Job Discussion Forums

[Gregor]

This has been discussed here before, but I've recently read posts that indicate to me that it might be time for another of our periodical reality checks.

What is your situation back home? Are you an outcast? Relatively poor (that is, compared to your friends and/or peers)? Are you in your first job as an independent adult, having just lived with your parents or in the University dorms? In short, why are you here?

Some people tell the newbies that they will live like kings or queens when they go abroad, or at least to certain countries. That is definitely painting an overly rosy picture. I admit that even though I'm one of those who has said it and will say it again.
OK. In your first year abroad as an ESL teacher, you're not going to buy a house and a car and hang out with the President of the Republic or whatever you have where you live.
On the other hand, though, these things are relative.
Back home, I had a car sometimes. Other times I didn't, and I was at a loss as to how to get around. (Abroad, I can usually take taxis, but even when I bussed it, busses were plentiful, and you didn't need to plan your whole day around a metro timetable. Just go to the corner and a bus will be along before you can smoke a cigarette.) My friends and family had to cater to my inability to afford things that they liked to do. Often, they had to come and pick me up in their cars. And so on.
Even in Mexico, where I didn't make much money at all, I was in a foreign country for the first time. The simple novelty of that didn't wear off for a LONG TIME. I didn't NEED a lot of money. I was living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and it never even OCCURED to me to go into Se�or Frog's or Planet Hollywood. I was far too interested in all things Mexican. Practicing my language skills with the old man on the sidewalk, hoping for a backgammon or checkers partner (good thing he wasn't playing chess!). Going to the mercado and learning to haggle over really cool stuff to put in my WAY overpriced (for the area) flat. Drinking cheap hootch in a local cantina with the neighbors.
This was what I wanted to do, and it's what I think the vast majority of newbies to this business, going to pretty much any un- or under-developed country want.
Eventually it became more of a job, and then a career. At this point, either you get out of the business and take an awesome year or so's worth of experiences and stories and maybe even skills away with you, back home.
Or you get better, find better paying jobs, or better paying countries, and/or more qualifications, or whatever. At which point, you'll be able to go have some fun at Se�or Frog's or whatever, occasionally.
The thing is, you will be making LESS money than you would have back home, had you been flipping burgers at McDonald's. And it's easy to make fun of the "Good local salary". But, folks, it IS a good local salary. You don't feel poor because you are living in a society where, by comparison, you are at the very LEAST upper-class.

If you need to save money, pay off a car or student loan or stuff like that, you are probably fixin' to take the wrong fork, at least for the moment. But if you are looking for adventure, or are just unsatisfied with the lifestyle in your native country, then carry on. There is ALMOST no safer route to take, and it is one holy HELL of a great adventure.

And for you veterans - you need to encourage these people. If you are so jaded that all you see is idiot drivers and lazy students and racism and corruption (all of which, newbies, you will encounter by the carload), you need to go home. At least for a while. You've lost your rose-colored spectacles, and you need a new pair, because we are all very lucky that we have the opportunity to do stuff like this. And by "like this" I mean things that we do every single flippin' day.

And if you're one of those people, or are in danger of becoming one of those people, make a list. What did you do today?
OK, shopping at WalMart isn't so great. Make it in a week, then.
for example - and these are totally pedestrian examples in my daily life - I have:
- eaten at a Nepalese restaurant and bar
- won an argument IN Chinese, WITH a native Chinese speaker, ABOUT Chinese (i.e. "您们" isn't a word)
- been the guest of honor at a VERY formal dinner
- eaten dog meat
- taken at least one taxi ride every single day

And this is just a sample from THIS WEEK, when I made no serious effort to do anything the least bit exotic.

Perspective, folks. Perspective. Let's try to keep some. Newbies are scared, or at least nervous, but they are thinking about doing what we do, and they are in for a hell of a treat, if they come into it with the right attitude. And we need them! The world needs them! Don't go telling them that they will be living in abject poverty, because it's not true.
If you think it is, then, as I've already said, you need to go home.

[JDYoung]

Back in Canada I'm a well-off homeless person. I have a nice pension accumulating in the bank waiting for me should I need it to bail me out of trouble or for when I retire again. I sold almost everything before I took the plunge - house, car, furniture, etc. Anything of personal importance like photos and other momentos are in boxes under the stairs at my mother's house. Where I lived I needed a car as public transport both locally and for distance was virtually non-existent. As my eyesight is failing I'd already planned to leave there for a place with good public transport before I decided to do the travel-and-teach thing. I've been back once in over two years and will go back about once a year to visit but I don't plan on moving back until my health says so, my family needs my presence or I get tired of this lifestyle. I can't see the latter happening soon but who knows.

As I don't have particularly expensive tastes, except for travel, I live quite well on what I earn in China. Food is cheap unless you want to eat authentic western. I've eaten dog meat, donkey meat, unrecognizable sea food and silk worm pupae. Clothes are cheap. I'm too large to buy off the rack but my favourite tailors make anything I want for a reasonable price in China which would be cheap in Canada. The school takes care of my accommodation, including utilities. My biggest expense is having my sister ship me boxes of English novels as they're virtually impossible to find and I'm hopelessly addicted to romance and science fiction with the occasional excursion into mysteries. I don't drink alcohol and the bar scene holds no interest for me but those that like that stuff tell me that its significantly less expensive too.

