Job Discussion Forums

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Can anyone give me general information about EF in Vladivostok? Has anyone worked there?

Also, has anyone spent time in Vladivostok? Impressions/suggestions about the city?

I might be heading there in September, and am looking for any input the pros on the board could give me!

Cheers.

[Nexus]

I've spent a few weeks in Vladivostok on a couple of separate occasions, once for work and once socially and had a prety good time. Fortunately, I was well looked after as a guest but living there for a length of time independently may be a different story.

I only went in summer and places always look better in the sun. There is a passable beach in the centre, so everyone goes out swimming / sunbathing, drinking and having shashliks on the seafront. Very pleasant, but after a couple of weeks it was getting repetitive and the nightlife is fairly limited. If you can find some friends with a car, there are great day / weekend trips to be had in the region.

In winter, I hear it's a bit grim but the biggest problem is the housing / lack of infrastructure. Power cuts are frequent and when I was there, the water was off for a few hours almost every day. I can't see EF being generous with the housing either.

There are very few native speaker teachers there so you'll have minor celebrity status but I'd think twice about working for EF - I hear their course materials are pretty second rate. Try and speak to someone already there and get their feedback before making the leap.

BTW, did you know that Yul Brynner was also born there?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Of COURSE I knew Yul Brynner was born there; why the hell else would I go?

Thanks for your comments. I had supposed the winter would be rather dreary, but I'm a Minnesota boy, so I'm sure I can hack it.

I'm reading some hesitation regarding working for EF. Have you worked for this company, and are they famous for being stingy? I'm confident the salary they've offered me is liveable (little over $1k), but otherwise I have little to go on (except I know they're a huge school).

Any more insight is greatly appreciated!

Word life. j.

[zaneth]

Giving up on India?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I haven't given up on India quite yet; it's likely between staying here in Bangalore or heading to the tundra. I'd like to use some of the info I can glean from here (and other sources) to try and make a wise (-ish) decision.

Cheers.

[Nexus]

[Slim Jim]

I'd second what Nexus has to say. Info from the horse's mouth is essential before heading off way out to the edge of the Russian map. (Of course, that's why you posted here.) But I don't think that Vladivostok or any of the cities in the far east have the same buzz as Moscow or Peter - and an EFL teacher is definitely not such a cool novelty there with kudos and White-God status. The city is teeming with foreigners - oil and gas dudes, and especially Japanese - from what I've heard, and they have dough, unlike us monkeys way down the bottom of the food chain.

Also, from what I'm hearing, the textbooks are a pile of steaming c r a p. Using inferior materials is a disaster in the classroom and when you're forced to use them your whole teaching becomes automated, robotic, unimaginative. Incidentally, has anyone gone through the interview process with them? Talk about withholding information concerning terms and conditions, pay and actual location for work! EF really do keep their cards close to their chest. You go through the whole byzantine procedure only to be told the place you wanted to work already has a teacher lined up - and so you're offered a position in a p i s s y little locale or else the school hasn't even opened yet! Crafty s o d s, indeed. Look through the glossy corporate surface and make them tell you straight before you give them the benefit of the doubt.

Not many native teachers work for EF in Moscow, at least not when I was in the city. On good authority I heard the Moscow branches are kept alive and ticking by Russian English teachers who sometimes have to mislead the students about their country of origin. I sh it you not. Just like Sunny Plus in Moscow; another place employing a large number of non-native speakers. (Not a bad place to work in Moscow and well paid, by all accounts, but owned and run by a woman, Elena, who makes a Soviet gulag commandant come across a fluffy pussycat. Reluctantly dolls out the mixed-denomination notes as if the fate of Russia depended on it and, interestingly - this from a guy I knew who worked there - likes to employ married native teachers or have her obediant male teachers married off to Russian women so they stay in the job in Moscow working for her forever, ha-ha-ha - CUE: lightning and thunder sound effects).

Vladivostok. I love the sound of the word. So evocative - of vodka, carousing drunken sailors on leave from nuclear subs, of nefarious cross-border mafia activities, an interzone where the Motherland meets Asia. Wonder if it lives up to its reputation...

[Nexus]

[Seeker of truth]

What other websites display life in Vladivostok? Any blogs describing the lives of fellow expats there?

Vladivostok definately sounds adventurous.

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Well, I'm headed off to Vladivostok in a couple of weeks. Thanks for all your input.
I'm thinking it might be a LITTLE change from India (think?).
Cheers.j

[Seeker of truth]

jpvanderwerf2001,

By all means, keep us posted. I've always been curious about this city. Please share your future experiences with us. BTW, what kind of program are you going over there on?

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Привет Друзья !


Here are a few interesting links for Vladivostok:


http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Russia/TravelGuide-Russia.html (Virtual Tourist)

http://vn.vladnews.ru/ (Vladivostok News Online :: in English)

http://www.answers.com/topic/vladivostok (Answers.com)

http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/ (if you can read a little Russian?)

http://www.primorye.ru/camera/ (live webcams)

http://www.vladavia.ru/ (Vladivostok Airlines)

[Seeker of truth]

Is anyone in Vladivostok familiar with this organisation?

http://www.livinghope.vl.ru/

[dajiang]

In 2001 I passed through Vladivostok to visit a (very gorgeous btw) friend of mine there. Anyway, she helped me find a place to rent there with some landlady, which i did. It cost me about 800 rubles a month there, and it was quite comfy there.
The power cuts were a nuisance, but i took minivans anyway instead of the trams (which can lock you up during a power cut).

Anyway, it's a beautiful place. A few good uni's around.
You can actually climb most of the hills in the city. Gives you quite a nice view of the city harbour and stuff.
Right next to China of course, and lots of good Chinese and Japanese restaurants around.

I didn't work there though, but, thinking back now, I wouldn't mind.

Dajiang

[Seeker of truth]

So what's the best way to meet other gorgeous russians in Vladivostok who are not of poor character?