Job Discussion Forums

[oxi]

Nature girl,

You were in Romania, right? Well I think Baku�s prettier than Bucharest (by miles), but not as nice as eg. Timisoara. There�s lots to see outside Baku, but I still prefer Romania.

Baku�s not sooooo dirty. The old town�s quite beautiful. The surrounding area is very pedestrianised and pleasant. Then if you go any further, it does descend into Soviet block life.

I found Azeris to be generally very friendly and patient with drunken ex-pats..
What I liked least were all the drunken Scots straight out of Aberdeen on a two week drinking/whoring bender with a bit of work to do on the rigs before going back home to their wifes.

Moneywise, when I was in Baku 2003/4, British Council and ELS (English Language Solutions) competed and paid the best � about 15000 sterling a year. BC have just closed. Maybe ELS are dropping their salaries.

Students were mixed � some nice, interesting, motivated some not. Mostly BP oil workers.

What are you looking for out of your next job? Azerbaijan might be worth a year for culture and travel. But you wouldn�t save much.

[Dedalus2]

[oxi]

>What is the cost of living like? Rent and food for example? How much might one spend a month?

With $2500 a month in 2003/4 - could save a lot. My rent was $300 a month right next to the old town and work. It could have been less than $100 if I'd been willing to live further out, but still close to the metroline. Bills were very cheap at the time - maybe $20 or $30 a month. I think I spent less than $10 a day on food in cafes. Weekend, posher restaurants cost me $20, drinking could cost $1 (local beer) to $10 (expat bar). Many teachers joined one of the two posh hotel gyms that cost $100 a month. I joined a flea bitten one that cost $20. Getting out of Baku and travelling around can be incredibly cheap - I stayed in Sheki for $2 in the Caravansarai. Quba had a more expatty forest resort, I think it was $100 for a 2 room cottage (take 3 tight teachers with you and it works out fine)

>Is it possible to teach privates? If so, for how much?
Plenty people did, usually around $25 an hour. Privates weren't difficult to find - but you may need to keep it a secret from any school you work for.

Like I said, that was 2003/2004. Mike Buchan - are you there now? How is it? A few people have told me my $300 flat would be $600 now, and bills have gone up 200%. Cafes/restaurants well up too.

>There's an ad right now for Language Services Direct and I am curious though it seems people don't regard that outfit very highly.

As far as I know they're quite new, so I don't think they can be regarded any way yet. A friend told me the guy running it is sound and knows what he's doing. I think the money is less than before, as most schools feel they don't have to offer as much as before.

[bigbadsuzie]

I know all the inside gossip about Language Services Direct-PM me if you want to be warned before getting shafted.

[jonniboy]

[Red and white]

I'm in Azerbaijan now, and I'd say a salary in the US$2000 ballpark is pretty good going. I'm paying $600 in rent, and saving $6-800. That almost covers my mortgage back in the UK, and while I have a tenant in the flat it can fund savings or travel.

It depends on how you are - travel around town is cheap (most of it is small enough to walk around), a lot of local restaurants and bars are reasonably-priced. The Big Mac index is reasonable - a Big Mac meal is 3.7manat (1 manat = roughly 1 euro) - but you'd be better off grabbing a kebab for no more than 1.2 manat. On the other hand, processed foods and ready meals are hard to find and relatively pricy. If you are happy to cook your own stuff you can eat very cheaply here. If you can't manage more than putting a pizza in the oven you might find things a bit tougher.

Travel has worked out reasonably well too. I don't think the Sheki Karvansarai is still $2 a night - I paid $40 for a double room up there earlier this year - but you can get a share taxi for less than 10manat/person. And since it's a six-hour drive that's not bad value. I've not had much time to explore the rest of the country yet.

It's also a good place for visiting interesting neighbours. An overnight train to Tblisi was be 20manat one way (no visa for EU, US and maybe Canada). I flew to Moscow for $400 return, and I'm planning to get to Iran and Uzbekistan while I'm here.

There are some difficulties - with so much new building in the city it can feel very dusty (it hasn't rained in the three months I've been here either) and utilities can be a tad unpredictable (definitely worse than my last stop in Moscow, but not unacceptably so).

Like any destination, it's probably not for everyone. And work always affects your opinion of any city (I'm fairly happy with my job here). But I'm happy to help with more specific queries if anyone wants!

[redsoxfan]

I've been in Baku for 3 months, here's my take on the place:

Very conservative society. Not overtly Muslim, but the traditional values remain. Arranged marriages are very much the norm in the regions, and quite common in Baku. Men sit around and drink tea and play boardgames...quaint at first but...Girls don't go out and enjoy themselves in the evenings, it's simply not done. Pubs are for expats, a few young men and prostitutes. If you see a woman at a nightclub, she's almost certainly a prostitute. There are a few exceptions here and there, but really, the nightlife is not very good. Too bad because the women are quite attractive. That said, I have a local girlfriend. Then again, I'm much cooler than the vast majority of TEFLers

I don't understand why Baku is considered so dirty. Maybe the Caspian is polluted, and the soil around Baku as well...but just walking around the city it's no dirtier than most cities around the world.

The key is to get out of Baku on the weekends--go to the mountains, they're amazing. The village of Xiniliq is wonderful, some places around Sheki as well, and Georgia is only a night train away. I just got back from Tbilisi--wonderful place. I've spent a third of my weekends outside of Baku...very pleasant.

The food is good, I'd say. Excellent produce, quite cheap if you know a few words of Russian, not as cheap if you go to City Mart. Lots of herbs, coriander, basil...Restaurants are overpriced, but not necessarily so bad--Sultan's is a great Turkish joint, not very expensive. Georgian food/wine is around as well, again, you can eat a nice meal for twelve bucks with cheap wine.

Shopkeepers, bartenders, taxi drivers...they are very dishonest by and large. I've never had so many people try to rip me off. The idea of 'bargaining' sounds nice until you get fleeced every day.

There is a huge divide between Russian speakers (usually Azeris) and Azeri speakers. The former feel that they are better educated, more progressive and generally better than the latter group. Many Azeris barely speak their own language, they often seemed ashamed to associate themselves with the mass of villagers who have moved into Baku following the collapse of Communism and the ethnic tensions which followed. I must say that I find it very difficult to relate to the mentality of conservative locals (Azeri speakers), and I am sure that I will never make friends with any of them. In Georgia, I could imagine making lots of friends...But you'll find that there are a good number of educated Russian-speaking young professionals, many of which have a more European mindset.

Personally I'm here to earn money, explore this odd area of the world, and learn Russian. Like anywhere it's got its ups and downs, but I think living here is OK. Basically, it's possible to save a bunch of cash without living in the Middle East If you can only save $600, well, I'm not sure it's worth it. On our salary, we save $1000-$1300.

[Tiger Beer]

$2,000-2,500/month teaching ESL plus $25/hour privates. I didn't realize it paid that well over there.

Does that reflect the cost of living? As I'd think it would be a lot lower than most other regions that would pay that much (i.e. Korea and Japan).

[Red and white]

Well, I'm on $2100 for a 25-hour teaching week. I rent a single apartment (low-spec but central) for $600/month.

I'm pretty sure that, and most other things, are cheaper than Japan / Korea, but I've never been to these places.

I'd say one of the reasons the city is considered dirty is that in my neighbourhood when it comes to empty the dustbins they tip all the trash on to the pavement and men shovel it into the back of a truck. Most of it, anyway. And a dry summer with loads of building work = dust.

Definitely endorse the nightlife comments - it's easy not to spend money here even when you want to. I'm subsidising a UK mortgage at the same time and still saving steadily.