That said, while as an EFL teacher you can usually live well locally and perhaps even save a significant percentage, there are few places where you can save enough to make student loan payments or plan for retirement when you convert the local currency back into western currencies to make western style payments and plan for a western type life style.

I'm one of those people, older folk who travel and teach and don't worry much about money and thus bring the salary levels down and are heartily disliked by those who want to make this a career. I don't apologize for it. I give good value to my school and my students. When I teach, I teach well. I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to do this having been born in a country with English as an official language at a time when the world wants to learn that language. When you think about it this is a real fluke of an industry. When has this occurred in the past and when is it likely to happen again in the future? Grab it while you can. Who knows when the bubble will burst?

I've learned very little Chinese language. Taxi drivers correct my Chinese and I tutor their English as I live waaay out from the centre of town and use taxis often. I'm not particularly interested in learning much more as I expect to teach in another country some time next year. The main thing I've figured out about how to do this gig comfortably is to be open-minded - to realize that the way things are done back home is not the only good way of doing something. I'm not here to change China in any way. If some students learn some English and perhaps open their own minds a little I feel I've done my bit.

So, I would say, if you want an adventure and are willing to accept, with an open mind, all that comes with it, good and bad, then stop sitting around. Form a plan. Accept that the world is as it is and won't change because you don't think it's "fair". Then go for it.

[Jyulee]

I�m 25, and recognise that while a car/mortgage/life savings might be somewhere down the line, it doesn�t have to be nownownow.

This is just as well, as I spend most of my salary on paying off debts and going out - as do most English teachers in Madrid! Spain doesn�t hold the same allure as Mexico appears to in the OP, though, it�s not like everything is so radically different that hoards of Brits and Yanks stagger round open-mouthed at the "Spanishness" of everything, going "woooow!"

Lots of English teachers who have been here a while own property, cars etc... Although the salaries aren�t great here, they are enough to settle and have a "real life".

I remember reading in a magazine a little while ago an excerpt from someone�s PHd thesis about the New Bohemian sub-culture of "working travellers", specifically those who go to work in bars in places like Ibiza and Goa. It was arguing that these people were the modern day replacements for 1960s India hippies - in a way a bit more serious and responsible (in that they, at least, are working!), but in a way not (indulging in just as much drugs, sex, and otherwise reckless behaviour). The article argued that such people rarely commit themselves to doing this for life, and that often they have comfortable enough middle-class situations back home. Eventually they return back to "normality", but see nothing wrong in spending a few years in a low-paid but high-fun environment. While this may seem obvious, such a sub-culture is a relatively new phenomenon.

I wouldn�t equate all English teaching to the above necessarily, but bits of it ring true. There are plenty of employers (especially, it seems, in developing countries) who are aware of the fact that there is a "Bohemian subculture" of English teachers who are willing to put up with low wages and bad conditions because of the lifestyle that they will otherwise have in (insert) country. I was part of that for a while, but am treading the path towards respectability.

[Mchristophermsw]

Geat Post Gregor!

We live in a Transnational world, and if we look around people are relocating more now than at anyother time in history. Some may think ESL is a short-term cultural experience but for others it may be a start of a new life in a new country. For these people coming back home is not an option.

I look around at my peers in the states and they will never pay off their 30 year mortgage. And that is scary becuase most people are only one or two pay checks away from loosing everything. Thats real pressure!

On the other hand, I choose to work overseas and I will be able to save enough to pay off my home within 5 years in certian country that has tropical weather and whose rainy seasons are about 75-80 degree's F
After my house is paid, I may continue to teach overseas or take a local job, open up a small gym or someother endeavor in said country.

Yes, ESL is a mix bag but it can be profitable and build stability for those who want it.

[Mchristophermsw]

To the OP,

Sounds like a great week!

To the rest of the forum:

There are so many variable that may come into play that attract people to this field ( either short term or longer) but I do agree we live in a a very fortunate time to have this option.

I do not have anything agianst the "standard life" (Mortgage, Car payments, etc). But we are not the only profession that chooses to take a turn of the beaten path.

International social workers, relief and sustainable development workers travel globally. Artist and Athletes live lives that most of us only can dream about.

EFL is another option off the beaten path and should be encouraged.

To put things in perspective, I watched my grandmother and grandfather die at the ages of 90 and 87. In the last years of their lives I had many conversations with them and it was disclosed that they had so many regrets and dreams that they did not follow.

My grandfather chose his path but his brother at 45 started a career in theater and for the first 10 years lived hand to mouth after leaving his 9-5. He was ridiculed for not having any stability. After 10 years things turned around for him and he spent the next 25 years of his life doing something he loved which also gave him financial security that my grandfather could only dream about.

My point is that we live only once and everyone should follow their chosen path regardless if it is not on the beaten path, atleast you won't have any regrets.

[Fatcat]

Great Post Mchristophermsw----The last sentence says it all!