# Kazakhstan. Been There? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633 "2018-05-05T09:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/1 "2018-05-05T09:31:11Z")
I have a job opportunity in eastern Kazakhstan. Anyone been there? Did you eat horse meat? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/2 "2018-05-05T11:46:33Z")
Yes and no. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/3 "2018-05-05T11:53:30Z")
Would it be a good place to work? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/4 "2018-05-05T12:30:16Z")
What field are you in? I was in for a week. A long term job, I cannot really say. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/5 "2018-05-05T15:53:54Z")
[Moderating] Moving from CS to IMHO ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/6 "2018-05-05T17:00:32Z")
Dahhh-ling, nooobody who’s ANYbody goes to Kazakhstan anymore. Kyrgyzstan is where all the best people are going. It’s been that way for aaaages. You poor dahling, haven’t you heard? ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/7 "2018-05-05T17:10:02Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > What field are you in? I was in for a week. A long term job, I cannot really say. Teaching English, somewhat ironic since can’t write a coherent OP. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/8 "2018-05-06T05:01:38Z")
I have some good friends who have been there, it sounds like a pretty fascinating country. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/9 "2018-05-06T09:22:09Z")
I loved Kyrgyzstan, but just went over the border briefly for a visit to Kazakhstan. I never succeeded in finding beshbarmek with horse meat, but there must be some around. Lot of money being made by oill fiekd workers in western Kazahkstah, but I don’t know about eastern. Huge country. Kazakhs resent the fact that many post-soviet Russians stayed behind and still control the economy. But from my viewpoint, the Russians are pretty laid back, and the ethnic Asians are cool. Almaty is said to be lovely, in the same way Bishkek is, while all the economic development and modernizing is taking place up in Astana. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/10 "2018-05-08T07:18:34Z")
One thing I love about eastern Kazakhstan is that’s where apples originated. And I _love_ apples. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/11 "2018-05-08T17:02:44Z")
Nuh uh, apples originated in the Garden of Eden. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/12 "2018-05-08T18:16:58Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > One thing I love about eastern Kazakhstan is that’s where apples originated. And I _love_ apples. Maybe thats why apples love horses ETA: that is too funny to fix ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/13 "2018-05-08T19:38:40Z")
Never been to Kazakhstan; but I ate plenty of boiled horse brisket with butter and potatoes when I spent a summer in Iceland some thirty years ago. It was very nutritious! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/14 "2018-05-08T20:12:11Z")
I know that some members had posted about having visited the [Baikonur Cosmodrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome). If you get the job, that would be a cool place to check out, if possible. But Kazakhstan is a big, big place, and that trip might not be practical. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kazakhstan-been-there/813633/15 "2018-05-09T05:30:06Z")
From [The Diplomat](https://thediplomat.com/2017/04/why-did-peace-corps-leave-kazakhstan/): \*\* “When the Peace Corps shuttered its operations in Kazakhstan in 2011, rumors abounded. Stories of rampant beatings and sexual assault. Tales of agents from the KNB — Kazakhstan’s successor to the Soviet-era KGB — harassing volunteers. Cases of governmental meetings ignored and apartments broken into by authorities, all backgrounded by Kazakhstan’s first brushes with Islamist terror.”\*\* A colleague of mine in Bangkok had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan, and the above jibes with his account. He said they _fucking hate_ Americans there. It’s like the Cold War never ended.