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I've got ~$1,500, a reliable car, no ties, and I'm extremely flexible. Curious if it's feasible. I currently live in the northeast and have a preference toward the midwest, especially minnesota, but I'm very open and very desperate. I also have a college degree, if teaching english abroad or something similar isn't a totally stupid idea. ginealgo fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Aug 24, 2014 |
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Aug 24, 2014 03:07
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I did this very recently. Twice. I moved from upstate NY to Myrtle Beach, and it was awful, so I won't get into that. Instead, I decided to head on down to Orlando, FL since I at least knew a few people there. Moving was a total gamble, but since I got here, I don't regret a thing. It's been tough, but holy crap I love it here. So here's how it went down: Before I left, I put in as many online applications as I could. I even applied at Disney, not really expecting anything. Lo and behold, I was invited to come in for an interview... so I set that up for a few days after my scheduled arrival. I had to get a Uhaul and tow hitch to get my car and what little I own down here with me. That was a huge expense for me, but due to the distance and amount spent, I qualified for a free month of storage in the Uhaul hub. I kept my stuff in there hoping to get back on my feet ASAP. I got hired at Disney, which took a bit of money out of me because they have strict standards, but at least I have a job and steady income. I am currently still homeless and mostly living out of my car, as well as a 24 hours Starbucks in the area. I will hopefully be able to afford an apartment soon. The free Uhaul storage month has passed, but luckily I met some people down here at a local comic shop, and one of them is holding my stuff in her spare room. I got a membership for Planet Fitness so that I have access to showers at will and something to do on my days off. Right now I am looking for a good mechanic for my car. Finding new reliable resources in a huge city is proving to be one of my more difficult tasks, but I'm learning as I go.
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Aug 24, 2014 03:58
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May i ask why you did it? Thanks so much for the reply. Also, if anyone is from the area, i've been considering Texas or California. Both for being warm year round, but i figured cali would be more friendly to poors and tx would be a cheaper place to live. ginealgo fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Aug 24, 2014 |
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Aug 24, 2014 04:10
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Make sure you can say something other than "I am Groot".
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Aug 24, 2014 06:56
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We....are groot.
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Aug 24, 2014 07:21
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Pfff, yea, go be an English monkey in Japan or China, you can probs make some money and either an appreciation of how good things are in teh US (if you got to China) or how hosed the US is (if you go to Japan). In either case, it's a better idea than just loving off wherever, with no workable skills or contacts.
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Aug 24, 2014 08:17
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ginealgo posted:I've got ~$1,500, a reliable car, no ties, and I'm extremely flexible. Curious if it's feasible. Apply to go teach English in Korea / Japan. You won't make lots of money but you get to live in another country and the $1500 should probably cover your flight (sell your car before you leave). This will also get you some perspective on what you want to do with your life. Do this now, there are hard cut-offs for this kind of stuff so you don't want to lose six months because you were late on your application. There are plenty of other countries you can get a working holiday visa for I'm sure but this way you are set up for work / accommodation once you get there.
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Aug 24, 2014 14:12
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I've lived in quite a few states where I got sick of where I was, so I picked up and left. I had a little 2 door car so I gave away most of my stuff and packed that full. Lived in CT, Mass, NY, FL, OH, Oregon, and currently in VA. This is a handy tool to use when starting up in a new place. CouchSurfing.Org There's probably a small risk that you'll die, but I haven't encountered that yet. (Having a firearm helps. Make sure you know state laws that you're planning on going to though...) $1500 would be tough as fuel would suck up a lot of that. As far as teaching abroad, I know someone who's in Russia doing that and he loves it. Not sure on cost factor, but he hasn't complained about not having any money...
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Aug 24, 2014 14:33
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Scapegoat posted:Apply to go teach English in Korea / Japan. You won't make lots of money but you get to live in another country and the $1500 should probably cover your flight (sell your car before you leave). This will also get you some perspective on what you want to do with your life. Do this now, there are hard cut-offs for this kind of stuff so you don't want to lose six months because you were late on your application. There are plenty of other countries you can get a working holiday visa for I'm sure but this way you are set up for work / accommodation once you get there. I see this sort of thing posted often. Are they really so desperate for Americans to go over and teach? Also, what do you do when you get there? Do they house you, feed you, give you cash for day to day expenses, etc?
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Aug 24, 2014 14:37
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Last year I moved from California to Louisiana, over 2,000 miles! I literally quit my job and packed what could fit in my car. The drive alone cost roughly $1,000 with gas,food, and 2 nights of lodging at cheap motels. I had drove ten hours per day and arrived within three days. I certainly know it's possible the actual move but nice to know people at your new destination like I did. Getting a job was fairly easy with being recent college grad myself. Maybe two weeks then started a job and stayed for few months until I found something better. There's a lot of job opportunities in the oil field in LA!  Good luck on your adventures.
