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Pikgitina
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 420
Location: KSA
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 Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Vancouver Girl wrote: |
Abu Dhabi...and the Emirates in general...are intrinsically boring. The Emiratiis like it that way..as so the people who actually run the place ie Hindustanis.
All the Dubai flash you read about in the newspapers is just that....flash. Most of the residents...English teachers on $33, 000 a year etc...(remember... most people working in the UAE would be considered far below the poverty level of any respectable nation)..simply cannot afford to partake in the supposed pleasures of life in the Persian Gulf. |
Shame!  Who earns that as an English teacher in the UAE? I'm guessing teachers who work at language schools probably. Where I am based, people earn between $50K and $70K annually (excluding benefits). |
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Vancouver Girl
Joined: 01 May 2010
Posts: 8
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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| I was on Dh 12,000 a month plus benfits (benefits being...getting screamed at and generally abused etc. by the most racially conscious tribe on earth) when I worked for.... |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Vancouver Girl wrote: |
| I was on Dh 12,000 a month plus benfits (benefits being...getting screamed at and generally abused etc. by the most racially conscious tribe on earth) when I worked for.... |
As in most places, if you have an MA and some experience, you will certainly up your pay and usually the work situation. (though management problems seem to be endemic in Gulf education). But the salary you mention is what I was earning when I left there in the mid-90s. And even that number is dramatically higher than the average ESL teacher in the US earns today. (and they have to pay for rent and health insurance out of that number) Income often trumps living conditions...
Personally I found Abu Dhabi a pleasant enough place to live... it is certainly nicer than somewhere like Cairo or Kuwait City. That was true then and so my friends there say it still is. But Cairo was much more fun!!
VS |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| Pikgitina wrote: |
I agree that the buildings don't have much aesthetic appeal...pity. I wouldn't call it a mess though. I'd reserve that word for downtown Jakarta, Hudayda on the Red Sea and Hafr Al-Baten.  (Especially the latter.)
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Thanks for that, Pik. A particular problem I had in the highrises--I lived in one of them--is that most did not provide underground parking like they do in Dubai. Aside from Westerners--I know this sounds terrible--nobody in the Emirates knows how to park or drive, and my car got scratched and dented three times in two years in the AD parking lot outside my apartment. And nobody ever notifies you, either. It's always hit and run. |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 7:12 am Post subject: |
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[quote="veiledsentiments"]
| Vancouver Girl wrote: |
I was on Dh 12,000 a month
But the salary you mention is what I was earning when I left there in the mid-90s. And even that number is dramatically higher than the average ESL teacher in the US earns today. But Cairo was much more fun!!
VS |
That's $39,000 annually, VS (no need to tell you that!) In Houston most ESL openings at he community colleges offer income dramatically higher than that. And as I've pointed out, Laramie Community College, as one example, was recently offering $50-60K. I think about half of the CC's around the country offer more than $42K. $38K is on the low side these days
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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You should know that comparing gross pay is nonsense!!  You will have to pay taxes and rent... no free ticket for your annual holiday... your car will cost you more... your fuel for it will cost you more...
The problem in the US is that less than 10% of their teachers will have contracts with salaries and benefits while the other 90% are adjunct getting hourly pay only. (and then there are all the ESL people that can't even get on as an adjunct) You literally have to wait for one of the contract teachers to die... and you will probably die of old age waiting... because half of the other adjuncts are in line before you to get one.
The one urban community college that I applied at had 3 contract people (including the director) and the other 50 teachers were adjunct. That was true in the CC system, the university system, and the adult education systems.
VS |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 7:55 am Post subject: |
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I agree with all that, VS. But you were discussing gross salaries of Dh. 12,000 in your earlier post.
I certainly agree that there are always 50 adjuncts in the wings, and they advertise openings only because they're supposed to. Who said ESL in the home countries is a good gig? Nonetheless, I do know people who went back and got jobs right away. I knew somebody who couldn't stand DWC or Dubai and went back and got a job pretty quickly in Palm Beach, FL. I oculd get used to that, but I know you, VS will consider that a vastly inferior place to the Emirates. But it's fine if you happen to have a f/t position and your house is paid off! Or even if not..a salary of say $42K is OK for someone paying $800-900 for a rental apartment. You just won't get ahead like you do in the ME.
If I have a paid-off house in the US, it means I don't have housing costs other than property taxes and upkeep. In that case I would stay in the US even with a fairly low salary of $38K. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 8:42 am Post subject: |
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I find it hard to rationalise but I wouild not consider working in UAE. A very strange place where the locals are ounumbered by the "Gunga Dins".
Too many Beckham-wannabes amongst a very large population of "Daily Mail" readers. An econmy that must implode sooner rather than later. (Mind you that now seems to be true of the entire "Western", i.e. capitalist world.) |
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Pikgitina
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 420
Location: KSA
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 9:22 am Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| Too many Beckham-wannabes amongst a very large population of "Daily Mail" readers. |
Love it!!! |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Sheikh N Bake wrote: |
| You just won't get ahead like you do in the ME. |
And therein lies the point.
Only a tiny minority of ESL/EFL teachers have a paid off house... and you are right... Florida would be very near the bottom on my list of places that I would want to live... it might tie with Houston. (sorry couldn't resist... hate hot and humid... my biggest beef about the UAE actually)
VS |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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I'm in that tiny minority...which allows me to stroll towards the light...
NCTBA |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| Sheikh N Bake wrote: |
| You just won't get ahead like you do in the ME. |
And therein lies the point.
Only a tiny minority of ESL/EFL teachers have a paid off house... and you are right... Florida would be very near the bottom on my list of places that I would want to live... it might tie with Houston. (sorry couldn't resist... hate hot and humid... my biggest beef about the UAE actually)
VS |
Ooh, you'd love Southeast Asia then. But I can't stand the humidity there anymore. At least in the Qassim in the magical kingdom, the heat is truly dry.
As for paid-off houses, what's wrong with TEFLers then? I paid mine off in 6 years. I knew somebody who 15-20 years ago paid off hers in San Francisco (yah, I know, VS, Abu Dhabi is vastly superior to SF
I know another TEFLer who has paid-off houses in Hawaii and Thailand. In retirement he commutes between the two. He had them paid off before he retired. Now...tough retirement, don't know how he stands it...Hawaii is of course infinitely inferior to Ras al Khaimah  |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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I'll hafta agree with VS on this one, SnB, altho we're legend on disagreeing with each other! Most TEFLers are very disorganized when it comes to paying off a house as my hard-a$$ed wife made me do that. I would agree that we're in the "smallish" minority.
NCTBA |
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