May 29 2007

Irina IS Off To Moscow Again :(

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 3:05 am

Looks like I spoke to soon when I posted on Ira only having to spend two weeks away in Moscow.
We won’t know for definite until the end of Tuesday, but it looks like she is needed once more. I hope you has a safe journey, and that her bosses appreciate her efforts.

My toe is still quite swollen and the nail is now a consistent green. I won’t horror you all with another photo (apologies for the last one, I think I was quite fascinated by the toe’s reaction and its visual impact…) Anyway I’ve moved my Russian lesson from Tuesday to Thursday, as although I can actually walk on the side of my foot, putting on a shoe makes hobbling too painful.

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May 28 2007

Ira Is Back From Moscow…

Category: Pictures — ChrisM @ 1:58 am

She did indeed have to work Saturday, but was able to work from home on Sunday, which is great, and she does not need to go to Moscow again this week 🙂

Ira bought me a little pressy back from Moscow, which will look vaguely familiar to Seb back in England.

New Lighter - Open

New Lighter - Closed

Yep, its a shell/big bullet shaped lighter 🙂 Don’t think I’ll be taking that through an x-ray machine @ customs any time soon 🙂

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May 26 2007

Irina Is Back In A Few Hours

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 1:05 am

Ira was away this week again in Moscow, for work. They require her to go to the office tomorrow and possibly Sunday as well, which will mean that by this coming Friday she will have worked 19 of the last 21 days, with international travel on four of her nights ‘off’. Luckily, it looks like she won’t be required to go with her boss to Moscow again next week, fingers crossed. Also hoping they won’t need her in the office next weekend, as that would then equate to 21 out of 23 days away from home. 🙁

This is another example of why I want to make sure I earn enough money from my sponsored posts and other online incomes – the idea of being EXPECTED to work those sort of hours, with a vague promise of 1 extra day off, if things are not too busy, puts me off ever wanting to work in an office over here, even more than I disliked the prospect of doing so in an English office. (Kate’s team not withstanding, she was a boss who knew how to get the best out of her workers, and maintained a good office atmosphere. She has recently won a local election to become a Labour councillor, so huge congrats to her, as I couldn’t find any reference to this event elsewhere on this blog).

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May 18 2007

Moscow Get Techy

Category: In The Media,Personal — ChrisM @ 5:54 pm

in its feud with Estonia.

Estonia claim that attacks directed at it’s e-government system have originated from Russian state servers. There have previously been accusations levelled at the Kremlin from other countries re. DoS attacks, however this is the first time I’ve read that the accusers have allegedly traced the IPs involved as state-owned, rather than merely allegedly state-backed private individuals.
More details at the BBC site – here.

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May 14 2007

Ira’s Dad Is Back From China :)

Category: Personal,Weather — ChrisM @ 2:54 am

He was away in China on another business trip, but we’ve just heard he has returned safe and sound. We’ll be meeting up with him tomorrow evening to say a quick ‘hi’, and so he can say good bye before Irina leaves for Moscow (see two below this post).
Hopefully, he will have grabbed us a silk duvet over in China, as such items have had glowing reports from him and Ira’s mum. They have the same issues we have, except the genders are reversed… He gets cold without a lot of layers, she doesn’t like being over heated. According to them, the silk duvet seems like a good compromise – everyone ends up the right temperature!

(btw, no this isn’t a bizarre sponsored post to further the global sales of Chinese silk duvets 🙂 )

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May 14 2007

Adieu To Ira

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 1:03 am

Irina is off to Moscow again for work. She will be gone from Monday night until Sunday morning. Which probably means there will be a mountain of washing up and general clutter until last thing Saturday, at which point I will be running around like a headless chicken, trying to make our flat a little more presentable.
Whilst I’m glad that her bosses think she is capable of helping out in their negotiations, I’ll be missing her like crazy, as will Karra and Muska.
In case she happens to read this before she goes, and I forget to say it in ‘real life’, have a safe journey, and I’ll give the kittens a hug from you before going to sleep 🙂

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Apr 24 2007

Boris Yeltsin RIP

Category: In The Media,Personal — ChrisM @ 12:29 pm

Just turned on the news, and heard that Mr Yeltsin has passed on. Although not exactly viewed as a hero in Russia these days, no one can deny his role in an incredible and important time for Russia & the former USSR.

Boris Yeltsin RIP

He was 76, and was previously known for his alcohol-related problems.
Although many Russians hoped for more from his term as president, in terms of prosperity, it is undeniable that he was involved in a time of great change in Moscow, namely the end of the communist era, defending President Gorbachev on the streets during a coup attempt, and ordering troops to fire on his own parliament building when it was occupied by hard-liners.

It is believed his death was heart-related.

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Apr 06 2007

One Year And A Day In Kazakhstan

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 11:55 am

Irina is on her way back from Moscow as I type, and there is a huge pile of washing up to be done, but I just wanted to make a quick post to let people know I’ve now been over here 12 (and a bit) months.
Do I want to return to the UK? No, for now, I’m happy to carry on living here, and seeing what happens. There have been times I’ve felt differently, when the different way things are done over here has got to me, or just general home-sickness has pervaded, but Ira spent around 8 years with me in Britain, so I’m more than happy to keep on ‘trying out’ Kazakhstan. We agreed at the beginning we’d see how we both felt after two years, so come back in another 12 months time, and ask me then…

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Dec 30 2006

Back In Astana Again

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 11:24 pm

As you may have noticed, I’ve not yet posted anything about our trip to the UK, and now we’re already back in Astana. Hope to post more details over next week or so. Summary of our return journey is that Nick, Dad & I went via Istanbul, Almaty, Astana, and Ira went Moscow, Astana.
In case I miss posting tomorrow, Happy New Year to everyone.

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Dec 16 2006

Finished Packing!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:28 pm

We’ve been getting ready for our return to the UK, and we’re pretty much done now…

A huge thank you to our family and friends in Britain, who have kept me sane whilst I’m out here, and also to the family and new friends we have made out here in Kazakhstan.

We took Karra (our kitten) over to the in-laws, so she can stay with her mum and sister while we are away. Karra behaved a lot better in her carry bag this time, with only a few mystified miaows in the taxi 🙂

In 30 hours time Ira and I should have arrived in Cheltenham, where I’m staying with Dad & Nick for the first week, and then onto Swansea (well Clydach to be precise) on the Saturday/Sunday (23rd/24th December) with Nick & Ira to see Mum.

Really looking forward to catching up with family and friends; most of our evenings are planned out already in Cheltenham, so hoping we can just kick back and relax during our time in Clydach.

Irina has been allowed some unpaid leave from work, but only received the permission quite recently, by which time, the flights I’m booked on were full, so she is returning to Kz one day earlier, and going via Moscow, whereas I’ll be dropping into Istanbul on the way there and back.

By the time New Year hits us, Nick, Dad, me & Irina should all be in Astana and I’m hoping they’ll enjoy seeing Astana (it will be Nick’s first winter over here, and Dad’s first time ever.)

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