Job Discussion Forums

[Jazziz23]

Some of the schools require that you travel to clients instead of teaching at one location.

How is the subway and bus system in Moscow? You are expected to go to places that could be on other ends of the city, and this could be several hours a day.

How easy or difficult is it?

[Sashadroogie]

It usually isn't easy, and is something you should try to keep to a minimum. But most big schools will require you to travel to corporate clients. While the metro system is probably the most efficient system in the city, though overcrowded, it unfortunately it doesn't serve everywhere. You'll sometimes need to use minibuses too. That can be a pain...

However, the real problems can stem from a school admin themselves not really knowing the times and distances involved and so a teacher may be required to be in two distant locations with little time to get from one to the other. Some very silly situations can occur with teachers spending more time tracing star patterns on the metro system rather than actually teaching. Try to avoid this, obviously.

Also, for the first lesson off-site, make sure you get proper directions, a full address and a map. I've spent many an hour trying to find an office block due to poor info from the school or the company. Bear in mind that official (tax) addresses are not always the same as the real location where you'll be teaching... : ( Best to have someone show you, but this isn't always possible.

I don't do this so much myself anymore - certainly not for school clients. Simply not time efficient in the long run, and can wear you down over the course of a year.

[spiral78]

Good advice regarding the first lesson at a corporate client - it can be a disaster when you can't find a place!

I've often asked for a student (or secretary) to meet me at the nearest metro or bus station 15 minutes or so before the first lesson, to help me reach the offices. No-one seems to think that's too much trouble on their part (probably glad to get out of the building for a few minutes!)

[maruss]

Moscow commercial space,just like housing,is horrendously expensive to rent so consequently virtually every single room is utilised for some purpose......firms often have just one or two offices in enormous buildings which can have several entrances,each of which leads to a maze of endless corridors with numerous rooms housing different companies,yet the street address of them can often be confusingly the same!!Unless you are aware of this you can waste ages trying to find places and even give up in desperation so it is far easier to get someone to meet you outside at an agreed nearby spot-and then carefully remember the way when they lead you inside!
I recall an experience when a firm sent me for the first time to teach an integration group at an address a few hundred metres from their office.It turned out that the co-ordinator had sent me to the wrong place altogether,but by co-incidence there was a physics class in Russian due to start at that place for an evening institute around the same time and when I told the security guard that I was a teacher in Russian,he immediately showed me to the classroom,thinking I was the teacher for that institute and I began unpacking my stuff for the lesson!Fortunately for me,a couple of students who arrived early kindly pointed out that there must be a misunderstanding as they were there for a physics lesson!I called the office and the secretary checked and said that she realised the co-ordinator had made a mistake so I packed up and dashed back there where they gave me the proper instructions and luckily I got there in the nick of time because I had the sense to have gone to the other place about half an hour early!Needless to say,an apology for their error would have been much appreciated by me but next morning everyone behaved as if nothing had happened!!If it had really been my mistake and I had missed the class,I doubt if the same situation would have occured??Even though it was minus 28 celsius at the time,I can still remember sweating profusely as I dashed around carrying several kilos of books and materials up and down!!
Commuting around Moscow is what did me in after 6 months Sasha,never mind a year- and I consider this an ESSENTIAL factor to be evaluated when accepting any lesson schedule!!!Better to have four lessons in one place during a day,than 6 or more which involve commuting between two or three places spread far apart..try it and you will soon understand why!

[Sashadroogie]

I hear you Maruss. As I said, it is important to bear in mind at all times that the 'managers' really have very little idea of the locations themselves or the 'movements' required. They certainly have no appreciation of any efforts to overcome poor directions. Not surprising seeing as they are the ones who usually issue directions such as 'turn at the metallic dumpster and you'll see a road with no trees...'

Six months? You must really have been sent all over.

[smithrn1983]

You seem to be lucky Sasha. Russian directions, in my experience, tend to be even more vague. When you get out of the metro, go down the street a ways, then turn left. Go down that street for a bit, and the building is on the right, behind another building. And, of course, they're always surprised when you can't find their building.

