Job Discussion Forums

[wilmaandginger]

Greetings -

I've been offered a teaching position in Moscow and was hoping someone can provide me some info:

Teaching Schedule
The school can't provide me with the actual hours in the contract because the session doesn't start until September.

>> Question: Is it okay to sign the contract without knowing exactly what hours I'll be teaching? (I'm aware split shifts will be involved)

Health Insurance
The school does not provide the insurance policy. [from the school:However, as mentioned in your contract, all the cases except those in below will be covered by the school. We have two school doctors (generalists) who can visit you at a flat or we will arrange a visit to a specialist at a clinic. If the hospitalisation is required school will deal with that, to provide treatment in one of the State clinics.]

>> Question: Should I take out extra health insurance from Canada to be on the safe side?

Laptop
>> Question: Should I bring a laptop with me or are there plenty of Internet Cafes? What's the monthly cost for ADSL at home?

Thanks heaps!

[leroy]

1) Yes- this is standard in most EFL schools not only in Moscow but elsewhere in the world.

2) I would. If it makes you feel better then yes.

3) Bring it. ADSL costs $25 a month.

[maruss]

I would agree with most of Leroys comments but would also suggest you check:
Are you hourly paid?If so, you should aim to get at least $20 per academic hour and have a minimum of 20-25 hours per week to make it viable, especially if you are going to pay for your own accomodation, bearing in mind that flats cost at minimum of $600 per month, even in suburbs nowadays!Split shifts can be a bind, especially if you have a long gap between your morning and evening classes and live far away from your place of work, which will involve a lot of stressful travelling on the metro etc. and believe me,it is often VERY overcrowded in the morning rush hour!
If you have a friend who you agree to share an appartment with and can split the rent, obviously it will save you money,although these arrangements have their disadvantages,especially if you fall out over trivialities or something more serious such as privacy etc!
Feel free to p.m. me and I will be glad to answer any queries you have.
If you haven't lived in Moscow before,I really suggest you find out as much as you can before you go.

All the best!

Martin.

[wilmaandginger]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm on a monthly salary but the contract has stated the hourly wage for O.T.

The school will be providing a flat which I'll be sharing with another teacher. I realize it's going to be "basic" - i.e. noting that there's no washing machine (I haven't done handwashing in ages... :shock: but have been told I could rent a machine on a monthly basis).

I've started reading up on Moscow and will try to learn the cyrillic alphabet as well as basic phrases.

Are there items that you recommend I bring? - Clothing: winter coat, boots, etc?
- Food: spices (I love to eat and cook!)
- Electronics: MP3, mobile?

[canucktechie]

I'm a bit confused about the hours part. Surely if you are on a monthly salary there must be a certain number of hours in your contract that you may be expected to work for that salary? Otherwise there is no such thing as "overtime", is there?

You mobile will not work in Russia unless it is a special model which is designed to work in Europe. You can buy a used one cheaply over there if you want, everyone seems to want the new ones

Bring the laptop. ADSL is not available everywhere, it varies even on a building to building basis. You can buy cards for dial-up internet in any case - Comstar is the best IMHO.

Health insurance may be expensive. You see, in Moscow you have the state system, which your school appears to cover you for, and the private system, which charges US prices. Say no more. When I was in Moscow I kept my Canadian medicare coverage going, so that I could just go home if I had a real medical problem. Didn't happen.

Bring the winter clothes. Shopping in Moscow at a reasonable price is a hassle for newcomers. Don't bother with food.

I lived in Moscow for 2 years, feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[wilmaandginger]

Wish it were $20/hr :-)

My contract is 100 normal hours per month (1 normal hour = 60 mins).
Anything more is considered OT.

I'm from Vancouver too... nice to see a fellow Canuck online (too bad they didn't make it into the Stanley Cup).

You have all been super helpful. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes by.

Cheers

[leroy]

Stream provide ASDL to practically everywhere in Moscow, btw.

[maruss]

I don't like the sound of this appartment without a washing machine etc as even poorer people in Moscow have had them for quite a few years!Believe you me, sharing an appartment there with someone you don't know is not a good way to start a job in somewhere which is VERY different from what you have been used to.
Just what is your salary and how much per hour is your overtime rate?
I would seriously suggest you ask for a single appartment or if they can't help, suggest they give you around $400-500 housing allowance to make your own arrangements with.If you won't be earning overall around$2000 per month that way-plus overtime, then my sincere advice to you is to find another job as you will otherwise end up sharing a crummy flat which will probably be miles from where you work AND working very long days with early starts and late evening finishes,all for a pittance!
Despite what some people have tried to convince us on this site alleging Moscow is cheap etc,I can assure you from the five months I spent there between October 2005 and April 2006 working as an E.F.L. teacher that it is NOT-unless you like living on sandwiches and pancakes from street stalls or poor quality food in packets and tins etc. from discount shops like Peterochka etc.Of course there are better shops such as Perekrestok and Auchan and even nicer Sedmoi Kontinent, but of course, they cost money!But once you have effectively been on the go for 16 hours per day and come home knackered and almost crushed to death from the crowds on the metro, feeling grimy from the nightmare ecology of much of the city etc etc. I doubt if you have much energy or interest to go and compare them!
Foreign companies who send ex-pats to work in Russia consider it to be a hardship posting and while you won't earn their level of salary as an e.f.l. teacher, there are plenty who earn well over$2000 per month, believe you me as I did it!

All the best and P.M. me for more info. if you like!

[leroy]

Maruss I think you need to get real here. Sharing a flat is perfectly standard in all school-provided accommodation and not only in Russia. Some lucky people may get their own place but most don't. Of course you are free to find your own flat but remember that this will involve an outlay of three months' rent upfront, all of which will fall on you. And even though the school should (though in some cases don't) give you an allowance if you are not living in company accommodation, they will give you nothing like $500. You'd also have to sort out your own registration. As for flats with washing machines, some will have them, some won't. It is true washing machines are fairly cheap here and most flats have them but you may find you are living without one, it's true.

