Job Discussion Forums

[SITW99]

If thinking of coming to teach in Romania, please be aware that the cost of living is FAR higher than most people expect. While still cheaper than living in London, prices have doubled every 3 years for the past six years or so, which makes Bucharest (my point of reference) a far tougher place to get by than it has been in the past.

Rent prices are going up 20 to 25% a year these days, fuelled by substantial average salary increases (at about the same rate, if local statistics are to be trusted) and a property boom which has seen property values go up at around 60% a year. At present, you'll pay around 650 euros a month for a one bedroom flat in a reasonable area, 550 euros for a bedsit. I guess you can add around 100 euros a month to those figures for September 2008, that's pretty much what's happened for the past 3 years. Bear in mind that bills are high in Romania, you'll pay 80 to 100 euros a month in winter, as gas prices are very high and expected to rise further, and 20 to 40 euros a month in the summer.

Bucharest and the other major cities are taking off in a big way economically, make sure your school offers enough to live on. I work for an international school (all subjects) rather than an EFL school, as the EFL schools do not pay enough to live on comfortably at this time (see following paragraph). On a salary of around �1500 a month, I only earn enough to pay the bills, eat out a couple of times a month and go to the cinema or have a couple of beers. On that salary, saving anything is totally out out of the question. While going out is cheaper than in the UK (for the moment), grocery prices are, if anything, higher. For example: �1.20 for a litre of milk, �1.50 for a litre of fruit juice.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that Romania is a cheap place to live! Most of the EFL teachers I know here have ended up in debt after coming here, despite working for worldwide-renowned English teaching organisations. IMHO, At least �1200 a month is needed to break even in Bucharest, that's without eating out, going out, new clothes once in a while or anything. You'll need AT LEAST �1500 a month if you'd like to go out once in a while, and by this I mean a couple of beers a week, not glamming it up at one of the fancy clubs (�30 entrance, if you're tempted).

I hope this information is useful, and if you are sceptical and go there for less anyway, don't say I didn't warn you!

PS: I'm interested to hear other peoples' experiences of living and working in Bucharest, or anywhere in Romania for that matter.

[naturegirl321]

Mike 2007 and Bebsi are in Bucharest and have been there for three years I think. Ironically, although pay is low in RO, costs of living are high.

I remember looking at SOL, a UK Organisation, and I think they were offereing 150 a month, can't remember is it was dollars or pounds, plus free housing. Looked legit and I'm sure it is. But they pay teachers local wages, which is nice for a bit, but difficult if you want to fly home, or save money.

[SITW99]

I'd hope it were pounds rather than dollars, even so, I don't know how anyone could live on that in Bucharest! I guess it's for somewhere outside the capital.

As I wrote earlier, I'm on 1500GBP a month, and my colleagues and I are unable to save a thing on that income, which is still 300 to 400 GBP more a month than the best paying EFL school in Bucharest (the British Council) pay. Those I knew who worked there last year were furious that they were on so little, bearing in mind you have to be pretty good to get into the BC in the first place. But once they all left, a new load of fresh-faced EFL teachers arrived expecting Bucharest to be as cheap as chips, and I hear that the same round of debt, anger and recriminations has happened again this year.

I don't mean to pick on the BC, they do at least pay more than their rival schools. But as far as I know, they're all 90 to 100% local teachers (even IH!). A Romanian mate of mine works for one of these, and she struggles on the salary, despite living with her parents! As I said earlier, know before you go. Come here with your eyes open, or better still, go somewhere else until salaries catch up with the cost of living in Romania.

[naturegirl321]

Wow, you make 3000 USD a month and you're struggling? Heating costs much be high. Have you thought about trying to live a bit more like a Romanian? How long have you been there and what school are you working for? Why Romania, if you don't mind me asking.

[SITW99]

Not struggling, but not saving either. Not sure where some of it goes, but bills are 100-120 GBP a month (90 sq m flat), half that in summer. I work at one of the international schools in Bucharest, it was easy to get in there soon after the PGCE. I'm on this forum as I taught EFL for six years in other parts of eastern Europe, and wanted people to know that Bucho's more expensive than Prague, Warsaw and Budapest (at the moment, anyway), so that teachers can make an informed decision as to wheteher to take a job there or not. i'm tired of meeting bitter and debt-ridden TEFL teachers in Bucharest!

[SITW99]

Oh yes naturegirl, I forgot: I've been here for three years, after realising there is a world outside of 'Slavic' eastern Europe: Poland, Slovakia and Russia in my case. I think they were cheaper than Buch, but it might be my memeory going. Anyway, I guess it was pre EU-accession when I was in the first two.

[Mike_2007]

Hi,

He's right, it's not cheap here any more. However, I've managed to have a pretty interesting year, pay off a lot of debt, buy a lot of stuff, take a few trips and save a lot of money. Guess it just depends on how you use your cash.

The real killer is the rent. I bought a place and my repayments are about half of what I'd have to pay to rent the place.

[naturegirl321]

Do you two plan on staying in RO for a while? have you managed to pick up the langauge? I only planned on being in Peru for a year, ended up getting married, buying a house so I'll be here for a while.

