Job Discussion Forums

[Infinite]

[ecocks]

[Infinite]

ha, you must not get out much... I know plenty... families, lives, fluent Polish, citizenships and the whole 9... just goes to show doesn't it.

[ecocks]

[dragonpiwo]

Infinite, it isn't the same no matter where you go. Most developed democracies have a large 'middle class', so the 'vast majority' aren't on a minimum wage. Just Google income distribution graphs.

Do you want me to draw one?

[dynow]

Infinite wrote:

[dragonpiwo]

You're right Dynow. My ex-wife has a hand-me-down flat, my fiancée has a hand-me-down flat and I'm currently house hunting. I've literally looked at hundreds if not thousands of houses and flats online and I've gotta say it's hard finding a place for reasons which include; totally ridiculous asking prices; horrendous old plumbing and electrics; totally unfinished places; shoddy build quality but most of all awfully planned insides with weird shaped rooms, huge halls but tiny bedrooms and so on. And, what is it with Kermit the frog green paint? There but have been a job-lot of it in Poland at some point, easily fixable I know but a reflection on shabby taste. I looked at a new build place yesterday, which was painted purple-wtf? My colleague lives in Turkey, which is another country doing well. Huge flats and houses can be had there for 50-70 thousand Euro. When I look at the shoe boxes in Poland , which cost more, I just gasp. The market isn't efficient for sure.

When I was married, a typical week involved going to babcia's and eating and going to the parents and eating. Every visit resulted in a food parcel. As I said, the flat was given to her for free. Her dad bought her car. My current partner is an HR manageress and gets a free car and petrol, free phone and all her food, she also has a hand-me down flat, which we don't live in. Both are in the pension system, so will get something and both will receive benefits if sick.

It's ridiculous to say that a native speaker is the same as a Pole when it comes to how they can live on their own salary, whether they have a good or bad one.

Poland looks richer now and incomes have gone up ever so slightly but less, much less than inflation over a decade. What has changed is that the young generation are and will be financed by debt. For TEFL teachers the wages simply haven't gone up. The figures people bandy around on here as being good were what you could earn in 96 or 97 and I know cos I did it.

[Infinite]

I find the reasoning behind expats vs. immigrants silly. Millions immigrants go back to their homelands... on top of that, their children do too. Now more than ever even. Yet, the difference between the anglo-saxon and the rest of the world is drawn in the sand and it can't be crossed. Kind of absurd way of looking at the world from the saxon horse. In my small town alone there are four expat families, in Warsaw I knew a bunch from Canada, Ireland, the UK and the US even New Zealand... know some in Krakow and in Wroclaw as well. The longer you live somewhere, the more you end up meeting, they blend in. My first year here I met an American who was a very prominent lawyer in Warsaw, perfect Polish, you'd never know. That's just Poland... there are thousands all over this planet, just not on this board... oh, wait... as far as we can tell there are at least two active with families... and I know for a fact that there are three others lurking. Wow... incredible.

[Infinite]

[ecocks]

[ecocks]

[dragonpiwo]

I think most of us younger folk know we'll be working till we drop. For me that's OK because I get bored when I have too much time off. I quite fancy doing a couple of privates a day from my front room or doing online work as an old fuddy duddy, then sitting back with a bottle of wine.

In the UK new laws are coming into place whereby private work related schemes will be compulsory.

I'm looking into it now...better late than never!

[stonethecrow]

Just a quick update after 4 months here.
The bad bits - surly or shouty teenagers and a superior often lacking tact.
Good bits - It's a decent company to work for. I like most of my colleagues. The boss is an English bloke and seems fair in what he does.

Working Saturday mornings was a bitch at first but I'm used to it now.

As for the money and the accommodation... the money is fine, I get by quite easily on it. However, I've got a holiday planned and the ski season has started so I'll see how I get on for the next month or two. Living in a small, cheap town helps. At the moment though, the bank account is nice and stable, verging on being portly. (think the Fat Conductors cousin who is a banker)
Accommodation is OK too, maybe I'm easily pleased. A 2 minute walk (often run) to work is brilliant.

So despite the lingering haze of gloom and occasional howl of doom about TEFL jobs in Poland, there are jobs for newbies that are, I'd go as far as to say, good.

Whether I stay on another year is another matter.

[ecocks]

About normal then.