Job Discussion Forums

[BloodyIrish]

thanks for the contribution guangho. incidentally i actually stayed on bartok bela utca (moricz zsigmond k�rt�r,igen?) when i first arrived here. odd you should mention anti semitism. recently there was a pretty nasty effort by neo nazis to stir up trouble with a demonstration outside the house of terror on andr�ssy �t. dont think it went out of hand, and the leader of some two bit fascist organisation was jailed for ten days because she made a hitler salute. but on the other hand i have a friend in nyiregyhaza (dont get much more eastern than that) whose american jewish, and he hasnt had a single experience of anti semitic treatment since he arrived. miskolc is supposed to be a hole, again according to a friend who is there (also jewish incidentally). white chicagoans seem to have no problem where i know them...eger and budapest.

[Asynca]

I'm in Hungary at the moment, actually - Working for Bolyai Janos Gimnazium in Salgotarjan.

I have not encountered any of this 'rampant cheating' I hear about - the students here are diligent and actually work very very hard for their grades. They are MUCH better behaved than students in Australia (they actually listen to you when you're talking - even the 11 and 12 year olds!), and they are anxious to please.

I am currently earning 150,000 a month... not sure what that is in US, perhaps about $750? Something along those lines. Plus I get accomodation and all the perks.

Perhaps it's because I'm here in a small town - but the hospitality here is amazing, like nothing I've ever experienced. People (even strangers who don't know who I am and aren't related to my students) go out of their way to make me feel welcome and do things for me. When I was sick the doctor saw me for free because I don't have my MedCard yet, and then just GAVE me the medication he'd prescribed because at that point I hadn't been paid yet.

The red tape is annoying - it took me 2 months to get my first pay cheque, because the government won't pay until I had a MedCard, which I couldn't get until I had a residency permit, which I couldn't get until I had a work visa, etc etc.

I'm in the mountains, so despite the fact that Salgotarjan is a very ugly town, the scenery is beautiful and my back window opens to look up the side of a mountain into a forest - lovely.

I'm coming back for another year.

[BloodyIrish]

wow thats a lot of money to be earning here.

yeah, the red tape is unbelievable here, and as an irishman im pretty familiar with red tape anyway.

[OzBurn]

Several Hungarian teachers told me that the typical Hungarian student, even in Budapest, is diligent and polite. The problem where I taught, anyway, was not the students themselves, since MOST of them were polite and diligent, or would have been if the few bad apples had been given the boot. (Then again, if the few bad apples had known that a boot awaited them if they continued in their ways, they might have turned into good apples.)

[guangho]

Just picking up the thread to note that I am in Budapest now and was presented with a scrumptious offer from a very presitigious language school:

300 HUF per teaching hour.

[poro]

Good luck, guangho

[guangho]

[jdenn]

guangho, what school was this?

[guangho]

No comment. If you look in the Pesti Est though you will find them pretty quickly. Their actual offer was 300-600 per hour but then clarified that they would start off at 300.

[jdenn]

Maybe you can PM the name? I'm curious


Anyway, why did you even apply?

[guangho]

I applied because I have a continuing fascination with how low people can sink. TEFL is the ideal venue for exploring this.
Also, there continues to be a raging debate over wether Hungary is brain dead or comatose. I say it depends on the size of the bribe offered to the neurologist.