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Aug 24, 2014 16:59
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You can actually make pretty good money teaching in China. I did it for 9 months and managed to save about 16k, all while living and enjoying life over there. Any decent school will set you up with either housing or a housing stipend. If you're smart, you'll use this as an opportunity to learn the language and not just get drunk in bars with white people. People like to poo poo on ESL teaching as a nothing thing, but it's a good outlet for smart, responsible people who are in a transition phase in life. Just treat it like a real job and put in the effort.
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Aug 24, 2014 19:09
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Just do it, if you don't you never will. I had a high paying job in Chicago when me and my girlfriend just started getting tired of the Midwest. We kept saying if we don't just do it we never will so I got in contact with an old retail boss and got a transfer to Arizona making less than half of what I was making at the time. I used that job just to earn some cash while I tried to start a new career out here. I finally got a career type job and I'm living paycheck to paycheck still due to the extreme cost of moving across the US and other crap that has happened but it was the best decision of my life. It wont be easy but it is worth it if you hate where you live. I used to have a 4 bedroom apartment with a garage, a 2014 Wrangler and $11,000 banked. Now I live in a one bedroom apartment and drive an old BMW and have nothing in savings and I couldn't be happier. Your mileage may vary but that is my story. Also if you move out west it seems to be easy to find a job out here because everyone is slow as gently caress about everything out here stay out of the Midwest it will drain your soul.
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Aug 24, 2014 19:12
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Last Buffalo posted:You can actually make pretty good money teaching in China. I did it for 9 months and managed to save about 16k, all while living and enjoying life over there. Any decent school will set you up with either housing or a housing stipend. If you're smart, you'll use this as an opportunity to learn the language and not just get drunk in bars with white people. Sorry to but in, but could you provide a little more info as to how you got set up? I'm definitely in that transitional phase, and its something I've always been interested in, and some current happenings at my current job have shown me that I actually really like teaching.
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Aug 24, 2014 19:31
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First step, have a bachelors from a decent school. This makes everything a lot easier. Second, there are recruitment companies that you can apply to, but some of the better places are non-profits. I used this program (http://www.marshall.edu/gochina/), and all it did was connect me to a few schools that sent me offers. Luckily, I got offered a job at a pretty good school. Just keep googling and looking at jobs boards until you find a deal that seems fit. Generally, a public institution or established school is better than a cram school or for-profit private (like Disney English). You generally don't need to have any experience with China or Mandarin to get hired at most places, just a degree and possibly some specific experience in a field (they want a music teacher who's taught/studied music, math majors for math. Just about anyone with a degree can be hired to teach spoken English). Unless you know someone over there you trust, don't go over without a job offered and a contract signed. Otherwise, it could lead to a lot more hassle. Any place that hires you while you're in the states should help you with the visa application and other necessary documents. Depending on where you're teaching, they will help work out how to get you from a major airport to their location and work out the housing with you. Generally, you have to pay for your flight over, and I'd recommend having some cash to set yourself up (like 1,500-2,000 USD). I taught in China for one school year, then moved on to work in another industry for a few more years there, and I might be heading back in a few months. So, if you play your cards right, you could transition out of what is generally a short-term job into a career over there if you like it. The big difference I saw between people who just came for a contract and those who made a career over in China was who made an effort to learn Mandarin. Most people quit and don't put in a lot of effort, so they don't get very far.
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Aug 24, 2014 19:50
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Liar posted:I see this sort of thing posted often. Are they really so desperate for Americans to go over and teach? Also, what do you do when you get there? Do they house you, feed you, give you cash for day to day expenses, etc? It's been a while since I looked into it but they normally arrange for a small living quarters since trying to organise a rental when you can't speak the language is tough. Likewise you get paid, not a whole lot but enough to live on. Remember though joining JET isn't guaranteed living in down town Tokyo, more than likely you will end up in the country.
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Aug 24, 2014 20:25
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Okay, I'm starting to get really sold on the esl thing... Going to look more into this. Does anyone have some general pros and cons of japan, china, thailand, and south korea? ginealgo fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Aug 24, 2014 |
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Aug 24, 2014 21:18
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ginealgo posted:Okay, I'm starting to get really sold on the esl thing... China has a lot of jobs, and there's better opportunities to branch out of teaching into something else. I only worked in China, but a lot of my fellow expats who had lived in Korean, Japan, and Thailand all said that it was hard to do something else in those countries. In China, I think there's a little more flexibility to start new ventures. China can also be a lot cheaper, depending on where you're living, and how. China has a pretty wide range of pay. People can make peanuts (but generally have little responsibility), and can also do pretty well. If you do ESL in a big city like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen, etc, you can make bank tutoring english on the side as long as you make the right contacts. The big thing is the difference between the more developed and less developed parts. I don't think ESL people deal with the same level of dichotomy in Japan or Korea. When I taught, I taught at clean, expensive prep school in a big city, got decent pay and perks, but also had a lot of rules and mandatory busywork. I have a friend that taught in rural Heilongjiang, and living in a cold cement building and made peanuts, but also got to do pretty much whatever he wanted. He also went from no Mandarin to excellent speaker FAST.
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Aug 24, 2014 22:27
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I really want to live in a large city and be readily accepted into the social scene as a white person. I'm very flexible as to my finances, the work situation, or political freedoms. Being forced into learning a new language/cultural norms is a huge plus.
