Job Discussion Forums

[ESL.Professor.Roger]

I have a possible opportunity to base out of SO and teach in multiple schools in that area, mainly Vista Hermosa and Brisas del Mar. SO itself seems to be a lot like the small southern Illinois town where I grew up -- does anyone have / know anyone that has direct experience with that area? 'Net access reliability and speed below / at / above average for Colombia as a whole? Relative cost of living compared to, say, Bogota? It's a small town, what's the consensus on the possibilities of a private practice developing?

[windowlicker]

This is something that's hard to provide advice on. If you're talking about San Onofre in the Sucre department on the Caribbean coast, it will almost certainly be NOTHING like the small town where you grew up.

Relative cost of living will be very cheap. I can't give you an exact number, but maybe half of what you'd spend in Bogota. That being said, a lot of what you won't spend isn't because things are necessarily cheaper, but because there is nothing to spend your money on. I have no experience with internet access there, but I imagine it's probably fine. I'm sure tons of people would love to have private classes, they just won't be able to pay anything to make it worth your time.

I lived in Valledupar for nearly two years, which is also on the caribbean coast. Valledupar has about 400,000 people...I imagine San Onofre is significantly smaller. The thing about town size in Colombia is that to compare the "feel" to similar town in the States you have to drop a zero...so Valledupar "feels" like an American town of 40,000. It was difficult to have a social life and be a teacher because everyone knows everyone and you see your students everywhere. On Mondays I'd get comments like, "Oh Mr., you went out with my cousin last weekend," or "Mr., I saw you at the discoteca on Friday." The other problem is that many people on the Caribbean coast with much of any education or world view leave for the bigger cities, which makes it difficult to make friends. If you have no experience with the culture in coastal colombia, it can be pretty intense. I imagine these problems are present on a much bigger scale in the smaller towns.

That being said, if you think you can put up with the challenges (and there will be many), living on the coast can be very rewarding. Tell us more about your experience in Colombia and how you found out about this position - not to scare you off, but I have a hard time believing that a school in a small town in Sucre has the resources to hire a foreigner.

[ESL.Professor.Roger]

The person who is spearheading this whole thing here in the States (I hadn't mentioned before, this is through the United Methodist Church) is thinking that Cartagena would be more central, now that there is a third village I'll be serving. I'm assuming that private lessons will be more profitable there given the size (fifth? sixth? largest city in Colombia) The idea is that the churches there sponsor the work visa, and churches here cover living expenses, so anything I make there in private lessons and what not is banked (this will be a bit of a honeymoon -- Allie is Bogota born and raised and one of the reasons for this trip is coming back with a wife of a year or two will be easier than getting a fiancee across the border, so when ever we go out it's we and not I). I also assume that 'Net will be more available / faster than in the smaller towns