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teacher X
Joined: 13 Feb 2013
Posts: 220
Location: Super Sovietsky Apartment Box 918
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 Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:52 am Post subject: |
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| kittymiaz wrote: |
Teacher x I am interested to know which branch you work at, or what you may know about the specific branches as I'm interviewing with them at the moment.
Please PM me if you can  |
You've been PMd hard. |
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rockfall
Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 11:55 am Post subject: |
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| I'm considering LL in Moscow too. I'd also be interested to know which branches are the good ones. If you could PM me that would be great. Thanks |
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maruss
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 12:08 pm Post subject: Picking and choosing? |
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| It is a well-known secret among employees which branches at Mac Schools are the best ones to work in.....as a rule though , newcomers cannot choose for themselves where they go and places at the best ones are much coveted, as are good appartments etc.Be warned! |
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Brunouno
Joined: 18 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 2:32 am Post subject: |
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| I would recommend staying away from the central school. It has a lot of nastiness to it, especially from management with the exception of Harry. |
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rockfall
Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 9:58 am Post subject: Re: Picking and choosing? |
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| maruss wrote: |
| It is a well-known secret among employees which branches at Mac Schools are the best ones to work in.....as a rule though , newcomers cannot choose for themselves where they go and places at the best ones are much coveted, as are good appartments etc.Be warned! |
Oh right I didn't realise that. Their website gives the impression that you can nominate a preferred area.
What's the general condition of the apartments? |
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maruss
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:04 am Post subject: quality of appartments with L.L? |
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You could try asking 'Teacher x' on this site who works for them in S.W. Moscow...... but as a general rule do not expect anything more than 'basic! 'Many people in that 'city of billionaires' still live in old Soviet -era high- rise blocks in flats which would be classed as hovels in western countries, not that London hasn't also become horrendously expensive nowadays, just like Moscow, due to increasing demand!!
Of course they vary according to the landlord-and according to which tenants have used them before! My biggest gripe is that schools in Moscow rarely give teachers private flats and expect them to share with another teacher, mainly for cost reasons-many Russians do this as a matter of course for the same reason and renting rooms is very common over there.
Personally I don't accept this unless I have met the person and then choose to share my common living space with them........things can go wrong for myriad reasons and the only solution is for one person to move out, unless the school is very obliging and agrees to move you! Only senior teachers get private flats as a rule and the other problem is that the money firms pay in lieu if you choose to make you own accom. arrangements is not enough for you to rent even a basic flat for yourself: consequently you will either end up paying from your already basic salary-or using your own funds to subsidise it-hardly an ideal situation! |
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teacher X
Joined: 13 Feb 2013
Posts: 220
Location: Super Sovietsky Apartment Box 918
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:16 am Post subject: Re: Picking and choosing? |
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| rockfall wrote: |
| maruss wrote: |
| It is a well-known secret among employees which branches at Mac Schools are the best ones to work in.....as a rule though , newcomers cannot choose for themselves where they go and places at the best ones are much coveted, as are good appartments etc.Be warned! |
Oh right I didn't realise that. Their website gives the impression that you can nominate a preferred area.
What's the general condition of the apartments? |
The apartments are all sublet and it really just depends entirely on luck.
I live in a 2 room apartment which I share with another teacher. My room is roughly 8 foot by 10 foot. When I arrived it was filled with two huge sovietsky glass cabinets. The kind used to display ornamental glass collectibles, but which have absolutely no other purpose. They take up roughly 30% of the entire room space. There was a rock hard sofa, which also doubled as a bed (very common here). I actually found the floor to be more comfortable. I very quickly bought myself a mattress.
So beware, rooms with actual beds appear to be rare.
The landlord forbid the throwing away of any of the junk furniture he had been hording in the apartment, but since I actually had no space to put my mattress on the floor, I threw some shit out. Lets be honest, an 8 foot by 6 foot wooden board on which is fitted a 1'x1' mirror and a coat hanger is pretty idiotic. All the same, I expect to get some abuse for throwing it away.
Keep your expectations low and you'll be fine. |
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rockfall
Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the insight teacher X. What's the rest of the apartment like?
Any chance you could PM me some photos of it?
Cheers |
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maruss
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 3:53 pm Post subject: Watch those sofa beds! |
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They are damn hard, I can tell you from experience in one of g/f's flat!
Also you may have some 'antique bathroom features' with a Soviet era clothes washing machine that drains into the bath etc! Not to mention plumbing that seems to date from pre-1917,maybe kitchen cockroaches and a smell of cats piss in the block entrance vestibule and on the stairs-a true sign that you are now living in Russia! Don't be surprised either if you find lurid carpets hanging on the walls rather than on the floors and some really unusual wallpaper designs!
All these you can tolerate but if the furniture has fleas or bugs then you have to get something done about it! |
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roywebcafe
Joined: 13 Jan 2006
Posts: 259
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:18 am Post subject: Re: quality of appartments with L.L? |
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An idea might be to photograph your apartment and show teaching staff and then mention its going out on various websites... "I work for school X and i live with a smelly tramp in this apartment [show pictures of rooms]"
on a previous post sum1 had to share sleeping space with an antique glass trophy cabinet and other paraphernalia belonging to landlord.
| maruss wrote: |
You could try asking 'Teacher x' on this site who works for them in S.W. Moscow...... but as a general rule do not expect anything more than 'basic! 'Many people in that 'city of billionaires' still live in old Soviet -era high- rise blocks in flats which would be classed as hovels in western countries, not that London hasn't also become horrendously expensive nowadays, just like Moscow, due to increasing demand!!
Of course they vary according to the landlord-and according to which tenants have used them before! My biggest gripe is that schools in Moscow rarely give teachers private flats and expect them to share with another teacher, mainly for cost reasons-many Russians do this as a matter of course for the same reason and renting rooms is very common over there.
Personally I don't accept this unless I have met the person and then choose to share my common living space with them........things can go wrong for myriad reasons and the only solution is for one person to move out, unless the school is very obliging and agrees to move you! Only senior teachers get private flats as a rule and the other problem is that the money firms pay in lieu if you choose to make you own accom. arrangements is not enough for you to rent even a basic flat for yourself: consequently you will either end up paying from your already basic salary-or using your own funds to subsidise it-hardly an ideal situation! |
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maruss
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 3:37 pm Post subject: Nice one! |
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| We would all love to see some photos of your 'glorious Soviet abode' Teacher x! |
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LAR1SSA
Joined: 02 Nov 2013
Posts: 48
Location: Memphis
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| rockfall wrote: |
Thanks for the insight teacher X. What's the rest of the apartment like?
Any chance you could PM me some photos of it?
Cheers |
I know some people who work there and have excellent apartments.. high ceilings, near the center, fairly modern... I also know some people who have apartments which they must take a tram for 20 minutes just to get to the END of the metro line and then ride another 40 minutes or so to the center to get to work.
I heard the working conditions are ok. My biggest issue with them is that the pay is an absolute joke. Moscow is VERY expensive unless you want to eat gretchka and frozen palmeni. They pay something like less than 1,000$ a month, when the right kindergarten can pay 4,000$ a month and other normal "schools" or companies (where you teach at diff schools etc) offer around 2,000$..my first job here paid that... |
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