Living in Lublin (as a teacher)!?

Hello folks!

I am a Turkish guy who is going to Chelm to teach. But I plan to live in Lublin as Chelm is pretty small. I will go to Chelm four times a week which will cost me around 300 ZL per month.

I have questions for you to help me out.

1- I will get net 2400 ZL per month. I may make it 3000 ZL with some extras. Is it good money to live in Lublin? I am not planning to rent a flat but a room in a flat which costs around 500 ZL/per month.

2- How are people there? Their reaction for foreigners?

3- Is it a good choice to live in Lublin and travel 8 hours week :) ?

4- Do you think I will be able to find some extra jobs? My concern is not money, I don't want to lose my skills :)

5- Any specific suggestion is appreciated :)

2400 isn't great money for Poland however Lublin isn't expensive for Poland.

What subject will you be teaching?

I am an Engl. teacher.

I think it's actually quite a good deal, especially as there'll be a work permit and visa thrown in.

My only question - what's the travelling from Lublin to Chelm like? Is it bus or train?

That isn't a lot of money to live on. you may be able to pick up some privates though however Lublin is not a rich city. Chelm is even poorer and smaller. Is it a private language school that you're going to work in, and if so, does the owner's surname begin with T? Surely he'd help you find cheap accommodation.

There are both. Some of the trains ain't at all bad (newly bought with EU cash).

To be fair, if the school is giving him that net, as well as sorting out the visa before he travels and getting the residence/work permits sorted...it's not that terrible.

I'd be more concerned that the offer seems suspicious - why offer such a guaranteed deal to a non-native?

I take it you have never been to Chelm.

Never.

Is it as bad as the stereotype of the location suggests?

I will come there with an EU project, called Comenius and I will be working in a government school. My money is totally net and guaranteed by EU. I will have permit for 11 months. :) and I will work only 12 hours/week.

The best hotel in town is six floors and has a sign on the lift-shaft door saying "Stop: do you see lift behind the door". I spent most of my time hoping that I'd open the door and not see the lift.

Do it! :)

Government school jobs are more than easy and if you can commute from Lublin, you'll have a fine time.

As Delph says, it isn't a bad deal if it's net and comes with a permit. Don't expect to save much if anything on that and you should see if they'll help you find accommodation. You'll have plenty of time for private lessons however you won't be able to charge much for them unless you're prepared to wait a long time - there will be less competition in Chełm for that, however it's worth mentioning that the whole region is quite poor. But not at all unpleasant.

It sounds very worth doing.

I personally love that part of the world. And the local beer there is superb.

thanks people. that would be nice to hear the comments of other people.

And of course, your valuable tips for living in Poland, especially for social life :)

3000PLN NET per month for 12h/week in 60 000 city is amount which many would envy.

Merged: Tell me about Poland, give me tips :)

Hello people!
I am Turkish, I will be coming to Lublin to work for 9 months or more.

I really need your any kind of advice for life there.

Let me tell you about myself: I don't like night clubs much, but i am sociable person and I love going out for beer. I will get around 2500 Net Zl per month. I plan to live in a shared apartment.

Any kind of comment about economy, transportation, girls, social life, education ..............means help to me :)

Which school is this? I'm sorry but I'm just curious to learn which government owned school thought it would be a good idea to use EU funds to fly a Turkish citizen to teach english in Poland for up to 3000zl for 4 days worth of work per month. This country is flooding with language schools and highly qualified english teachers struggling to make a decent living who would be more than willing to perform their duties for a fraction of what you're claiming to have been offered. It just doesn't add up.

You've got yourself some sweet deal there, by all means inquire us about the girls and the social life, after all you'll have loads of spare time.

Is it just me? Am I missing something? Am I being unfair here?


I'm sorry, make that 6 days worth.

It's a Comenius project, so it's designed around exchange trips. It will have cost nothing for the school to take part, and I know from personal experience that it's nearly impossible to get native English teachers to take part in these projects.


