dinner at home, I don't buy much (there's nothing worth buying) have lunch at school which is very cheap.

As I tried to explain in my previous post - without boring details - they do everything they say they will; they pay and provide all they promise, but just in so. Always on time, always to the letter, not a cent more, not an inch more and if they can scrape a penny back or give you a cheap alternative, they will. But you will get your monthly pay, your flights, your holidays, your visa and your settlement allowance.

I paid off all my debts in the first few months of coming here - about $8,000, blew another (maybe) $3,000 on/during a Christmas vacation all around Europe, send money back to my daughter and will still end the year with around $15,000. Next year I expect to save $30,000 as I won't have any costs except my daughter.

If the figures don't add up (for the sake of our resident Troll) it's because:
a) I'm British and am guestimating $. KZ Tenge go into my account and GPB go out. I put about £2,500 into my UK account every month.

b) When the contract says '56 days holiday' it means just that. Sometimes the school will be closed and so it's a 'holiday' - but not a PAID holiday. Then your next PAID holiday pay is calculated according to your days worked, but you had an unpaid holiday so your average pay is now lower than a straight $5,000 a month. Confused yet? You soon will be.

c) 56 days seems a lot till you get close to the end of term in May, the school will be closed till September and you are desperate to get back to civilization and opt for a month of unpaid holiday on top of the remainder of your paid days.

Overall, you can really save. My daughter will get through University and I will leave after 2 years with enough money that I don't have to work for a year or so if I don't want to. It's not [i]hard[/i] work exactly, but it's crazy. You will need a thick skin and a sense of humour. During the dark, cold winter it is a matter of hanging on to whatever sanity you can find, but by spring, if your co-internationals are half decent, you can look back and laugh and know you've helped out some lovely Kazakh people and earned a good wage doing it.

You won't get away with giving the kids worksheets and reading a few books the whole time. In fact if you go with the attitude of taking the money and laughing the whole way you'll have a very rough time of it. The locals know how much you earn and the other internationals don't need freeloaders. It's not a situation where you can boldly disengage yourself from society- you will need people on your side.

I'd compare it a little to going out on the oil riggs. It's isolated, unpleasant and uncomfortable at times, highly dependent on your relationships with your comrades but the net returns are good. Everyone is there for the money, make no mistake. Believing you can go there, lie back and watch it accumulate in your bank account is self-deluding. I'm pretty tough and it's the hardest working experience I've had - except perhaps teaching in a British state school :roll: - not to be taken too lightly.

It's not paradise and it hasn't been easy, but I, like most of the people I've been working with, are coming back for a second year.

The good things are the students and the local teachers - all lovely, helpful and thoughtful. The contract is adhered to strictly. You get exactly what it says on the can.

However, the problems start when you interpret the words of the contract: 56 days paid holiday a year means one thing to your average westerner, to your KZ school accountant that means 56 days paid according to their convoluted formula which makes little sense. It adds up to maybe a few hundred dollars short of what you expected but costs them a whole heap of trust and confidence. "Public holidays aren't paid but you won't lose any money" is typical advice from NIS. There is health insurance but sick days are paid at some tiny fraction of a normal day's pay. Everything is a mystery, but on the whole it works out well and it is possible to save most of what you earn. There are no delays in paying out for 4 single airfares a year, settlement allowance and regular pay.

The less good parts are the weather - count on November to March being spent indoors. In Semey (I can't speak for other cities) public transport is nightmarish, the streets mainly unpaved, icy (in winter), dusty (in summer), dangerous (open manholes, potholes) and dirty. The accommodation is just about bearable though power outages, brown hot water and substandard furniture are all normal.

The NIS schools themselves are all struggling with adminstration issues. It's still all very Soviet and they have a hard time breaking out of it. The local teachers earn a lot more than in the state schools so are too afraid of losing their jobs to try to affect change. Lots is done in the name of 'innovation' or 'experimentation' which is actually just bad management. We had no leadership from anywhere, leaving us all to find our own way and stumble through the first year. It has led to a lot of competitiveness, back-biting and one-up-manship amongst the international staff.

If I had decided to write this a couple of months ago I would have warned off anyone foolish enough to join NIS. Now with the winter over and a little more clarity about what it is all about I would say that it is not all bad. It's certainly worth it for the money - I spend around $250 a month here, the rest is banked. Like anywhere, much depends on your colleagues. Get a good crew and it will be frustrating but bearable. Don't come for the career development or the cultural experience. If you come for the money, be prepared to have your patience and professionalism taxed.

[quote="Texas"]
Has anyone worked in Semey City? To me it looks like it is going to be a wonderful experience in both living in Semey and Kazakhstan.[/quote]

I hope it will be wonderful ... I am going there too in August.

[quote="PsyGuy"]
All that said the Netherlands is pretty nice, but cold, and the days are short. Sunrise is at 8am and sets at about 3pm.[/quote]

Seriously? Have you ever been to the Netherlands? I lived there for 6 years, my son and grandaughter live there still, I visit at least once a year and even in the depths of winter the sun is still in the sky at 3pm! On the shortest day - Dec 21st - the sun will set around 4-5 pm. On the longest day - June 21st - the sun sets around 10.30pm and the long summer nights certainly make up for the short winter days.

As for cold - in a bad winter expect temperatures to get to -5 celsius, through January and February. More than anything, like all Northern European countries, it's the unpredictability of the weather that is most trying. Winter can produce many mild spells and summer can be blazing hot one week and cool with drizzly rain the next.

In regards to the job being considered, I would say the Netherlands is a fantastic place to live, (it is my ultimate goal to return there to live and work) but the cost of living is very high and housing is a major expense. On the plus side, it's an ideal location to visit the rest of Europe with several countries in driving distance.

I have also been offered / accepted a job in Semey.

I've talked to someone already there via another site. His take, in a nutshell, is..

The city is run down and dirty, far from anywhere, unreliable utility supplies, few facilities. The place is seriously cold in the winter requiring top quality winter weather gear.

The school, disorganised, lots of changes of schedule, lots of wasted time. The students, though, are great.

The 'package', as they say though he was under the impression that mid school break was teacher break, not just student break which I would say is clearly not teacher break from my version of a contract.

I'm still going. It's all an adventure and anything can be endured for a year (especially for that kind of pay).

Would love to hear back with any further info or anyone else who is going there too.