Job Discussion Forums

[mick_luna]

Sao Paulo supposedly has work opps., i wouldn't recommend working in Rio to my worst enemy (well, maybe my worst enemy). Slavery still exists in Brazil. I found one school called Picadilly Circus, in Rio, offering all the work i wanted, at 5 Reais per hour. That's around 2.50 CAD, less than 2 USD per hour. If you lived on the street or in a violent ghetto (favela) you might be able ot live on that in rio. I saw a few expats apparently working there, not sure if they were really that desperate or what. A lot of Brazilians thought that foreigners were escaped convicts, or on the lam from some crime, and they were often correct. That is the only reason i could see someone staying and teaching at those wages and in those conditions. The job i did get lasted 6 weeks, teaching the most godawful business textbook (it may have been Cambridge Business English, something like that) that was 10 years out of date, for less than 5 USD per hour. THis involved a 5 or 6 hour commute on the bus for 4 hours of teaching. i still tried to hold onto this miserable job because of my girlfriend in rio, i had it for 6 wks, out of a year and three months living there (its pretty cheap, and people try to help each other out, i was able to live off meager savings and stay with my girlfriends family a while).
If you're a heavy sleeper, you can fall asleep to the sound of automatic gunfire (there is an undeclared war in rio, btwn rival traffickers and cops, 10 000 murders a year). There are frequent armed robberies of buses (since they don't have security, as usual, it is the poor who get robbed) and muggings.
However, very nice girls there. Very sexual and feminine, but relationships in such an inequitable society (minimum wages are around 100 dollars a month, many full time workers live in the street, the majority of pop. is very poor ) can be complicated, and honesty is not a noted Brazilian characteristic. Not that its a noted Canadian characteristic, or any other nationality, but i've never met so many people so intent on building dream castles from the moment of meeting, with no intention of fulfilling anything they say. Also, girls are very jealous, there was a case last year of a beautiful 25 yr old who was wanted for the burning and beating death of a 16 yr old girl who had taken her boyfriend. Brazilian men tend to be very promiscuous, it is almost always assumed a man will cheat if he has the chance, and there are lots of chances.

Beautiful architecture and scenery, wonderful music and dancing, great culture, but it saw its heyday maybe 30 years ago and is on the decline.

I'm looking for info about E.Europe, especially Ukraine, Bulgaria,etc. I only know the Czech Rep., I found much of the Czech rather jaded, in a sense, by exposure to Westerners since the Fall.

Have been told Ukraine and Bulgaria and perhaps Romania offer more opportunity in terms of work, business and relationships, but i am still seeking more specific info.

[csenoner]

wow. I always hear people saying that rio is so dangerous, but those are the ones who havent been there. Everyone I have talked to who has been there has told me that they felt safe. Was it really that hard to find work. I am considering a move there fairly soon, do you think it is possible to actually find good work and pay rent and get by in rio as a tefl teacher? How many schools are there .How much did you make a month? was it enough to pay rent? how much is rent in reals and american dollars. I also heard that there are many opportunities in sao paulo. have you checked em out. so giving up on brazil and latin america? I couldnt imagine going from rio to eastern europe, and from what I hear, they dont pay much over there either. I was in rome for a year and there are plenty of opportunities there if you go at the right time, and the same is said to be true of barc, madrid, milan. would you really advise me against going. thanks alot, but it seems you have some valuable insight.