I'm trying to learn Romanian, it's not that difficult vocab wise, it's like Spanish, but grammar is a nightmare. Just saying How much does that cost? Changes something like six times depending if it's masculine, feminijne, nuetral, singular, plural. What a mess

[Mike_2007]

Hi NG,

The language isn't too hard really. Romanians will protest that it is, it's a kind of national pride thing for them, but it's really not at all hard to pick up the basics and get by. I think my Romanian was 'passable' after two years in the country, and that was without making any special effort; no courses or private lessons or anything, just chatting to people, reading papers, watching some TV and so on. I would say my Romanian after two years was about as good as my Turkish was after five. I agree about the gender though, that's a real bind for English natives to get the hang of. Don't worry too much about that though as even the Roms foul up the gender from time to time.

Recently on a Romanain-language forum I was accused of being an uneducated peasant, which I kind of took as a compliment as it meant my written Romanian was good enough to make people think I was a native, albeit an uneducated one.

As for staying here long-term, I guess I will. I like my work here, live well off my income at the moment, have my own flat and have made a few decent friends. Who knows though, things can change.

[naturegirl321]

The gender thing is fine with me. I've been speaking SPanish for more than half my life and would honestly rather speak Spanish than English, somehow my English has gone down the tubes and I end up sounding like my 17 year old sister, with the likes and you knows.

The changes with the gender are nuts. It is ends in X it's Y if it ends in this it's that. Way too much for me to grasp right now.

You've got your own English teaching business don't you? That' s the way to go. My husband and I are trying to start up our own business. It's hard now, we're halfway across the world, but hopefully will be able to start in Feb

How did you end up in Romania anyways?

[Mike_2007]

I think it's probably best not to try to learn the gender endings, it just makes it more confusing. It's better to just pick up the 'knack' as you go along. After a while you just get a feel for what the correct ending should be. Far easier in-country, obviously.

Saying I have my own business makes it sound a lot more than it really is. I have a couple of contracts to meet the training needs of the companys' staff, and top that up with a few cash-in-hand privates. However, there is a lot more work here than people seem to believe and I do find myself having to turn down students from time to time. Reputation and word-of-mouth are the key things in Romania. Never having been one for office politics I find this style of work suits me both mentally and financially.

How I ended up here is a long story, involving all kinds of mythical creatures. Not for forums

[naturegirl321]

Do you like Bucharest� Is that your website? I've heard ok things about Bucharest, but better things about the countryside

[Mike_2007]

Bucharest is ok. It has some positive features, but not that many. Mostly it's ugly, crowded and full of rude people...a typical capital city really. Certainly it's not on a par with some of the other major cities of the region. It has a few pleasing parks, some streets with interesting old architecture, and a couple of other features of note, but mostly I (and I suppose everyone else) live here because it's the best place in the country to work from as a base. I have a contract in Transylvania, in a small town in the west, and the people are much nicer there, as is the scenary.

Romania pretty much has everything - mountains, seaside resorts, thermal spas, ski resorts, climbing, rafting, forests, historic cities, mud baths...the only thing I can think of that it doesn't have is a desert! Sadly the country's leadership has little interest in anything other than misappropriating funds intended for improving the infrastructure and tourism, so it remains underexploited, with expensive badly-run hotels and terrible marketing. Great potential though.

[Bebsi]

I absolutely agree with everything Mike says in his last posting.

Romania is a beautiful country, with much to offer tourists, and it could in theory be one of Europe's richest tourist economies. In practice, two things are screwing up this potential: lousy marketing and a complete lack of understanding of the concept of good service, i.e. up to western standards.

It is changing, but very slowly. I DO think the current administration is a lot better than the previous one, but yes, there is still much to be done.

As Mike says, Bucharest is really just another capital city: expensive, noisy and overcrowded....and full of rude people, especially the drivers!! I know Transylvania very well, and it is indeed the case that people there are MUCH nicer, with far more attractive cities such as the exquisite Sibiu, with Timisoara, Cluj and the old centre of Brasov being very appealing also. The much smaller Sighisoara is also beautiful.

Traffic is bad in Bucharest but worse in Dublin and many other western cities, and so, I am given to believe, is crime.

For going out, it is still relatively cheap in terms of a meal and a few drinks, theatre etc, albeit a lot less so than a few years ago. For living in, it is no longer cheap by any means. Rent is the main killer, and utilities such as gas, electricity and water are just as expensive as western Europe, as are supermarket shopping and western-standard clothes. Motoring is certainly not cheap here now, with diesel one euro per litre, and insurance the same as in Ireland. Road tax is still a lot less than in Ireland, however.

We own our own place, and I have no hesitation in saying that we still find it expensive.

In summer, AC can be a big expense, albeit a necessary one. For a 4 month period last May-Sept, our highly efficient system still cost 400 euro to run.

I would say, unless you're offered at least 80% of a western-standard salary, don't even think about Bucharest. Realistically, go higher!!

What was that about desert, Mike? At our place in the extreme south, we recorded over 50C in the shade last summer.

[El]