He's working 12 hours a week - so it's likely that he's working at least 3 days a week.

But what is worth pointing out that this is a Comenius project, so the economics are designed to support someone who is actually moving country to share their experiences and knowledge. Either way, Poland isn't paying for the project, the EU is - which means non-Polish taxpayers in practice.


You are missing something - it's what Comenius is. The idea is that after he completes the project, he'll go back to Turkey with new ideas and approaches (as well as contacts in Poland) that can be used in the future to build up relationships between his school and the school in Chelm. There are thousands of teachers doing this every year - it's really nothing extraordinary.

My own school has applied for funding to take 25 children to Greece as part of Comenius, for instance. We're still waiting on the answer, but if the project gets accepted, then there will be around 200 children and their teachers from all over Europe all going to one Greek school - that's what Cominus really is.

I see. Thank you for taking the time to shed some light over this matter. For those interested I've found more info here:
ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/comenius_en.htm

I'll be honest I find this whole thing preposterous and a misuse of EU funds. I can see merit on your particular example delph (those kind of experiences can contribute immensely to a child's personal development) but I fail to see the merit on granting an adult those kind of funds for 9+ months just to teach english abroad for a mere 12 hours a week.

I'm sure the op is a very competent professional and a really nice guy and he will bring to Turkey a lot of good things to say about the beer, the girls, the social life, etc. I just don't understand how that will benefit anyone but him. Telling me that the students will "better understand the range of European cultures, languages and values" simply by learning english from a Turkish teacher sounds like someone didn't think this through.

Again please correct me if I'm wrong and may the op forgive me if my whole line of thought is making him feel unconfortable. I have nothing against him personally.

Good one :D

<any other comments are appreciated :)

I think if you look at it from a very long term point of view, those funds are breaking down some walls now - perhaps in 50 years time, it will be absolutely normal for teachers from all over Europe to go and teach in other countries. It's really no different to Erasmus - and bear in mind that most teachers in Europe aren't well paid, anything that increases their mobility has to be a good thing.


It's worth pointing out that in a place like Chelm, a public school teacher of English might also be quite poor in general. Therefore - he might actually be bringing something to help the school there. We can't say for certain, but I think we all know that many public school teachers of languages tend to be quite poor in general.

Also - I'm not saying its like this for certain, but usually these exchanges are part of a much bigger programme.

Sure but a large part of "EU funds" is about similar crap, think of these countless "helping jobless people how to actively look for employment" stupid programs, business owners pay very high taxes instead of spending that money on actual investments creating jobs and in return they get losers taught how to lie in their CVs and cheat during recruitment process, so possibly they can fool one of the tax paying companies that they are actually good and very productive workers. Great, isn't it ? EU is a new Soviet Union, just with better make up.

Which to be fair is more than the Polish government does.


Very high taxes? Greggy, I don't know what kind of taxation you expect, but Polish taxation is quite low and with generous deductions available.

As for spending it on actual investments - again, what a surprise to see you promoting socialist labour theories.


All CV's are fundamentally lies.


Let's agree that you go back to 1991, then?

What's your experience with Comenius, Greggy?

LOL !

Well, I had missed your messages :)

First of all: I will be paid by EU, so, no problem.
Second, I am much more qualified than the so-called native speakers. I have been actively teaching English from A1 to C1. I am teacher of this language; not only a speaker.

Third, I will bring a cultural range there, the main thing they expect from me is not teaching English; but showing them a person who does not belong to their lives and broaden their mind about the rest of the world.

Fourth, believe me at this very moment, I earn almost 3 times more than EU will give. :)

Turkish language teacher earns 9000PLN in Istanbul? How much would native English teacher earn then?

I think you'll find that a lot of native speaker teachers are far better qualified than you are. True that only a few have doctorates, however higher degrees and teaching diplomas are common.

Don't be so sure about that. We're not all backpacker drunks at a loose end after uni.


Great attitude. Good luck. This is a worthy programme. I'm sure you're going to enjoy your time here, but you are going to miss lamb!