Musings on the nature of contradictions in humans' personality

I expect people will never stop to amaze me (To be honest, I don’t expect them to and if this ever happens, it’ll surely be a warning sign).

It’s fascinating how some traits get combined in one person. Theoretically, everything is supposed to be possible when it comes to human mind, but when you see it in real life… I never gave much thought to it, but an encounter with one person made me wonder.

How can a person who acts as a representative of a truly valuable campaign, who started travelling the world more than 20 years ago and who has an exceptional story to tell people be at the same time unbelievably limited, unwilling to learn and at times very self-absorbed?

How can a person who has more than enough time to spare be unable to reach even basic proficiency at language that he clearly needs?

How can a person who travels the world limit his or her discussions about different countries and places to food that they hated here and there?

How can a person who inspires other people to believe in the cause be so uninteresting and unimaginative in their day-to-day life?

How can a person with such rich personal history be so narrow-minded, non-inquisitive and believe in all the clichés that exist in the world without pausing to think about them?

I expect there are a lot more “how’s” that I can come up. And perhaps it is me who should be called narrow-minded because I cannot comprehend the possibility of such drastic contradictions in one’s personality. But here it is - the thing I do not understand. 

Those who look into the root of problems...

After leaving university I had very few opportunities to communicate with people from academia. I do have a very dear friend who is a researcher with Oxford University, but that’s about it. I also have a short and very unpleasant encounter with a foreign lecturer who teaches at one of the universities in Almaty. So those two people are pretty much the only academics I spoke to in the past 3.5 years.

Last week I visited Washington and there I have been granted an opportunity to meet quite an extraordinary person – Dr. Frederick Starr. Dr. Starr is a Founder and Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

The very first time I met Dr. Starr he was moderating a discussion on US Policy on Religious Freedom in Central Asia and the Caucus. What amazed me the most were very simple and straightforward questions he asked the speakers who participated in the discussion. But these questions looked right into the root of the problem. Through those matter-of-fact questions he pointed out some clear drawbacks in the research carried out by US researchers on religious freedom in Central Asia. Those drawbacks were not so major as to question the entire research, but they were important enough to raise some questions.

After the discussion my colleague and I have been introduced to Dr. Starr and have been offered to visit him the next day for a friendly chat. I am not going to relay the content of this meeting, because it has already been nicely outlined in the article published in Astana Times newspaper. What I do want to talk about is the academic persona of Dr. Starr. I already encountered such extraordinary individuals, but sadly not in my home country.

Nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan: one step beyond the “sure thing”/“hell no” attitude

In December 2009 Kazakhstan proclaimed its readiness to host an International Nuclear Fuel Bank (INFB) on its territory and ensure its proper storage. Later, on the 29^th of July 2011 the Republic of Kazakhstan has submitted an official application to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for becoming a receiving party of the International Bank of low-enriched uranium.

It is planned to establish the INBF on the basis of the Ulbinsk Metallurgical Plan (Ust-Kamenogorsk city), which has the governmental license for handling nuclear materials, including their sale, processing, storage and transportation.

One of the blocks of the warehousing for the plant products (where low-enriched uranium is already stored) is supposed to be used for the INFB.  

The building that is supposed to be used for storage of low-enriched uranium

Three whales that sink healthcare system in Kazakhstan

A thermometer that has been purposefully held close to the heater shows 42°C, miserable facial expression and a nose protruding from under the blankets – all this makes up a picture of t typical schoolchild who is trying to skive off the lessons. Children see this as a kind of game, and think that they are the smartest and the most quick-witted. Adults, on the other hand, can just smile in response to this “wittiness”. However, the real illness is unlikely to make anyone smile. Worry for the loved one is a typical response in this case. Unfortunately, in Kazakhstan the widespread mistrust of the health care system is added to the common worry. Almost everyone in the country can tell about either personal negative experience or share a relative’s or a friend’s adverse story about the local hospitals and health centers.  

