Job Discussion Forums

[Borra Botas]

Where others see problems, I see opportunities:

- I'm a non native EFL teacher
- I know Minsk really well
- I enjoy the city and it's people

However...

- I know very little about language schools over there (I think there is only one private school operating)
- So far, I wasn't able to find in this forum someone reporting a recent experience of how it�s to teach in Belarus and what are the pros and cons.

Anyone out there that can help me?

Thanks in advance.

[maruss]

Only the International House franchise in Minsk ever seems to advertise vacancies for foreign teachers and I have not even seen those for several years.The main problem with Belarus is the regime and the guy who is the head of it(no need to name him!!) who still thinks he can run a version of the Soviet Union in the 21st Century,complete with the K.G.B. to boot!People have literally vanished there without trace or later been found murdered and even Putin seems to have had enough of him!His latest brainwave was to hassle the U.S. Embassy there and reduce their volume of staff and the E.U. has Belarus listed as one of the worst regimes in Europe for human rights violations etc.
My personal experience of the place from several visits there(I have a close friend in Brest) was that living standards were basic but adequate and many people there seemed to think they are better off than those in other countries in the region,including Russia!But that was 10 years ago so it may have changed,although reports don't seem to indicate that!The bureaucracy is notoriously Soviet style and I cannot even imagine how a foreigner would be given permission to live and work there,especially if they are from a western country which is considered' hostile!'What you can do though is to visit Belarus by train from Russia as there has been no border control between the two countries for years,especially if you know it well as your chances of being caught would be minimalised!I did it several times without any problem whatsoever,but don't try to cross over to Poland,Ukraine or Lithuania from there because you will be fined and possibly interogated for not buying a transit visa in advance!You cannot buy it on the train at the border in Brest either when you arrive from Poland,as I discovered in 1998 and was sent back to Warsaw to get one from their Embassy there,even though it was Saturday afternoon and they did not open until Monday!(even though I was going straight to Russia with the same train and at that time did not need a Russian visa with my Cyprus passport!)
Having said all that,Minsk is quite pleasing in appearance and very clean,especially when you consider how badly it was damaged in WW2.
Compared to Moscow,prices are much cheaper but I did not find people there very easy to get to know either, despite my knowledge of Russian.

[Borra Botas]

Maruss,

First of all thank you for your reply. However, it seems it's been a while since you have been to Belarus.

- The political situation is really a crappy one, but actually you don�t feel it at all on a daily basis. Probably the only hassle you will get is if you are walking on the street and some "militia" notice that you are a foreigner. They will try immediately to rip you off with their crazy laws about registration and so on.

- The visa issue can be "solved" also. As long as you fly to Minsk International Airport (nr.2) you can get a visa issued on the spot. You just have to get a certain contact and he will do this for you, for something like 100 Euros. All legal and clean, no dirty business

- As far as Minsk concerns, it's a great city, clean and organised, safe and with excellent public transportation. HOWEVER, I'm afraid that, especially over the last few years, Minsk has followed the "Moscow trend", i.e., got increasingly expensive. People over there are getting paid an average salary of $500 a month and when asked what it would be a good monthly salary for them, the answer is always "No less than $1000, if you want to have a normal life on your own". Of course, this concerns the capital only.

- Language Schools... well, I have seen some advertisement of what are apparently "private language schools", but I really don�t know much about their �modus operandi�. That�s the kind of info I was looking for. That said, I know of some Belarusian people that give private classes to students, at a very attractive rate. Usually it's somebody that lived in the States or in the UK for same time. And, in my opinion, that's a market opportunity waiting to be taken..

[ytuque]

I visited Belarus in 2004 and 2005 and investigated getting a teaching position there in 2007. The only language school that advertises for teachers in Minsk is International House, and they will not consider you qualified unless you have a Celta. I have an MS from a top US university and a TEFL, but I was told that I was unqualified without a cheesy CELTA which you can knock out in 3 weeks. BTW, what a coincidence they offer a CELTA class!

I check also into getting a position with a university, and basically, there is not interest since they can get Fulbright/Peace Corp folks for free. I suspect that this is still the situation. One professor told me that she might be able to help me get a position for $250 per month, but it never materialized.

