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1300 USD in Warsaw
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sparks



Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 632

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A rule of thumb that I follow, and I'm not fancy by any means. You should have 100 PLN to spend a day, that's after all bills are paid, you might not even spend that everyday if you just live and work and eat, but whatever is left would count for things like eating out sometimes, nights out, any junk you might want to buy. It's difficult to spend less than 50 PLN/day on food in Warsaw, that is WITHOUT eating out.
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1042
Location: Berlin


So I'll say it explicitly. YOU GOTTA BE OUT OF YOUR TINY MIND TO THINK OF LIVING IN A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY ON 70 PLN A DAY. WOULD YOU LIVE IN WASHINGTON DC OR LONDON ON $18 A DAY? IF SO, HOW WOULD YOU LIVE?

ENTRY LEVEL OR NO ENTRY LEVEL.


Most of us with real jobs in the region wouldn't have them if we hadn't started at entry level. It's a start, not a lifestyle.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 11:30 am    Post subject: Re: ok Reply with quote

dragonpiwo wrote:
So I'll say it explicitly. YOU GOTTA BE OUT OF YOUR TINY MIND TO THINK OF LIVING IN A EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY ON 70 PLN A DAY. WOULD YOU LIVE IN WASHINGTON DC OR LONDON ON $18 A DAY? IF SO, HOW WOULD YOU LIVE?

ENTRY LEVEL OR NO ENTRY LEVEL.


Except Warsaw isn't exactly comparable to London or Washington DC when it comes to costs, is it?

It's an entry level job, and if the OP chooses to live like a normal European, he can find a room in a nice apartment for considerably less than 1000zl a month.

In time, he'll want more, and he'll decide whether he can make it in Poland or not. He might move into a different field, he might use his contacts in teaching to find something that he's always wanted to do - who knows?
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

delphiandomine wrote:
Quote:

It's an entry level job, and if the OP chooses to live like a normal European, he can find a room in a nice apartment for considerably less than 1000zl a month.


When I came to Poland in January, 2007, I was paying 1280/month for 30 sq meters about a 15 minute walk from the rynek. A friend of mine paid 1500/month for one of comparable size just on the edge of the rynek. Neither building had an elevator. Can you rent a nice apartment within reasonable walking distance to the city center in Warsaw (where his employer most likely would be) for under 1000zl?
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dynow wrote:
delphiandomine wrote:
Quote:

It's an entry level job, and if the OP chooses to live like a normal European, he can find a room in a nice apartment for considerably less than 1000zl a month.


When I came to Poland in January, 2007, I was paying 1280/month for 30 sq meters about a 15 minute walk from the rynek. A friend of mine paid 1500/month for one of comparable size just on the edge of the rynek. Neither building had an elevator. Can you rent a nice apartment within reasonable walking distance to the city center in Warsaw (where his employer most likely would be) for under 1000zl?


A room, sure. As is normal for young people in most European cities.

Of course you can't find an apartment that's walking distance to the centre of Warsaw for that price, because the economics are totally different. There are some horrible, horrible places available for cheap in Wrocław within 15 minutes of the Rynek, but there isn't the same kind of market in Warsaw.
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:13 pm    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

It's $18 a day in a European capital city after bills. That's shyte no matter how you dress it up and normal adults don't share a room in a house. It's what students do.

In Warsaw, you spend what you spend in a normal British city more or less. Certainly, appropriate for a northern one. The dole is about $12/day in the UK. So, you'll be working your ass off for dole money just about. I can count the number of TEFL teachers who have made it out of teaching completely, whilst in Poland, on 1 finger and that's because his folks are loaded. Everyone else left or just did privates...ahem invoiced companies from their 'school' or did a bit of writing or recording work.

You won't live like a 'normal' European'. A normal, Polish European lives at home until he or she is well into adulthood. You'll live like a minimum wage European o a zero-hours contract. That's fun.

