Job Discussion Forums

[amelie]

A school in Puebla has offered 7400mp a month to teach English. They would also pay for my health insurance. Is this enough to afford a decent roomateless apartment (ie not in a terrible location or falling apart), food and transportation (by bus) for the month? I have savings which will cover the start-up costs of living in Mexico (deposit, some funrniture etc...) but I want to know if living on this amount of pay would be sufficient. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

[M@tt]

barely, and you're not going to save anything. is the salary before or after taxes? if it's before, i would say you are going to eat into your savings, unless you supplement by tutoring or table dancing (much more popular than learning english).
if you are frugal, you might manage.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

amelie,

One reason I think people are slow to respond to your question is that the cost of living varies so much from location to location within Mexico. Only those who are familiar with Puebla's cost of living can really give you a sound answer. If the amount you quoted would be your take-home salary, you could get by okay on it in the city where I am, but I don't know about Puebla.

Table dancing, M@tt? And all this time I thought you were just into skateboards and computers to make an extra peso or two!

[chula]

in Guanajuato teachers, who teach at the university level, take home $4,000 and survive. note, i didn�t say flourish, but survive. that�s something you have to think about before you take the job--really seriously think about. do you want to scrape by for a few months or a year or is this just an extended vacation thing. and yeah, if it�s an extended vacation and you�re blonde, i�d go with the table dancing. you�d probably make significantly more

[M@tt]

i think puebla is a little bit expensive, but i've only visited. i'm sure living in the center, which is colonial and quite nice, would be pricey by mexican standards. keep in mind that most mexicans who make crappy salaries are splitting costs 5 ways with all the family members they live with, or they may be living in a family house that has been paid for and not have to think about rent.

table dancing is not my favorite sporting event in the world, but i would put it second to soccer(football) in terms of popularity in mexico. i don't know what table dancers earn, but i was offered 1000 pesos once to be a 'dancer' (stripper) for two hours at a private party. that's about 8 times higher than what i get paid for teaching, but i decided not to.
strangely enough, it was at a party for kindergarten teachers from several schools in the area. hmmm...

[amelie]

Thanks guys for responding. It sounds as though 7400 might be a little less than I need to pay for basic necessities. Seeing as I refuse to table dance for anyone except my husband , how much could I realistically make tutoring on the side? Or, should I perhaps hold-out for a higher paying school? Do schools pay much more than 7400 pesos though?? Are there any other legitimate and honourable ways to make money on top of my teaching salary? I'm not looking to get rich or even save money, just to be able to afford to live comfortably and perhaps go on a couple weekend trips to see parts of the country throughout the year.

Thanks!