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rneary2
Joined: 31 Jul 2016 Posts: 6
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:23 pm Post subject: Simple question of choices and money saved |
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I'm a 26 yo male from US with a bachelors in business/leadership and management. My girlfriend is 24 with a bachelor's in teaching english in the states. We both have 140 hr TEFL certs. What are the top three countries that we can go to enjoy a year away and put away some dough to pay off student debts?
I'm assuming China and South Korea are at the top of these lists so how about countries other than those two. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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Do you both have any teaching experience? |
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rneary2
Joined: 31 Jul 2016 Posts: 6
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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Forgot to include that. She has one year exp in the states but I don't have any. No ESL exp for either of us. |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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China definitely. If you get 12000 plus a housing allowance you could in theory live on
one housing allowance
2 salaries.
Spend one housing allowance on a place to live and then work plus any part time you want. Plus can visit the surrounding countries easy. If you want to rack up cash quick you can even work over the spring festival and get salary x 2 |
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rneary2
Joined: 31 Jul 2016 Posts: 6
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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Like I said, I assume China and South Korea are at the top of the lists. I was hoping to get a couple best options other than that? I'm leaning towards Vietnam... |
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sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:52 am Post subject: |
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Quote: |
I'm leaning towards Vietnam... |
Vietnam could be a good choice if you want to be in the tropics. Compared to China and South Korea, there are fewer salaried positions and usually few, if any benefits. Still worth a look you may find something out of the ordinary.
The cost of living in Vietnam is relatively low, so you can save some money if you are frugal. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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rneary2 wrote: |
What are the top three countries that we can go to enjoy a year away and put away some dough to pay off student debts? |
Approximately how much per month do you each hope to earn to cover your living expenses while paying down your student loans?
That said, be aware you'll need to budget for startup expenses like airfare, visas and associated costs, accommodation, food, ground transportation, an emergency fund, etc. The amount varies depending on the country as well as whether you need to be on the ground knocking on doors for work. For example, if your budget is tight, Korea is your best bet -- airfare is generally included up front since teachers are recruited from abroad. (Head to http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/ for your Korea questions.) |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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If you head to China on a GOOD deal, you won't need too much start up.
Living together means food probably only costs 1/4 more than one persons food. I often found two people in a restaurant can eat 2 dishes and rice, if I ate on my own I'd eat....two dishes and rice.
If they provide accomodation then your start up would be visa [maybe $300] flights [which can be cheap if you go with a shitty Chinese airline], and then first maybe 5 weeks of costs, which between you shouldn't be too much.
If you are prepared to work hard and don't travel alot during the holidays plus do part time work, I see no reason you couldn't save maybe $4000 between you a month in China |
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kona
Joined: 17 Sep 2011 Posts: 188 Location: USA
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: Simple question of choices and money saved |
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rneary2 wrote: |
I'm a 26 yo male from US with a bachelors in business/leadership and management. My girlfriend is 24 with a bachelor's in teaching english in the states. We both have 140 hr TEFL certs. What are the top three countries that we can go to enjoy a year away and put away some dough to pay off student debts?
I'm assuming China and South Korea are at the top of these lists so how about countries other than those two. |
China and South Korea make the top of the list for a very good reason; you can get the job all lined up from overseas, and the savings are almost a given for newbies (and I'd say SK is probably going to be an easier transition of the two). Also, if you got debt to pay off, these both are good options to start out with.
That being said, I'd say the other top three, in no particular order, would be:
Japan
Vietnam
Taiwan
From my understanding, Taiwan and Vietnam are by-the-hour places, so start up costs are high. You could do the same in Japan (string together 2+ temp jobs), though there are full time gigs one could get from overseas like JET for the public schools, or ECC, Aeon, etc for the eikaiwas.
One could also do a year in SK (or China), then have enough financial cushion to travel to and check out the markets in Taiwan, Vietnam, or wherever. |
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