Job Discussion Forums

[mikey]

hey all

So i've been seriously considering the idea of making St Petersburg my next home (I have already worked in other parts of eastern and western europe). If you have any feedback re my comments and questions, please do reply asap.

note that i use "freelancer" here to mean a teacher working for one or more schools without a set contract, guaranteed hours, benefits, etc, as opposed to someone teaching directly for a company.

JOBS AND SALARY
So far, in the admittedly limited job scouting i've done, i've discovered that schools are willing to hire people already in the country/city, and pay them about $10 per hour. does that seems about right for freelance teaching?

Full-time contracts, however, seem to be less common, especially for people new to the school. (This is quite a contrast to the schools I worked at in neighboring countries, which tend to put all their teachers on contracts, perhaps to keep them around as long as possible). given that people say SP is quite expensive, is $10 an hour (assuming i work 25ish hours a week) enough to survive and save some, without having to eat only frozen pelmeni and black bread 3 times a day? i don't expect to lead a lavish expat's lifestyle as an efl teacher, but i would like to have a life!

I'm assuming that I'll be running around to companies in different parts of SP, as I have a lot of business English experience, which means, well, lots of time spent on the metro and buses and such).

as for private lessons, it seems those could be rather lucrative, but perhaps hard to come by at first and, as everywhere, somewhat unreliable in terms of consistency and longevity. has anyone had much luck doing mainly privates? what's the going rate there?

EXPENSES
apartments: seems I could get an apartment about 45-60 minutes outside the center for about $200, while something closer to the center (but I'm guessing not right downtown on, say, nevsky) runs about $300-$350. Do these rent estimates sound about right? I've got some russian friends in SP who could help me find a place by making calls, etc; i'm guessing this might save me some $$ cos the landlord won't immediately realize its for a foreigner and thus jack up the rent...

food: seems cheap enough if i shop at markets rather than eat out every night. for those of you living there, how much do you spend on food each month? and how much of that goes towards eating out, be it in a dingy cafeteria or a posh restaurant?

TAXES
Do people working free-lance have taxes taken out ahead of time, or is this something the free-lancer is responsible for? if it's the former, how much is taken out for a freelancer? if the latter, do people actually pay their taxes in the end, or do they tend to skip it altogether? And what are the odds of getting caught, if that's the case?

VISAS
if i do go, i'm considering paying for a year-long visa, which seems to ake more sense financially, as it's not much more then a 3 month visa (and certainly cheaper than 4 3-month visas, plus ensuing inter-country trips). has anyone managed to get a year's visa in a neighboring country such as estonia? i don't have time to get one here in the USA before I leave in a few weeks (headed to other parts of europe first). i can always enter on a 1 month visa first, if needed.

WORK PERMITS
what's the deal with permits? as a freelancer, will i need one? if so, who supplies it--the freelancer or the school?

WINTER
ahhh, winter; perhaps the most dreaded part of my plan. i've survived winters in the baltics, even windy, cold tallinn. can anyone tell me how the two (tallinn and SP) compare in terms of weather? also, is the winter in SP really as bad as i imagine? i've asked my russian friends about this one, but i'm rather afraid they've become immune to the winter's true force (much like their opinions about russian vodka and saunas).

HEALTH AND FITNESS
right, it may seem like a silly thing to think about but after years of living in eastern europe i found myself terribly out of shape. not that i was a triathlete before but living in places with 7-8 months of winter pretty much excludes things like jogging and hiking. for those of you who like sports and keeping in shape, what have you found that allows you to do so? i'd probably look for martial arts classes, and a gym with the smallest amount of thick-necked thugs.

THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT SP
what could you tell me about SP to convince me to move there? my reasons right now: been there once before, found something just amazing and gritty and beautiful and unexpected about the place--never a dull moment; an unexplained interest in russian culture in general; i've also got the afore-mentioned russian friends living there whom i would love to see more often; also, i'd love to learn the language, and i'd pretty much *have to* considering that english isn't as widespread in russia as in other parts.

well that's all i can think of for now. i'm eagerly awaiting any thoughts, answers, comments, warnings, encouragement and so on. thanks!

mike

[King Of Valencia]

Hello, i cant answer all your questions about Sp. But i can say i have spent a lot of time there Last trip was in Jan. I found the winter to be alright, being that i lived in Alaska the last 15 years. Same is true for Helsinki winters and Stockholm. So you already been in the winter on the gulf of Finland and its the same throughout in my judgment.

I�m going to start a class to teach English this Oct. in Spain bit warmer. And would like to teach in Russia or Ukraine. or Europe. Starting a new chapter my life now. info regarding teaching in East Europe will be welcome. As I said I spend a lot of time in Russia and Ukraine but never worked there. Ukraine is one of my favorite places to hang.

Little market is the place to go to stretch your cash on food and drink. I�ve done well finding good grub even down town markets. Use your friends to get you set up in apt. Trust me it works better that way.

I wish off the top of my head I had more info. I will dig some and pass it on to you. Good luck .

KOV

[expatella_girl]

This may be the first poster who didn't ask about his chances with Russian women.

I'll mark this special day on my calendar. Mike, you're a one-of-a-kind guy.

[canucktechie]

given that people say SP is quite expensive, is $10 an hour (assuming i work 25ish hours a week) enough to survive

That's $1000/month. Now, a contract employee at a major school in Moscow will get around $700 a month (or better), PLUS taxes paid (supposedly), PLUS accommodation, PLUS paid holidays, PLUS airfare, PLUS visa fees, PLUS medical. And need I add that being a contract employee is considered the "bottom of the barrel" by most seasoned Russia teachers.

You're not even touching this. Sure you can survive on this - most people in SP make less. But you're not going to live it up.

I guess it's just a matter of supply and demand - if you really, really want to live in SP maybe that's the going rate of compensation. I will leave it to the SP teachers to suggest better alternatives.

[mikey]