But hey, you'll meet a lovely girl you teach and common sense will fly out the window.


Last edited by dragonpiwo on Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

delph wrote:

Quote:
A room, sure. As is normal for young people in most European cities.


So you're quoting numbers in Warsaw based on....what normal adults would call couch surfing.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remind us how many people live by themselves in NYC, for instance?

https://newyork.craigslist.org/search/roo suggests that sharing apartments is somewhat normal.

Remember, those at the bottom of their career rarely live by themselves in attractive and interesting cities. You might live by yourself if you live in some redneck town down south of the Mason-Dixon line, but it's hardly representative of the world as a whole.

Sharing apartments is absolutely normal for those in the first stage of their career in Europe, and trying to pretend otherwise is utter nonsense.

Normal single adults don't tend to live by themselves in Europe. Property prices are just too high in general for that, unless you live somewhere utterly undesirable.
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're missing a huge detail here, bud. The average person living in NYC sharing an apartment is doing it with a long time friend, significant other, or some other person that they consciously chose to live with. A guy coming from the UK, America, Australia, is going to be rooming with total strangers and unable to speak Polish (which makes watching TV in Poland with your roommates pretty lame).

You're waking up in the morning and going into a bathroom that smells of the essence of Pawel, and Grzegorz, guys you've known for a week and can barely communicate with.

The last place I lived before I moved to Poland was in an apartment just a stone's throw across the river from NYC with a roommate I knew for a while, he also happened to be a coworker. I hand picked him because he was rarely ever home and ate out all the time so I essentially had the place to myself. You simply couldn't have asked me to live in Poland with a total stranger, or multiple strangers, straight "off the boat."
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Master Shake



Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dynow wrote:
You're missing a huge detail here, bud. The average person living in NYC sharing an apartment is doing it with a long time friend, significant other, or some other person that they consciously chose to live with.
Really? I'm sure tons of people in NYC are living with strangers as well, and given how multicultural NYC is, it wouldn't be unusual to room with someone from another country. Just Google 'NYC roommate finder' and loads of sites pop up which bring total strangers together.

Also, in Warsaw these days there's a very good chance Pawel and Grzegorz speak decent English.

Anyway, 4,900zl/mo. is enough for the OP to get his own place, should he choose to. Personally, I'd recommend rooming with someone to have more disposable income, but different strokes...
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spanglish



Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 742
Location: working on that

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Master Shake wrote:
Really? I'm sure tons of people in NYC are living with strangers as well, and given how multicultural NYC is, it wouldn't be unusual to room with someone from another country. Just Google 'NYC roommate finder' and loads of sites pop up which bring total strangers together.


This is very true. Plenty of people struggling to get by in the US and sharing - very often with strangers - is definitely the norm in NYC and DC for twenty and thirty-something professionals.
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:17 am    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

But do they earn $18 PER DAY after rent and tax in NYC?
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spanglish



Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 742
Location: working on that

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't know how to begin to compare after-tax income and expenses between NYC and Poland, but struggling to make rent, pay health care, and put food on the table is pretty common here in the US.

I think a problem with TEFL and western teachers in general is that the profession is viewed as a sort of holiday job - only expected to cover daily living expenses - so most don't take into account their real cost of living i.e. replacing a lap top, funding Christmas visits back home, or saving for an emergency fund.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:12 am    Post subject: Re: erm Reply with quote

dragonpiwo wrote:
But do they earn $18 PER DAY after rent and tax in NYC?


But your number is based on a completely different calculation.

Anyway, I know how friends lived at the start of their career in London, and such delights as "potato curry" were often on the menu.

More to the point, anyone entrepreneurial enough can easily put together an extra 1000-2000zl a month without much effort.

It might not be a champagne lifestyle, but everyone has to start somewhere. I'd still prefer Warsaw over the ME or the United States.
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PC Parrot



Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The OP is not an entry level TEFLer.
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