Realistically, you are not going to arrive here and start making a lot of money straight away. This is for teachers who have been around a bit. There are very few teachers who earn $2000+ per month here. Maruss may have been one of them but they are certainly in the minority.

[canucktechie]

Another reality check. The standard compensation at BKC/LL is around $700/month and shared accommodation. They will give you around $400/month if you want to live on your own, which means another $400 is going to have to come out of your pocket. Not viable unless you are teaching private students as well as your regular job.

It's all very fine and well to say that you shouldn't accept less than $2K a month or whatever, but BKC/LL manage to hire people for the salary I described and they are not going to pay you more. There are also smaller schools in Moscow, but to my knowledge most don't pay more than BKC/LL because they don't have to - there are lots of people at the big schools who would be happy to work at a smaller school for the same money.

BTW, I did all my grocery shopping at Sedmoy Kontinent and ate pretty well for about $5/day.

[maruss]

One of the biggest drawbacks about Moscow is finding affordable accomodation for yourself, and the only way to get an appartment without going through an agency which will inevitably demand a deposit of at least one, or possibly two months rent up-front, plus their commission which can be anything from 50%to 100% of a months rent, is to find one through a russian friend who can negotiate direct with the owner, preferably without saying you are a foreigner until the price has been agreed!Most of the agencies who advertise in english deal with corporate clients who have high expense accounts and consequently can get away with daylight robbery by overcharging!
Because of the artificial shortage of even soviet style flats which has resulted largely from laws introduced last year to stop developers scamming buyers of new appartments.(they were taking big deposits for places which were afterwards either delivered way behind schedule or often never built at all!!)Consequently many companies now have cash shortages as they are forbidden to collect money from purchasers until certain stages of the project have been completed.Although this might sound logical after some of the big ripp-offs in Moscow,it has also caused long queues of new buyers who are forced to rent while they wait for their appartments to be completed etc which has obviously driven up prices all over the city and landlords are quick to cash in on their opportunities!
Nowadays, even in the nastiest suburbs which have 'grime and crime' etc you would be hard-pressed to find even a soviet style one room appartment with the bare basic amenities for much under $550-600!!
2 room appartments in places like Maryino way down in the south and near Kapotnya oil refinery which everyone wants to avoid, go for $700 and upwards and you have to accept paying these prices for a ROOM almost anywhere near a circle-line metro station!!
So DON'T come to Moscow thinking you will find a cheap flat on your own nowadays, because even russians are having problems, until the real estates bubble bursts, which will hopefully be soon as it's way overdue!

[zaneth]

housing is definitely grim. Last summer the most common question that any of my Russian friends asked me was 'hey, you don't happen to know anyone renting out an apartment do you?' The second most common utterance I heard was 'no, actually I was going to ask if you knew anyone.'

So your Russian friends might not be too much help.

A lot of young people moving into Moscow. Surprise! It's a hot destination in that part of the world.

I will end here and avoid putting any more fuel on the great handwashing debate. I know Maruss hates that one.

[maruss]

He is dead right.......Not having a washing machine is a 'no-no' as even russians on low incomes in Moscow have them nowadays!You might well see some of the old Soviet ones still in use in older peoples homes, but even that is better than nothing!Getting your clothes dry in summer when the heating is turned off is no joke if you don't have a spin-dryer as hanging them on the balcony(if you have one!) will merely result in you having to wash them again because the air in most parts of the city is so polluted and filthy!(God Knows what it does to your insides!!)
Accomodation finding is more than grim and I absolutely agree with Zanith about this!Even my Russian friends could not help me in January when the owner of the place I was supposed to rent decided when he saw me that he suddenly 'needed it for his daughter' etc. and changed his mind, although this was probably because he didn't like my friend telling him it was too expensive for the age, condition and area and he should fix the T.V.etc. before I paid the full months rent!Landlords in russia can do what they want with you and contracts are seemingly valid only for as long as THEY WANT, not you!And NEVER, NEVER tell anyone official that you pay rent to your landlord or you will probably be thrown out immediately as they don't declare the earnings to the tax authorities etc!Quite afew russians rely on this money to survive and some are very rich from it!

[zaneth]

Yeah, expecting a landlord to do anything at all to an apartment is a complete joke. Apartments are strictly AS IS in this part of the world. It's nice in a way. You can paint or repaper if you like without seeking permission. But the expense is yours and if the landlord likes the improvements he might thank you by raising the rent or kicking you out on your ear.

[rusmeister]

Mostly agree with most of you for the most part!

One word of caution re: cost of living in dollars. If you haven't lived here in the past couple of years, COL has effectively doubled. in '03, the exchange rate was 30 r/$ and costs were down. They have steadily risen, and the dollar has fallen to 26.5. This has especially affected food and rent/utilities, which are, uh, the main expenses for ordinary folk. And the language schools will wait until they actually can't get expats for the pitiful amount of money they offer.

Warning on contracts: Unless the contract is bilingual, (ie, in Russian as well as English) it's not valid in the Russian Federation. 10 to one it also has to be notarized. Most places didn't do this 5-6 years ago, as the cost of OFFICIALLY hiring a foreigner was prohibitive (likely still is) for any but major corporations. A business visa is NOT a work permit, and neither is your contract. Therefore there's an excellent chance your contract is only worth the paper it's printed on, and is used mainly to make YOU feel obligated. I would ask at US embassy (or Brit, Canadian or Australian) Citizen Services how exactly to find out whether your organization has legally hired you and what EXACTLY constitutes a work permit.