In my time in Belarus, I found the people very nice (under 40 years old) and the authorities + babushkas and dedushkas very suspicious of outsiders. It is a police state, so be prepared to be stopped regularly. I always kept my documents and some cash to bribe my way out of any situations. I was able to talk my way out since my passport, tourist visa, police registration, and medical insurance were all in order.

If you have your heart set on going to Belarus, it won't be easy and you most likely won't be able to support yourself on your earnings.

[Borra Botas]

So that means that whoever has the International House franchise in Minsk is just interested in 'fresh meat' for their own 'consumption', with the obvious 'economical' advantages. Sounds logical!

Also $250 a month in Minsk is beyond survival rate. Even with free accommodation, that's an outrageous proposal. You were lucky that it never materialized

[maruss]

Because it's the capital,Minsk is the most expensive city in the country and even $500 per month would not be considered a lot nowadays!But like we said,there is virtually no choice of jobs in Belarus so they can offer what they want to pay!
It is also a sad reality that the country has one of the nastiest regimes in Europe,with only places like Transdniestr under Smirnov and Putins Russia being comparable,but definitely not worse!

[Borra Botas]

Maruss,

Even $1000 would be not enough nowadays, for the local standard. Just like in Moscow, but in a much smaller scale, a social elite is growing and that's where the opportunity lays. I don't think International House can cover the needs for all of the new 'filthy' rich.

The only time I felt what is to live in a dictatorship was when I got thoroughly searched in Minsk airport for 3 hours (this included me and my luggage). Afterwards, they said they were looking for 'illegal import of porn'

[maruss]

Why don't the authorities there do something about prostitution as well!It is rife in Minsk and other cities and so much so that people even go there from abroad because the prices are 'cheap' when compared with Moscow etc!One enterprising Greek-Cypriot here even runs so -called 'package tours' to Minsk which include these'services'.He is a close friend of the chief of police in Belarus and says there are no problems for himself or his 'tourists!'
On a more general note there used to be a famous Indian restaurant in Brest which did such good curry at cheap prices that people literally drove all the way from Moscow to eat there!

[Borra Botas]

Maruss,

What kind of prostitution are you referring to? The 'official 'one or the 'disguised' one? The first costs less, the second can ruin a man

The sad thing is that there are so many girls desperate to leave the country that they will do almost anything to achieve that...

[maruss]

It's very sad of course but if there were no 'customers' these girls would not turn to that profession!Actually,the standard of living in Belarus did not seem to be so bad as in places like Moldova or Albania.

[Borra Botas]

The standard of living is way over the ones of Moldavia and Albania. Generally speaking, mentality is also different. People in Minsk are usually very ambitious, their lives exclusively money orientated (their true religion) and extremely demanding of what the economical status of a foreigner should be, i.e., all visitors from 'Europe' are supposedly millionaires.

[maruss]

Not only in Minsk but also in other cities like Brest and Vitebsk for example!
I also found that people in Belarus are even less friendly to strangers than Russians are,although whether that's because of the regime and its paranoia about outsiders being enemies etc. is difficult to say.

[Borra Botas]

The political situation over there doesn't obviously help people trusting strangers, even more if they come from another country. However, as soon as you get a grip of the language and of their way of living, they actually become extremely friendly and helpful.

[mdk]

My Belarus experience was not my favorite.

If you buy a ticket to Berlin at the Kievskaya Voksal they don't bother to mention that Americans need a Belarus visa to cross Belarus. They won't stop you at the border going in. They will haul you off the border going out and you will have to kick your heels while they threaten you with being an illegal alien. You will have to pay baksheesh and eat boo-coo crow. You will look at the poor sad sacks standing around in the Immigration office at Brest waiting for someone to deal with their case.

As you leave Belarus you will promise yourself that if they ever catch your tuches in Belarus again, they can have it for a birthday present.

Save yerself a lot of grief. Take the Moscow train to Helsinki next time and cur through Sweden. Belarus - foooey!

Lemmee at that Gravlax!

[Borra Botas]

For some reason the job as a frontier guard in Brest is one of the most ambitioned in the whole police force. I heard a couple of stories of guys that got 'rich' doing that job

Transit visas are a very good business for them and they know perfectly well that people usually don't get them in Russia, before making the trip...

Taking the train via Kiev will save foreigners a lot of trouble...