Hi I am new the forum so hello first of all - I have been offered a teaching job in Zory - I have been told I would be paid around 2600 zl per month after tax and the rent would be around 750 zl is this enough money for me to live on.
Also any advice on Zory would be good is it a nice place to live???
What kind of teaching? How many hours a week? What age? In a public school or a private language school? Will they want you to sign a contract that doesn't allow you private lessons outside the school? What qualifications do you have?
Housing, is the 750 figure for a real, concrete place or a ballpark estimate? (sounds low to me for the latter, for the former is it in a dorm? shared bathroom and/or kitchen?)
How independent are you? Can you cook, clean etc for yourself?
I'd say 1800 after rent and taxes is enough to live on in a small town in Poland if you're not a party animal, have no major addictions and can do your own shopping and cooking.
On the other hand, there are definite red flags to be aware of.....
Yeah its a private language school teaching mostly adults - yes the contract states I should only work within the school contracted hours are 20 per week but i would be more likely to be working 25 hours paid. As far as qualifications go i have two degrees MA and Post grad and 120 hours tefl cert
i would be staying in a hotel one room with a communal bathroom
Yeah I'm pretty independent I would also get my room cleaned daily - only problem would be cooking as i don't think there would be cooking facilities in the room
Certainly not a party animal really looking to gain some teaching experience but I don't want to be struggling month to month
Everything mafketis said in the above post are all things your should seriously bare in mind.
I've driven through Zory on many occasions and from the outset it looks rather nice, however... living in a small "city" isn't as ideal as it first sounds! First of all with in a short period of time people will know who you are, where you work and you'll have to be careful what you do! Of course, if you don't plan on getting heavily drunk every weekend then you should be ok!
Also it may be worth baring in mind if you are the only native in the school. If so it can lead so a lonely existence in such a small place!
On the flip side - your (quite) close to the mountains and other big cities plus cost of living should be quite low!
Have you not tried in bigger cities close by like - Bielsko-Biała/Tychy/Rybnik?
All i can say is good luck and maybe see you in the mountains?! :)
thanks for the replies - to be honest i have been looking at many teaching jobs across Europe the school has quite a few foreigners working for them - the director seemed nice to talk to and quite genuine.
The biggest worry for me is money - i am planning on travelling around Poland and neighbouring countries on my days off so really just want know i can survive on the wage I will be earning
You can survive, but you will need to be careful and plan your journeys ahead of time. And in some cities your budget isn't going to stretch any further than hostels and the cheapest places to eat.
I don't know the private school scene now well enough to have much to say about that (lots of others here have more up to date info).
If this is a dormitory kind of hotel there also might be a meal plan. The food wouldn't be exciting but it would be better quality than insitutional food in the UK.
Given that this is a small town in Poland, the big danger is isolation and alienation:
- not many people will speak English which could easily lead to a strange constricted existence where you're dependent on school staff or your students for your social life (and nb. Polish people mostly dont' socialize with work colleagues, don't expect Polish teachers in the school to be welcoming or friendly).
- many who claim to know English and who will want to befriend you (de facto free language lessons) will be unable to have anything like a meaningful conversation which can lead another kind of alienation
- Polish values in general (and small town Polish values) are liable to be different enough from what you're used to that there won't be many common topics and making real friends will be difficult
- If you're heterosexual, not hideously ugly and/or completely socially awkward you're liable to end up with a Polish girlfriend before you know what hit you (and while sweet in the beginning, they can be controlling in ways you probably didn't know existed).
- Starting to learn Polish before you go (and continuing while you're there) will help ameliorate (but not eliminate) these.
If you're aware of the dangers (so to speak) and have an escape plan ready in case things go south (you should have that prepared before leaving) then it could be a great experience. One nice thing about the location is that it's close to the Czech Republic (and spitting distance of Slovakia) so you're practically getting two and a half countries for the price of one.
Plenty of people do. The traffic close to Katowice can be busy in the rush hour, however not terrible. The main roads there are ok, much better than they used to be.
Unfortunately it's a road journey; commuting to Katowice by train from Zory is a bad idea.