[Sashadroogie]

Ha! Yes, always a helpful direction that - go right out of the metro (but you can guess which of the 5 or 6 unmarked exits you need). I think my admin are more experienced at directions-giving - hence their precision!

[ancient_dweller]

got to agree on this one. Directions tend to be quite comic.

6 months maruss? You must have been all over the place!

Also, i don't think going from lesson to lesson is that bad. It keeps me fit and healthy, i get a lot of exercise - i walk up and down all escalators. Also, i read a book on the metro or even read through books for lessons - so time flies.

I considered joining the gym permanently here, and actually did buy a month's pass last year. I figured i'd be less exhausted from walking around all day if i was fitter. I underestimated the rip off factor. 8000r for a month and they charge you for everything! first off, there is no water coolers, so you have to buy water there (65r for 500ml of their cheapest) or carry filtered water from home - the latter a heavy option. Secondly, things like the hair drier are chargeable, towels are chargeable, classes are chargeable (not a biggy for me - not into yoga) and pool use was limited (alright for me - as i wasn't a peak time user) unless you pay an extra 3000r for unlimited pool use. Just thinking back to home how i used to think 1800r for a month was expensive!

and as i write, barcelona through to the CL final!

[maruss]

I have never felt so tired in all my life as I did by the time I got home in the evenings in Moscow-and I rarely ever started classes before mid-day!
No wonder the firm told me that my American predecessor alleged that his Russian fiance had left him because she said he was too tired to make love to her!!
Seriously though,air quality in many areas of Moscow is very poor due to various kinds of pollution and especially so in the metro, where air for ventilation comes from the streets on the surface,so despite the exercise, walking around there in it will not do you much good in other ways!The overcrowding on the metro and buses is often chronic at peak times and the mornings seem to be the worst-as one of my friends relatives who works as an engineer for the metro admitted, the system is becoming a 'disaster waiting to happen' as more and more people are trying to use it and he reckons some of the older carriages which date back several decades to the Soviet era are almost falling apart!
Rushing around under such conditions is obviously stressful so those who are lucky enough to have lessons at one location,or at most two,are at a big advantage.....
Despite all the hassle,there are many Russians who commute two or three hours each day in each direction into town for the simple reason that wages elsewhere are much lower,yet the cost of basic things such as food is almost the same as in Moscow so this is why the overcrowding is becoming so chronic.
If you enjoy walking,and I did when I had the time and energy,try to go to one of the parks where you can escape the traffic and noise and where the air is somewhat cleaner.There are some really massive ones such as Lesnoy Ostrov in the north-east,around 20 mins walk up from Schelkovskaya metro and Bitsevsky Park at the southern end of the orange line,plus many smaller, but also green havens in other areas.
I also agree that Gyms in the centre are often a rip-off,but remember that like many other things there they cater for those who can afford their prices and as we know,there are plenty in Moscow who keep business turning over!

[ancient_dweller]

haha, you are too right about the air quality. My lungs crack up occasionally. By crack up I mean for a few weeks, i'll get some kind of infection which leads to me coughing up viscous green or yellow mucus. Sometimes, I wish I was walking with someone when I spit so I can point to it on the ground and say 'look, Shrek must have left that'.

ye, i've been to a few parks, but that leads to drinking beer and eating shashleek, neither are good for ones health!

[kazachka]

[kazachka]

[ancient_dweller]

I go to Moskvich AZLK at Tekstikshiki

[ancient_dweller]

why did it put what i said in the quote box!!??

[Houston]

Gyms are stupid expensive in Moscow.

I do pilates in my flat, because most of the exercises were originally designed to be done on a mat, without any machines. It's really good for your flexibility, eliminates most back problems, and greatly improves your posture.


I've received bad directions from local organizers before, so now I make them meet me at the metro to show me where a place is the first time I have to teach there. Mostly I'm lucky though, in that I only teach in the central schools for my company.