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rusmeister
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia
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 Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, I think you misunderstood a little what I was trying to say. The Mickey D employees that can be fairly compared with the teachers are NOT paying rent at all. So we can say the housing costs are "included". (The ones with 3 kids and two jobs don't come to Russia in the first place - the overwhelming majority of teachers, like McD employees, are single and under 30 - which means they definitely don't own their apartments and most could not live with paying serious rent at all.)
I do agree that a single teacher can survive (as in "not die") on a salary of 26,000. But it's a marginal existence. If you're spending less than 8,000 on food, you are definitely courting malnutrition. 10,000 would be a better estimate given what you have to fork over in the stores these days. For a single person. Again, a macaroni and buckwheat existence with bread and water can reduce that bill by maybe 50%, but it's a pretty cheerless existence.
The point of all that is that you're working for just a little more than McDonald's employees, having crossed half the world, visas and everything. A one year adventure? Probably. A marginal one? Definitely.
On private students: deals where the students pay regardless of whether they show up are rare. Most don't want to do it. Only companies will usually agree to it. So I doubt that that full sum is actually being drawn. More likely 75% of it. Next question - do the students come to the teachers or do the teachers have to travel to the students? For that kind of money, it is normally the latter. Travel time in Moscow is murder. By the time you've factored that in, you're running your tail off to make 50% above the base salary.
I'll bet the tax authorities would be really interested in a teacher wiring $18,000 home... Plus it represents roughly 50,000r a month, or about 50 hours of work, presumably above your base job (depending whether you're pulling 750 or 1,500 an hour) - 2.5 hrs a day, every day (or 12 and a half hours every weekend) with everybody paying and nobody calling in sick, etc... In short, it sounds fantastic for a one-year teacher at LL. It's possible- but rather improbable. Especially for a new college grad.
I remain skeptical. |
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jrwilheim
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 34
Location: New York
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| rusmeister wrote: |
| Actually, I think you misunderstood a little what I was trying to say. The Mickey D employees that can be fairly compared with the teachers are NOT paying rent at all. So we can say the housing costs are "included". (The ones with 3 kids and two jobs don't come to Russia in the first place - the overwhelming majority of teachers, like McD employees, are single and under 30 - which means they definitely don't own their apartments and most could not live with paying serious rent at all.) |
You contradict yourself. On the one hand you say they don't pay rent and on the other that "they could not live without paying serious rent at all." Which is it?
| rusmeister wrote: |
| I do agree that a single teacher can survive (as in "not die") on a salary of 26,000. But it's a marginal existence. If you're spending less than 8,000 on food, you are definitely courting malnutrition. 10,000 would be a better estimate given what you have to fork over in the stores these days. For a single person. Again, a macaroni and buckwheat existence with bread and water can reduce that bill by maybe 50%, but it's a pretty cheerless existence. |
All of which is hardly a marginal existence. I could easily keep my food budget to within 10,000 rubles a month if I wanted to. With a couple of privates, it isn't necessary; I keep it to within 15,000.
And my point here stands--you can easily save half your salary if you're reasonably frugal.
| rumeister wrote: |
| On private students: deals where the students pay regardless of whether they show up are rare. Most don't want to do it. Only companies will usually agree to it. So I doubt that that full sum is actually being drawn. More likely 75% of it. Next question - do the students come to the teachers or do the teachers have to travel to the students? For that kind of money, it is normally the latter. Travel time in Moscow is murder. By the time you've factored that in, you're running your tail off to make 50% above the base salary. |
How much time you spend running around Moscow is a completely separate question. I would still argue, however, that even if you do, you are being more than adequately compensated for your work teaching privates.
| rumeister wrote: |
I'll bet the tax authorities would be really interested in a teacher wiring $18,000 home... Plus it represents roughly 50,000r a month, or about 50 hours of work, presumably above your base job (depending whether you're pulling 750 or 1,500 an hour) - 2.5 hrs a day, every day (or 12 and a half hours every weekend) with everybody paying and nobody calling in sick, etc... In short, it sounds fantastic for a one-year teacher at LL. It's possible- but rather improbable. Especially for a new college grad.
I remain skeptical. |
Um...you don't wire that $18,000 home all at once. You do it in chunks. From coverage of the Eliot Spitzer scandal Stateside last year, I can tell you that wire transfers under $10,000 don't raise any eyebrows with American tax authorities.
