Job Discussion Forums

[bharrell]

I have to concur with Veronica that China is nice, but that varies greatly upon location. Been here three years in Beijing(which I liked) and Chongqing(which I didn't like). Travelled to most major cities here and for me, East Coast is best; more modern and less of a shock to a westerner. There is a sharp urban/rural divide re: per capita income, and income levels decline going from east to west. Hangzhou is beautiful, couldn't do much better. Xiamen, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou all good. Beijing and Shanghai too expensive. Have friends who are happy in small towns, so to each his own.

[Prof.Gringo]

Latin America has the rest beat with lifestyle

Low wages it's true, but who cares when you can relax on the beach and practice Espanol?

Or just do like I do and work in one place and live in another, everything always works out for the best of all possible worlds

[Cole Katz]

YOU'RE MY HOME (Billy Joel)

When you look into my eyes
and you see the crazy gypsy in my soul
it always comes as a surprise
when I feel my withered roots begin to grow.

Well I never had a place
that I could call my very own
but that's all right my love
cuz you're my home.

When you touch my weary head
and you tell me everything will be all right.
You say use my body for your bed
and my love will keep you warm throughout the night.

Well I'll never be a stranger
and I'll never be alone
wherever we're together
that's my home.

Home could be the Pennsylvania turnpike
Indiana's early morning dew
high up in the hills of California
home is just another word for you.

Well I never had a place that I could call my very own
but that's all right my love
cuz you're my home.

If I travel all my life
and I never get stop and settle down
long as I have you by my side
there's a roof above and good walls all around.
You're my castle, you're my cabin
and my instant pleasure dome.
I need you in my house
cuz you're my home,..
you're my home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATQ5ays9t1I&feature=related

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[spanglish]

Colombia isn't bad, but there's been some pretty impressive wage stagnation over the past 10-20 years. Just since I got here 3 and half years ago, I'd say cost of living has gone up more than 30%. Lots of opportunity, but unless you have one of the best paying jobs (foreign hire at a top international school, British Council or school principal), you gotta hustle quite a lot to get ahead.

[Mr. English]

If you are making a minimum 3-year commitment, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are excellent places to live and work as a private tutor. The money is good, the work enjoyable, and Guangzhou, don't know Shenzhen so well, is a good-enough city to live in. Yes, there is air pollution, but certainly less than Beijing. With respect to finding a place to do what you want to do, Guangzhou is first-class, from bars to restaurants to work to hiking to meeting people to ... .

[Prof.Gringo]

[EFLeducator]

[spanglish]

To perhaps balance my post - with a CELTA, degree, presentable appearance, and a few years of experience I've now got a very pleasant job and agreeable lifestyle in Colombia. Unfortunately, in some cases wages have actually gone down in the midst of rising cost of living.

[mattdsoares]

Korea has treated me very well. It's a very modern first world country like Japan, but with a lower cost of living. You will be paid around $2000 a month after taxes for most jobs and can easily save half of that for travel, loans, savings, etc. Local restaurants are cheap, as is transportation. Housing and airfare are always provided as is a very good health insurance program and a national pension plan that as a US or Canadian citizen you can cash out when you leave. You put in 90,000 won a month (around $80) and your employer matches it. Then you get all of it transferred home when you leave. I have about $4,000 coming my way after two years.

The winters are very cold (think Upstate NY/Minnesota/Southern Ontario) but with little snow. Summers are hot and rainy. Autumn is beautiful. Seoul is IMO where you want to be, but many teachers are happy in more rural areas or smaller cities like Daegu, Daejeon, or Busan. Transportation around Asia can be rather expensive due to protectionist policies by the S. Korean government, so it's not the best place to travel around Asia for cheap.

It's also very...very easy to get a private school job (called hagwons). There are a lot of horror stories on this forum of bad schools, but the majority are just fine. Just do your homework first. It's also very easy to setting in as the school will buy your flight for you and will usually have a single apartment already waiting for you. The visa process is also quite easy if you excuse the annoyance of having to do an in person interview at a Korean Consulate or Embassy in NY, DC, Chicago, Houston, or LA if you're American, or one of the consulates in Canada if you're a Canuck. You need an apostilled CBC, diploma, and transcripts as well as some passport photos. You send that to Korea and your school or recruiter gives you back a confirmation number which you then use to schedule a quick and painless, though unnecessary interview at the consulate. Once that's done you leave your passport there and they'll mail it back to you in a few days with your visa. Really quite an easy process.

For a newbie I'd highly recommend Korea because of how easy it is to set up and transition. No searching for an apartment, good pay, good cost of living, in a safe and very modern country.

As for the jaded responses about Korea, that's mostly IMO because it has been so easy to get a job, you got a LOT of Americans and Canadians who have no business being teachers going to Asia for a year long drinking holiday and not liking it. Most of the problems are overblown and if you read a lot of the "problems" people have on this forum much of it stems from inflexibility and a bad attitude on the part of the "teacher". If you're looking for a year of getting laid, loaded, and lost, then you might not love the no nonsense hard working attitude Koreans expect. However if your primary concern is to be a teacher, make a living, save some money, and experience a new culture, then you will do just fine in Korea. Again, as long as you do your homework on the schools. A lot of these "teachers" blindly signed the first contract thrown at them without educating themselves on things like labor laws or doing a simple google search for the school. Be smart, and you'll be fine.

[mattdsoares]

Oh and as for your question about the hot new "in" countries, I've heard a lot of chatter about places like Vietnam and Thaliand. Pretty good pay and dirt cheap to live. I know nothing of the visa process or the labor standards there though.

[covenananteacher]