'Well mate, it's like this, if you see a vehicle coming towards you, whichever side of the road he's on, it's better to get on the other side'

'Well mate, it's like this, if you see a vehicle coming towards you, whichever side of the road he's on, it's better to get on the other side'

Mike Mahon recounts his short time in Kazakhstan.

Mike Mahon

Trinity College Dublin

2005

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Mike Mahon

Work and Employment

Life Story

Kazakhstan

2000s

After I retired from active flying, I became involved with a company in San Francisco that were producing an interactive DVD to teach aviation English. ICAO had become concerned that the level of English from pilots who were not native speakers was not up to standard, in particular those on International routes, so some Airlines were obliged to provide language classes for their flight crew. This bad communication between ATC and aircraft had caused incidents and indeed some fatal. I was employed to write samples of communications and the vocabulary used between pilots and Air Traffic Control . On completion of the DVD , I was delighted to be asked to go to Kazakhstan and present the English language course to Air Astana pilots. It is a huge country in central Asia, larger than the whole of Europe and crosses three time zones. Originally part of the USSR but now independent. It is sparsely populated, only about 16 million, and mainly steppes, taiga and tundra but very rich in oil and minerals. During the Soviet era it was used as a testing for atomic bombs and rockets. I flew to Almay, the capital, and met some of their pilots, who were a mixture of Kazak, Russian and a few expats. I did not have a word of either language and this led to some difficulties. I went into a local shop to get coffee, sugar and milk. The coffee and sugar I could see on the shelves, but no milk. I pointed to the woman's pendulous breasts and imitated with my hands milking a cow. Success. I was not so lucky in a local restaurant. Non of the menus were in English, so the only I knew how to order was 'shaslik' , which was kebabs, But after a week of a diet of 'shaslik' I was in need of a change. So this evening I decided to try and order some chicken. I stuck out my elbows and flapped them around, but all I got from the waiter was a blank look. In desperation I left my seat and squatted on the floor scrunching up my face trying, as I thought, to imitate a chicken laying an egg. The waiter took one horrified look and rushed off. He returned a few seconds brandishing a large roll of toilet paper and as far as I could make out begging me not to crap on his floor. Luckily I managed to find a Thai restaurant where they spoke EnglishOnce I had few days off and decided to hire a car and see some of the countryside which was spectacular. The guy in the car hire office was an Aussie and when I asked him which side of the road to drive on , he replied; 'Well mate, it's like this ,if you see a vehicle coming towards you, whichever side of the road he's on, it's better to get on the other side. '. I spent a few months in Kazakhstan and it was one of the most enjoyable and interesting postings I had ever experienced

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)