It's also quite common for Russians to wire large sums of money because they a) don't use checks and b) don't have a reliable post office. I'm not sure wiring a large sum of money would cause the kind of problems you describe. |
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rusmeister
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:33 am Post subject: |
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| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rusmeister wrote: |
| Actually, I think you misunderstood a little what I was trying to say. The Mickey D employees that can be fairly compared with the teachers are NOT paying rent at all. So we can say the housing costs are "included". (The ones with 3 kids and two jobs don't come to Russia in the first place - the overwhelming majority of teachers, like McD employees, are single and under 30 - which means they definitely don't own their apartments and most could not live with paying serious rent at all.) |
You contradict yourself. On the one hand you say they don't pay rent and on the other that "they could not live without paying serious rent at all." Which is it? |
What contradiction? I'm saying they don't pay rent, and they couldn't pay serious rent because it would be their entire salary. They live with people (usually parents) who don't pay rent at all - just the kvartplata.
| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rusmeister wrote: |
| I do agree that a single teacher can survive (as in "not die") on a salary of 26,000. But it's a marginal existence. If you're spending less than 8,000 on food, you are definitely courting malnutrition. 10,000 would be a better estimate given what you have to fork over in the stores these days. For a single person. Again, a macaroni and buckwheat existence with bread and water can reduce that bill by maybe 50%, but it's a pretty cheerless existence. |
All of which is hardly a marginal existence. I could easily keep my food budget to within 10,000 rubles a month if I wanted to. With a couple of privates, it isn't necessary; I keep it to within 15,000.
And my point here stands--you can easily save half your salary if you're reasonably frugal. |
And my point that you're spending nearly half your pay just on food ought to be a wake-up call. Never mind transportation, communications, entertainment and culture (are you telling me you would come to Moscow and not visit the major cultural places?) and all sorts of miscellaneous expenditures.
| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rumeister wrote: |
| On private students: deals where the students pay regardless of whether they show up are rare. Most don't want to do it. Only companies will usually agree to it. So I doubt that that full sum is actually being drawn. More likely 75% of it. Next question - do the students come to the teachers or do the teachers have to travel to the students? For that kind of money, it is normally the latter. Travel time in Moscow is murder. By the time you've factored that in, you're running your tail off to make 50% above the base salary. |
How much time you spend running around Moscow is a completely separate question. I would still argue, however, that even if you do, you are being more than adequately compensated for your work teaching privates. |
It's exhausting. When you spend upwards of 4-5 hrs a day on commuting and factor that in, you're not getting paid as much as you think and you're a lot more tired.
| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rumeister wrote: |
I'll bet the tax authorities would be really interested in a teacher wiring $18,000 home... Plus it represents roughly 50,000r a month, or about 50 hours of work, presumably above your base job (depending whether you're pulling 750 or 1,500 an hour) - 2.5 hrs a day, every day (or 12 and a half hours every weekend) with everybody paying and nobody calling in sick, etc... In short, it sounds fantastic for a one-year teacher at LL. It's possible- but rather improbable. Especially for a new college grad.
I remain skeptical. |
Um...you don't wire that $18,000 home all at once. You do it in chunks. From coverage of the Eliot Spitzer scandal Stateside last year, I can tell you that wire transfers under $10,000 don't raise any eyebrows with American tax authorities.
It's also quite common for Russians to wire large sums of money because they a) don't use checks and b) don't have a reliable post office. I'm not sure wiring a large sum of money would cause the kind of problems you describe.
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I'm aware that most do it in chunks.
I don't know where you get that it is so common for Russians to wire that kind of money overseas. I'm married into a Russian family, lots of reasonably well-off friends and acquaintances, in Moscow and the region, and none of them do overseas transfers. If anything, they carry the chunks with them up to the customs limits when they travel.