Complaints about unqualified doctors, neglect and indifference of medical personnel and bureaucracy do not seem to surprise anyone any more. Many people know only too well about waiting in the queues and that it does not always guarantee a meeting with a doctor, as they can suddenly leave for lunch or a meeting, or for some other “urgent” business. As a result, the road to recovery and sometimes not to recovery at all looks more like an obstacle course.

However, all these problems are secondary; they are the ones people generally use to assess the quality of medical service. In reality there are problems that are more serious than queuing and arguments with the local doctor.

The audit made by the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan revealed ubiquitous violation of citizens' right for health care guaranteed by the law of our country. Problematic health system in Kazakhstan seems to stand on three whales: low quality of medical services, ineffective planning and spending of budget money, and finally improper performance of duties by the health care system workers. Each of those whales has to be discussed separately.

Do you celebrate the things you do have?

How often do you turn back and really think about things that you already have? Often/not so often/rarely/hardly ever/never?

The other day I paused to think about it. From time to time you can hear people complaining about not being able to have this or to do that or about crappy life altogether.

Once I started thinking about the question of celebrating the things you have, I had realized that it might be a useful practice. First, I made a list of things that I take pride in, or which I am happy about. It turned out that I just cannot be unhappy about things I already have.

• Education

Thanks to my parents, my country and my never ceasing desire to learn as much as I can my education turned out just fine. I went to a great school, did my degree at an amazing university and took all extracurricular activities I wanted.

• Personality

Practical approach to things with a dab of optimism to it. Compartmentalization. Stubbornness (perhaps, a bit too much of it). I am grateful for personality I have, because it helped me a lot.  

• Relationship

Family is precious. My amazing husband. It’s just impossible not to celebrate those things.

• Work

I thought this one would be tricky, but it wasn’t. I never did what I learned to do, never quite used my degree. However, I did a bunch of other things and I am glad I did. It gave me knowledge, new skills and new perspectives. Hurray for diversity!

The list can go on and on. The main thing is to concentrate on good things and avoid bad ones. It will probably not change you overall way of thinking, but it is likely to improve your mood for a day. Worked for me, anyways!

One more good thing about this list: the older you get, the longer it becomes. 

My take on Almaty Puppet Festival 2012 opening parade

This Sunday in order to find and excuse for not cleaning the house, I escaped the place and headed towards Arbat, a pedestrian street in Almaty, where I encountered a parade of participants of Almaty Puppet Carnival 2012. This is a second international festival, which invites participants from all over the world.

By and large I am not a fan of puppets and circus, because I find them a little bit creepy. However, the parade on Arbat made me change my opinion about puppets and turned out to be a pleasant event. In addition, it instigated my interest towards this type of art. Due to the fact that not all participant of the Carnival took part in the parade, it made me wonder what else is there to see. The program of the festival looks quite full and diverse.

Parade on Arbat attracted quite a number of people. Most of them were families with young children, whose parents looked equally excited about seeing the puppets. In fact, this was not surprising, because diversity and unusualness of those puppets does impress. I found the fact that puppeteers seem to form an organic whole with their puppets. They move in synchronicity and look very much alike even if at first one cannot find any similarities.

How to decide what career to pursue?

In the past year I continually questioned myself about what I want to do with my life and particularly with my career. The main problem is that since I left school I have been involved in so many different things that I am not sure what my true calling is any more. In the end I have decided to unearth a psychologist in myself, which I am supposed to be according to the University Certificate, and do some digging into my personality followed by brainstorming.

First, I remembered reading somewhere that one cannot know what he or she likes to do unless they actually try it. It is sort of similar to food. How can you know what you like more banoffee pie or rocky road or a meringue if you never tried any of those? On top of that, there in an immeasurable number of other options that might turn out equally appealing. Well, it obvious one cannot try everything in the world. I suggest that the best option here is to stick to your strengths, interests, desires and available options. There are obviously many other factors as well, but one has to be realistic here. If one have some problems with their health or body complexion it would be really difficult to become an astronaut no matter how strong this desire might be.