Job Discussion Forums

salamiandbacon · Joined: 13 Apr 2012 Posts: 41

I haven't looked on the Poland forum for a very long time because I stopped working there 10 years ago. If you're feeling down in the dumps about your situation, if you can't make ends meet and are tired of the grind of Poland in the depths of winter, why not give Saudi a go?
Before you write it off, spluttering into your can of Redds and muttering about the hot chicks you teach, let me tell you something. With a CELTA or similar and 4-5 years decent experience, you can earn 10-12 k PLN a month, tax free, with no rent or bills apart from food. You do this working 20 hours a week in normal office hours and have at least 3 months off a year of
fully paid vacation. The summers are hot, agreed, but as I say, 3 months off to spend in happier lands. In winter, temperatures are 20C in the day, and no snow. Promise!
If you have DELTA or MA, you can earn more.

You can put 100000 PLN in your bank account per year. Without really trying.

If you want to stay in Poland long-haul, 3 years in Saudi buys you the place to live in for the restof your life rent free.
Got a wife? Kids? Dreams of retirement? Do some research on the forums, look at the ads, give it a go. Poland will still be there if you don't like it and want to go back.

All the best.

PeterParvo · Joined: 18 Dec 2011 Posts: 103

If you do three, you might was well hang on and do five because employers often have a much better end-of-contract bonus after five. Mine did. Besides, it took us three years just to get used to the place. After five, we were having a pretty good time there.

It's true, you can sock the cash away, but I saw time and again guys going out on holidays and blowing so much of their cash. Spending three months in Poland in summer is going to put a serious dent in your savings account unless you have a place to stay.

If you go to Saudi, it pays to be disciplined. That means you work your keester off doing overtime if it's available, and you try to limit blowing the cash on your holidays.

Go for it.

the_roads_of_poland · Joined: 22 Oct 2012 Posts: 24

Actually that sums up Poland pretty well in all sorts of ways: want to live here? Go work someplace else.

PeterParvo · Joined: 18 Dec 2011 Posts: 103

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

salamiandbacon · Joined: 13 Apr 2012 Posts: 41

I would try and avoid the relatives!
You can also afford to buy your dream place and have it waiting for you when you come to stay. Or rent it out and use the accumulated cash to pay for your holiday. Holidays are as expensive as you choose to make them, and if you're used to living on 4000zl you will be well able to summer in poland. The difference will usually be that you are actually making money while on holiday because you have a proper job that pays you year round. In my job I'm never more than 8 weeks from a holiday so it would make sense to keep a place to call home. You'd be paying the same as you are to live in poland now, but you'd be earning 3 times as much tax free.
What I've found is that once you have a bit of cash in the bank, you have so many more options and more control of your life. As the yanks would say, it's empowering.

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

So...what are the negatives?

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

sparks · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 632

salamiandbacon · Joined: 13 Apr 2012 Posts: 41

I can assure you that I'm not a "homo", although I do know and quite like some of them here. I'm certainly not teetotal and I go to the pub in bahrain (45 minutes away from where I live in Dhahran - check a map) whenever I feel like it. I'm not austere, I actually can't think of anything else I want to buy. I've got 3 flats and a siedlisko in Poland, I drive a nearly new toyota Yaris, buy lots of toys for my son and I never worry about what I put in the shopping trolley at the supermarket. Ihad no debt when I went there when I was 28, never having been in the military. I go back to poland because I'm married to a wonderful and talented Polish woman who also works in saudi, I speak fluent polish and like being there in the summer. I like being there in the winter too, but with a big bag of money to spend and no 7 am classes to go to.
To be fair, there are downsides. I wish I could be on holiday all the time, and it can be hard to get on the plane to leave wroclaw rynek to go back to work. I know I can't change Saudi or the crummy things in Saudi like the religious police or the way I only teach blokes. I'd love to be teaching polish hotties again. However, I 'm married and so I wouldn't be able to do more than look anyway. Much like the majority of 40-ish year old TEFLers in Poland have to do because they aren't 22 years old anymore!
But the hassle is manageable and the reason they pay well. As I say, I've been here 10 years and it has made a positive impact on my life. I know people who have spent the same last 10 years back in Poland and they are consantly worried about their futures, the number of hours they have to work, the falling salaries etc as I keep reading here. I just posted to offer a possible solution, so please keep an open mind. Or not, and I hope you like your life in poland in 30 years as much as I will!
All the best

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

PeterParvo · Joined: 18 Dec 2011 Posts: 103

In Saudi, you can at least feel like you are making progress towards a goal. I had a nice comfy job where I was respected and also made a decent wage. I worked in one nice building, had a clean office which I shared with one other teacher, and I was five minutes from work.

Just going to the pub in Poland lost it's appeal after I got married when I was more concerned with providing a good place for my family to live. I tried to get my single friends in Poland to come over, but nobody ever did because I think beer and babes were too important for them.

I like the analogy of it being a college degree, because the time my wife, two kids and I spent there reminded me of college. We lived on campus, were surrounded with others who were in the same situation, made great friends, and partied.

Saudi gave us more than money, it made us very strong as a family and we made great friends.

BTW, Saudi Arabia is also a place for terrible alcoholics to sit and drink, albeit home-brew, but then again a real alcoholic will drink anything.

Richfilth · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 225 Location: Warszawa

The balance here is how much do you value your life. Is a year of your life worth 100,000zl, if you're not enjoying it?

The heat, the isolation, the entrapment and the ex-pat community would kill me; I'd be clawing at the walls of the compound before the first 8-week session was up, and you'd have to pay me a hell of a lot more than 10k for that.

Saudi can't offer me anything Poland hasn't already provided.

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

Hmmmm, I'm with Rich and Shake on this one.

I considered going to Saudi back at the beginning of the year but realized that about 90% of the comments were negative, warnings were dire, stories of runners were everywhere, yada, yada, yada.

I still toyed with that thought (dream, whatever) of going there, hunkering down to a paid prison sentence, and trying to survive a year or two to put away a last little nest egg for the sunset years. Then I talked with a guy who was living in one of the laughable "compounds" TEFL teachers end up with and, when pressed, he finally confessed that his wife couldn't really stand the place and was there maybe a total of 6-7 weeks a year. Too many people are jumping contracts, slinking away in the night and spraying vitriolic slanders and threats against the people and the employers after only a few months in the sand.

While some may like this idea as some sort of extreme TEFL adventure, many of us desire a more smoothly flowing lifestyle. The fact is that there are successful TEFL operations in Poland. Some teachers figure out the system and make a living wage, find a nest to feather and integrate with the people happily. Others come in, do a couple of years, find a spouse and move on to a new chapter in their life's adventure. Me, I'm looking for more of a place to settle in for the near-endgame.

If I were younger, maybe the Kingdom would be doable for a year or so but I really just want an apartment by the sea, 12-14 lessons a week and some friends to relax with on the weekends for brews, picnics and conversation about the important things in life such as pork or beef, Conservative or Liberal and the relative merits of budwar over western brews.