Job Discussion Forums

[stonethecrow]

Hi there,

I'm looking for some info about Minsk and what it's like to live and teach there. Has anyone got first hand experience of the place? Would you recommend it? What problems did you face whilst over there or what problems have you heard of?

I'm currently in Poland, the land of the relatively free and relatively wealthy, so what would be most difficult to acclimatise to?

Cheers
Dan

[maruss]

This is an exceptionally difficult place for a foreigner to live and work in and the regime there is notorious for quite a few reasons! Cole Davis on this site has first hand experience so you could try sending him a p.m. for more detailed info. Occasionally there are teaching positions advertised in Minsk by the franchise of International House but I cannot ever recall seeing any other jobs there.
Do you have a special reason for wanting to go there?Unless you do I would not really consider it.
Sorry not I cannot be more positive.

[stonethecrow]

Thanks for the reply. Yeh, I'm aware of the human rights situation and I can imagine its a world away from Southern Poland. I'll give Cole a Pm, thanks again
Dan

[jonniboy]

I was in Minsk the weekend just gone. It was better than I expected (a pessimist is never disappointed.) More modern, greener, cheaper and with a reasonable range of bars and restaurants. It was very Soviet. However, I was only there for a weekend and the world ice hockey championships was on, which makes it hard to get an accurate picture. The security situation seemed a bit over the top, but like I say, a big event was on. There is an International House there in the centre and other language centres were advertising for students. I remember the IH amount offered was insanely low, 400 euro a month or something like that. The lingua franca was clearly Russian, which I know enough of at survival level to get around. Even in the tourist sector, a lot of young people didn't speak English. I was in a couple of cafes where tourists who didn't speak Russian were struggling to communicate with waitresses who had no English. Good place if you want to improve your Russian, but you might struggle a bit if you go there without any.

[BenE]

I lived, worked and married there and have been back.
I wouldn't say it's so extreme. The only thing about politics that will affect you directly is the steady devaluation of the currency.When I was there it went from 3000 Rouble to the dollar to 7000. Now it is 10,000 after 3 years of being away. Provided you don't try to get involved in gatherings and don't become too outspoken in class then you should be ok. Otherwise worst case would be your visa gets cancelled and you get sent home. They rarely imprison foreigners and when they do it's for 1-2 days followed by a free ticket out.

The wages were more than what was quoted there above and with IH Minsk you get an apartment provided too. It's a livable wage and you can go out a few times a week as well and do some travelling. I'm pretty sure it was more than the wage in Poland when I was there. Maybe things have changed since then so I don't know. Last time I met the director last year he seemed to tell me that they are expanding and business is booming so I'm not sure.

Main highlight of Belarus and Minsk is foreigners are generally rare (except for the hockey championship) and people are generally friendly. You'll be a bit more of a unique person being a native teacher there than you would be in many other cities in the region.

[jonniboy]

[Partizan]

[stonethecrow]

Just to add some balance, I live on around that figure in a small town, where I get free accommodation, in Poland and it's definitely not peanuts to me. I would imagine it wouldn't be peanuts in Belarus either, not that I know much about the economy over there.

[coledavis]

Minsk. I was there a few years ago. Great fun to live in, but difficult to get a decent job. International House is your best bet, although not everybody likes working there. Streamline offers the chance to run discussion sessions, but they care not whether you get enough to live on. While you are busy living off your savings, many of the locals think you are Mr (or Mrs) Rich.
However, this was about 5 years ago, so things might have changed (just don't bet on it).
P.S. The salary at IH is probably ok for Belarus.

[maruss]

The Belarussian capital is the 'Moscow' of the country in many ways and although the cost of living there is much less and salaries are also lower 400 euros is not a lot of money in Minsk. In other cities there it would be but then I have never seen any jobs advertised for foreign EFL teachers in Belarus apart from in the capital.

[Partizan]

[teacher X]

[Partizan]

[maruss]

Especially if you have friends who will find you a flat to rent that does not eat-up too much of your earnings?But just do be careful in Belarus-it's a pariah state where people know that it's best to keep your mouth shut about anything that could be even remotely construed as criticism of the authorities.Also be careful about registration of your visa and foreign currency export when you leave the country as they often have spot checks and seem to enjoy confiscating any which they think is not satisfactorily accounted for!Get advice about this from your friends there as they seem to change the rules at random...

[Partizan]