Job Discussion Forums

[vabeckele]

Funny.

He must be talking of the those extremely comfortable plastic chairs - to die for.

Or perhaps the wide open and clear vistas of Hanoi and HCMC and of course those very special and kind market vendors that do their very best to give you that 'personalised, tailored' service - that extra special touch gives me a sense of something...comfortable!?

Let us not forget about the general political, social and economical stability we all enjoy here, crikey do I feel comfortable.

From what I have done and seen others do here is this: Find a place that will start you off with a course to run, within a week they will do one or two things, start to much you around or offer you more lessons. It would be wise to start getting as many hours at one place to secure an income while you are learning all about the city and its charms. When you feel you have had enough experience then you can begin to pick and choose what you want to do - some like full-time stuff, others like to work on short contracts at different places - this is what I have done.

The transition to knowing the city and its people can go smoothly or otherwise, and then it becomes quite difficult to judge how good or bad, Vietnam's ESL scene is (and how much money one has). Vietnam runs on very different criteria and relationships than in the west.

I myself can't stand being mucked around and I'll have an issue with it immediately, others will be able to, 'fit in' a lot more easily and be less picky. I am not one of those people, so finding quality work is a bit harder (and sometimes it hurts financially too) - In any instance, practically all of my students are really great to work with, all of my particular troubles have been from administrators.

To give you and idea of what I have personally done and gone through here: I have had to quit or have been fired from, probably 20 or so public and private institutes here in Vietnam. This is MY experience over the last 2 years. I think I am a good enough teacher (linguistics scares me) but I do not suffer fools lightly, which, as you might guess, can cause problems.

My pay - I have been offered everything from 10 dollars an hour all the way up to 60 dollars an hour for content courses. I have very rarely seen 3000 dollars a month and I have, fortunately, also have rarely seen a month with 200 dollars - I have not been on a monthly salary for a year.

When it is good, I save, when it is bad, I drink my savings. I hope that helps.

[vabeckele]

sorry, double post

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[Mattingly]

[quote="1st Sgt Welsh"]

[vabeckele]

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[Durian Tango]

Why is it that every time I visit the Vietnam forum I come out depressed. We don't need to be told 100 times how terrible everyone's lives are and how much they think Vietnam sucks and their job sucks and their lives suck. I'd say the majority of us get through life, rolling with the punches and in general try to enjoy what we've got, when we've got it. And if we don't like it, we move on. We certainly don't haunt the forums whinging.

Sorry, but the constant negativity is seriously a kill joy. (and now I've just played right into it!)

I know folks want to 'tell it how it is' but you can consider us newbies well-informed and fore-warned already. Let's let a little sunshine in!

[bobpen]

Durian, that's a good question and I'm glad you asked.

Others have also said they felt that "you are basically telling me not to come to Vietnam."

Nobody is trying to make you depressed. And no one is telling future expats not to come to Vietnam. No one is telling others currently in Vietnam to "leave!" What people are tying to do is give honest talk so you will be "informed". It's like they (and we) are saying, "you've gotten some facts, now plan carefully." In addition, I think us expats do deserve to gripe a bit because the system that is Vietnam is clearly degrading, and a good part of it is avoidable. We don't want, for example, to see new arrivees paying $500 plus for a basic room when they could be at $200 (or even less) in some cases. In addition to that, when new arrivals come here and pay up to the nose and work minimal hours with a bright smile, it inflates it all for all of us. There's nothing wrong with liking some aspects of life in Vn, but that isn't the only side to being in country. Both angles need to and must be weighed.

[bobpen]

Sargeant, that's a pretty extreme "can afford to" list you've got there. I'd have to disagree with all of it except for one choice, unless you plan on having a borderline bank account with not much to show for. The only option I could tick or agree with is the "vacation to nearby tropical locations." I've done that several times in the past thanks to some of the budget airlines. These days I'm not doing it at all as income is low.

I do like reading your view as well -- it's good to know that some are making out well in the country. Good to know that not all are seeing cutbacks. Maybe eventually I'll be back up there. These days however my experiences reflect very closely with several of the other more "prudent" posters in the thread.

[ExpatLuke]

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[Guiza]

wow I don't even log in here much at all these days now that I'm settled here.

But wanted to after reading some of the extraordinarily negative posts here...

I've been here for over a year and my life's never been better. Never in my home country have I been able to afford the lifestyle I currently enjoy.

I'm young though and didn't have a good job back home.

The particular grumble about having to eat boiled veg and rice if you want to eat economically just made me laugh...

My shared house is spacious, clean, tastefully furnished and comfortable. I rarely use that plug in oven though it is good at heating up bread for a sandwich. I can sit on my sofa with a drink watching English football on a big TV. It's as comfortable as being back home only that here I can hop on my bike in shorts, t shirt and flip flops when I decide to go out, instead of having to consider how many layers to wear to combat the depressing UK weather conditions.

[bobpen]

It looks to me like the two sides have clearly come to be the rational thinking posters on one side, and the "I love it no matter what" emotion camp on the other.

[vabeckele]

[ExpatLuke]