Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

[MamaOaxaca]

[Justin Trullinger]

In Cuenca, those big bottles of Pilsener are all you're going to get for the forseeable future....it's a local product, and all.

THe other local brands are Club, which comes primarily in cans. THey're recently come up with a new product, called "Club Verde," which comes in a green bottle, and is obviously a Heineken knock-off. It's tasty, though, at least relatively speaking.

Up until recently, the third brand was "Biela," a local brand whose name is really a corruptions of the words for "nice and cold." (Pronounce "una bien helada" in a costal accent, and you can see how they got there.) I thought it was a great marketing trick to name a beer "a cold one." But it didn't work, and they went out of business a year or so back.

Recently arrived is "Clausen," which is trying, and failing, to seem like a German beer. I don't know where it comes from. (THough a sewage treatment plant seems like a fair guess.)

best,
Justin

PS Plenty of imports around, but I wouldn't want to be snobby. When in Rome, drink as the Romans drink.

[SueH]

I've only ever worked part-time in teaching (as a refugee from IT) and in the UK was only ever earning about 200 or so pints (Imperial) of beer, but you can't get decent unpasteurised live beer anywhere else in the world (with the odd, minor exception) so in my opinion the comparison is invalid.

Here in Italy I earn about 400 glasses of wine a month...., or around 130 wood-fired pizze.

[ls650]

I'm just impressed that 5 out of 17 polled earn more than $4000 US per month!

[Stephen Jones]

[Sherri]

I was earning well over $5000 a month while in Tokyo. I earn less now, but have a far better quality of life. That is what counts for me in the end.
Sherri

[saint57]

I was surprised to learn that my net pay can buy me 1127 cans of Tiger beer here in Malaysia. I usually only drink 10% of that amount each month, but it feels like my whole salary is spent on not so great beer. It's important to note that beer is more expensive here than in Canada. That's why I've cut down so much.

[taikibansei]

[denise]

I earn about what I had seen listed as starting salaries for full time EFL teachers in certain US universities--ridiculously low for full-time positions, which are hard to come by there anyway. Here, I get the salary plus:

paid, furnished accommodations
paid airfare
two months of paid vacation
job security (i.e., my job isn't affected by student enrollment)

Don't know how many beers I could buy, since I've never liked the stuff and getting alcohol here in Oman is a chore, but for the first time in a few years (since my last well-paying job in Japan), I can afford a car, hobbies, trips, household goodies, etc., and still save probably $1000 or more/month without any scrimping.

d

[Gordon]

Beers? I haven't had a drink in 7 years. What about McDonald's kids meals? I earn about 900 kids meals/month. That's a scary thought.

[Jyulee]

Er.. I can afford about 2,000 cans of beer a month.

A private student of mine works for BudMiller, and has told me at length about the beer markets in Colombia. I have other classes teaching the barstaff at a pub close to me (long story...).

Beer is going through a mini-revolution right now. While it was previously considered to be "something that young people (men) drink in excess at the weekends to get wasted", it is moving towards "a sophisticated mid-day drink". Especially now with Peroni (which has just been released here), it costs 3 times as much as any other beer. This makes it acceptable for the class-conscious upper classes to drink it.

"Brava", which has high-alcohol content, is considered a competitor for stronger drinks (like rum or aguardiente) - typically the domain of the working-class male.

But, if you really know what you're doing, you'll drink the imported German beers in the western style "pubs" which cost about what they would in Europe - a small fortune in pesos.

Sorry, what was the original question again?

[John Hall]

Wow! I started this poll about two days ago, and now that I have come back, there are two pages of messages! Perhaps though, I shouldn't count the second page, because it is mostly about beer.

Is this a relevant topic? I think so. That's why I started it. And I am perfectly aware of the cost-of-living issue. After all, I used to teach in Japan, where my salary was more than ten times what it was when I first started teaching in Costa Rica. Many of us can't save money (myself included). But if you can save just two percent of your salary per month, then it does make a big difference how much you are making.

Those who have claimed in the poll that they make over $5000 per month may, of course, be joking. But it is not unbelievable that a teacher working in Tokyo or some part of the Gulf could be making that much.

True, while I was in Japan, I never was rich by Japanese standards. But if I had taken my savings from Japan, and used them wisely when I came to Costa Rica (unfortunately, I did not! ), I would have been quite well off by this country's standards, and would have been quite happy here. (Costa Rica is a Third World country, but if you are doing well economically here, you can have quite an enjoyable life.)

My Costa Rican wife's father was born in Spain. I believe that makes her eligible for Spanish citizenship, doesn't it? If so, I believe that I could go with her to Spain, teach English there for a few years, and then come back to Costa Rica with some savings in hand which would improve my standard of living here? Anyone have any thoughts about the viability of this plan?

[naturegirl321]

[ls650]

For me, roughly 1400 beers per month.