You'll make a good DOS. Just print out your posts and show them to the management. If you stay a second year, you'll be in like Flynn. |
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jrwilheim
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 34
Location: New York
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:55 am Post subject: |
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| rumeister wrote: |
| What contradiction? I'm saying they don't pay rent, and they couldn't pay serious rent because it would be their entire salary. They live with people (usually parents) who don't pay rent at all - just the kvartplata. |
Maybe you need to consider another field. Your exact words were, as I quoted them directly:
| rumeister wrote: |
| they could not live without paying serious rent at all |
meaning that they do pay rent. You want to have it both ways.
| rumeister wrote: |
| And my point that you're spending nearly half your pay just on food ought to be a wake-up call. Never mind transportation, communications, entertainment and culture (are you telling me you would come to Moscow and not visit the major cultural places?) and all sorts of miscellaneous expenditures. |
Your analysis here is deeply flawed because it doesn't consider that my real pay would include what LL spends on my apartment ($600 a month). The $400 or so I spend on food would be about a quarter of my salary when that is factored in. That's about the same percentage as when I lived in New York.
| rumeister wrote: |
| It's exhausting. When you spend upwards of 4-5 hrs a day on commuting and factor that in, you're not getting paid as much as you think and you're a lot more tired. |
I teach in-company and LL compensates me for that travel time with an in-company bonus of $2.50 per academic hour, on top of the $1000 a month I already earn. The privates I have do not require a lot of travel time; one is within walking distance of where I live. Again, it's totally up to the teacher where he is willing to travel for private students and to set rates that factor in travel time. I have not once spent 4-5 hours a day in transit. |
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rusmeister
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Like I said,
| Quote: |
| You'll make a good DOS. Just print out your posts and show them to the management. If you stay a second year, you'll be in like Flynn. |
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Def
Joined: 09 Sep 2007
Posts: 58
Location: London
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:47 am Post subject: |
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| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rumeister wrote: |
| What contradiction? I'm saying they don't pay rent, and they couldn't pay serious rent because it would be their entire salary. They live with people (usually parents) who don't pay rent at all - just the kvartplata. |
Maybe you need to consider another field. Your exact words were, as I quoted them directly:
| rumeister wrote: |
| they could not live without paying serious rent at all |
meaning that they do pay rent. You want to have it both ways. |
Actually, just to be pedantic... if you scroll up to rusmeister's post of October 5, and your following post on the same date, and rusmeister's reply on October 6, it's evident that what rusmeister said was:
they could not live WITH paying serious rent.
In fact, in your (jrwilheim) post of October 5, you quote rusmeister, then underneath misquote what's said, in your own typing. As below.
| jrwilheim wrote: |
| rumeister wrote: |
Actually, I think you misunderstood a little what I was trying to say. The Mickey D employees that can be fairly compared with the teachers are NOT paying rent at all. So we can say the housing costs are "included". (The ones with 3 kids and two jobs don't come to Russia in the first place - the overwhelming majority of teachers, like McD employees, are single and under 30 - which means they definitely don't own their apartments and most could not live with paying serious rent at all.) |
| jrwilheim wrote: |
| You contradict yourself. On the one hand you say they don't pay rent and on the other that "they could not live without paying serious rent at all." Which is it? |
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Probably just misread what was originally said there, I presume?
(bold mine. ooo.)
Anywho, my actual point is that in your (jrwilheim) 'direct' quote, it's been changed from WITH to WITHOUT, despite at least 3 previous postings in which it's been quoted as WITH. Interesting, no?
... no? Just to me then, eh?  |
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maruss
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1145
Location: Cyprus
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject: Have alook on tefl.com |
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| There are jobs advertised there in cities such as Perm and Kazan which pay $1200 plus accom. nowadays so with the cost of livng in Moscow shouldn't they be offering much more for people to work there? |
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LJKSU
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Posts: 6
Location: Kent, OH | Saint Petersburg, Russia
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| Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:05 am Post subject: |
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I don't know about the other LL franchises, but do not work for LL Samara. This is a definite NO-NO.
The school does not care for it's foreign teachers and is like a revolving door of teachers - no one stays and that is probably due to Kate Chinkova - the assistant director there who is less than pleasurable, rude and has no people skills whatsoever.
She's one of those people who you think will never marry because no one could ever live with such a person. She's cute and can play little miss sweety when she wants something but watch out!
About the salaries, I don't know how any American can live on $600 a month in Samara without a drastic change in lifestyle. Granted going to Russia you have to accept a change in lifestyle as it is but unless you literally eat and live like a Russian, this isn't possible.
Russians don't go to MCDonald's. That's why the first thing you notice when you come back to America (if you survived Kate Chinkova) is that all Americans are so fat.
Minimum to live a normal life in Russia (even adjusted from American life) is $900 and that's pushing it! That's going to be a simple life. Maybe you like blini everyday for breakfast and kapusta for dinner... but if you don't... then it's not enough! |
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