Mike B -- 30 June 2004

One for teachers everywhere, can you live reasonably well on your earnings as a teacher?

I'm making about US$900 a month (net) which is a fairly good salary for Mexico. If I was single it would be more than enough, however I have a wife and two kids and it is a consistent struggle to make ends meet. We have a comfortable standard of living by local standards, but things I would take for granted back home in Australia or NZ require major sacrifices to get.

Things like telephone, refrigerator, car, computer. We can live without all of these, and for years we did (still no telephone) but sometimes it really is depressing.

How do the rest of you live in different countries? Can you save a bit? Are you able to visit other countries? Fly "home" to see your folks? Buy yourself little luxury items from time to time? I'm very interested in how the rest of you are going.

To answer my own question, I'd say Mexico is OK to work in, but only if you're single.

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DoS -- 30 June 2004

I think it is pretty easy to live in China on a standard teacher wage. Last year I was on 3000RMB/month. I saved about 1000 of that and still had enought to live on fairly well. Now I have a better job and a decent wage I save about US$500 a month, and I could to better if I tried. This is with no car, but a girlfriend and utility bills.
Of course, if you go to bars every night then you would get through a standard wage quite quickly.

I am not talking about Shanghai or Beijing here mind you.

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Mike -- 30 June 2004

Hi,

My name is Mike and I am in South Korea teaching English. I would have to say that this is one of the highest paying countires in the world. I have just completed a year and we make about 1700 USD per month on our normal full time job which is usually M-F 2-9pm, where the real money is at is in privates, most teachers can make between 30-40 per hour and if your really good you can get 50 uds per hour. I would say that the average income of all my friends here is about 2500 usd per month. The best thing about Korea is the cost of living is very low, most schools pay for your studio apt., so rent is zero. With paying my bills, cell phone, hosue bills, phone, and going out about 3-4 times a week, I spend about 1000usd per month which lets me save about 2000 a month, but I do work a lot of hours each week. Overall, Korea has been very good to me this year and I am going to stay a few more years becasue I love it so much. Some people have very different things to say about South Korea but Pusan is a great city and works for me. Good luck Amigo.

Mike

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boots43 <sichuandoctors@yahoo.com> -- 1 July 2004

Mike B, I think you can live on your salary in South Korea and save even as a married couple. My wife and I will be trying it soon - of course, we are both working at the school I am talking about, but our combined salary there isn't much greater than I made in Seoul alone before I met her.