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Life in Kazakhstan

Posted on November 22 by Yankı Nagisa Akkuş

Due to my family issues, I have moved to Nur Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan.

From now on I would like to share my experiences in this huge yet low populated developing country.

Land is almost 3.5 times bigger than Turkey with 2.724.900 km² but the population is only 19Million people which is 4.5 times less than Turkey.

Compared to Japan it is 7,2 times bigger and 6,5 times less people.

Its national flag has adopted on 1992 and it has golden sun, golden eagle with background of sky blue.

Sun represents life and energy.

Eagle as symbol of freedom, power and flight to the future.

Blue is the endless sky.The pattern on the left displays a national ornamental pattern called "koshkar-muiz" (the horns of the ram) in gold.

Language / Alphabet

National language of Kazakhstan is Kazakh, however Russian is also an official language. Law and other articles are written in both languages.

Education is also covered with two languages. Depending on the region one language is more dominant than another.

Mostly northern side uses more Russian and southern / western side uses more Kazakh.

Alphabet for both languages are Cyrillic Alphabet. Kazakhstan is now officially trying to change the alphabet to Latin, but the city and most of the system are already inputted well that it will take some time until they switch.

Picture right below is not AHBAP (friend in Turkish) Supermarket, it is actually ANVAR Supermarket.

Transport in Nur Sultan

The city is very small and main transportation in the city is maintained by busses. There is a light metro line under construction however the project is suspended.

Payment for busses is done by scanning the QR code from your bank or phone operator applications on your smart phones.

Of course, there are cards like Istanbul card or pasmo as well. There are less people using this method.

Interior of the bus is very similar to Turkey.

Beverages

You are able to buy beers from tanks at markets and also you can buy water from the machines between buildings. I can not guarantee the taste for beer, sometimes it is tasty sometimes very light. There are no vending machines available on the road. But these tanks are cheaper and easy.