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Aug 24, 2014 22:38
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ginealgo posted:I really want to live in a large city and be readily accepted into the social scene as a white person. I'm very flexible as to my finances, the work situation, or political freedoms. Do not go to japan then you will always be an outsider (though the people will be very friendly)
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Aug 25, 2014 00:19
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Teaching ESL is a good option if you can do something in the interim to save up some money. I'm not aware of any reputable programs that will take in a first timer and pay for their travel to the host country, and you'll need some cash to get set up initially as well, like Last Buffalo said. I never did it, a few friends have done that (and worked other programs) and with one exception they had positive experiences. Another option is Teach for America. I know a couple other people who did this, and the main trade off is that while you don't get the exposure to a foreign culture, you also take fewer risks (and probably absorb fewer costs) in relocating. They also offer more options in what you'll teach besides ESL. I don't know much about the north east, having only spent significant time in New Hampshire and NYC, and never lived in either one - but I know Houston (where I live) has a number of programs to help people get on their feet. If relocating isn't the primary goal, just finding roots and starting a life, there might be local resources that will help save time/effort/money in taking a risk and heading for parts unknown. Regardless of what you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck, it's not easy to take the plunge like that.
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Aug 25, 2014 00:56
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What's your degree in, Ginrlago?
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Aug 25, 2014 03:11
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Shooting Blanks posted:Teaching ESL is a good option if you can do something in the interim to save up some money. I'm not aware of any reputable programs that will take in a first timer and pay for their travel to the host country Ummm.... the majority of the industry in Korea is set up to do just that. There is a TEFL thread in the science, academics, and languages subforum (see http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302316).
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Aug 25, 2014 07:47
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The entire state of North Dakota seems to be a boom town, they're going to need teachers. Something to keep in mind if the ESL overseas thing doesn't look good.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:16
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Last Buffalo posted:What's your degree in, Ginrlago? psychology
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Aug 25, 2014 09:58
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skaboomizzy posted:The entire state of North Dakota seems to be a boom town, they're going to need teachers. Something to keep in mind if the ESL overseas thing doesn't look good. skaboomizzy posted:The entire state of North Dakota seems to be a boom town, they're going to need teachers. Something to keep in mind if the ESL overseas thing doesn't look good. Are they hiring a lot of teachers? I was under the impression that the just had tons of short term workers coming through for the oil industry. Is this leading to a boom in schools?
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Aug 25, 2014 12:32
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Last Buffalo posted:Are they hiring a lot of teachers? I was under the impression that the just had tons of short term workers coming through for the oil industry. Is this leading to a boom in schools? There are some jobs up there for teaching, but yeah, a lot of it is oil work that is going up, and a lot of it is in the middle of loving nowhere where it'd be a solid six hours to either Grand Forks or 2 to Bismark. (or, if you have your passport, you can go about 4 hours north to Moose Jaw and Regina.) The cities are growing pretty fast due to MN's rep as a liberal, sane, state. But don't forget, you're still in the midwest, and most of that rep comes from the cities. You start heading out of the cities and things change depending on where you're at. But if you want to be accepted as a white person, MN would be great, especially the outer suburbs of the cities. There's a few jobs in Mankato I was looking at, and mankato ain't that bad of a place to live. Sioux Falls is growing pretty fast as well, and we're hiring a bunch of people for a bunch of different jobs out here. It's a decent sized city (definitely not NY - about 200k people live here) with some decent culture that's only 3 hours from the cities, 3 from Omaha, about 4 from Fargo, and about 5-6 from Mt. Rushmore/Sturgis/Deadwood, so there's some stuff to go to. I've moved WV->SD->NJ->SD all on whims, and I've loved it each time for about a year or two, and then got sick of it, and moved back east/west, and then stayed 2 or so years, moved back, etc. It does cost a lot to make the trip though - the cheapest I did SD->NJ was on $300, and that was sleeping in my car at rest stops. Defintely land a job ahead of time, even if it's a crappy retail position, at least that way you have some money coming in to find a place. Rent is...weird out here. The cities themselves are pricey, the suburbs are not. If you come to SF, rent ranges anywhere from $300 for a 1bd, to $1200 for a 2bd townhouse, and it really is neighborhood, neighborhood, neighborhood out here, rent can jump $500+ just by crossing the street. Pay is...not what you'd expect out here, but cost of living is definitely lower. I can survive just fine on 8.50 an hour, where in NJ, I was scraping by on $14/hr. The cities are a bit pricier, but not too bad.
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Aug 25, 2014 13:38
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ginealgo posted:May i ask why you did it? Thanks so much for the reply. I moved from NY to Myrtle Beach because I hate NY, hate the cold, the people are very rude and unhelpful, and wanted a fresh start. Myrtle Beach ended up being a complete disaster/money sink (although the people were really nice) and I was miserable, so I continued down to Orlando, which was what I wanted to begin with. Florida is Completely Totally BEAUTIFUL, there is no state income tax, taxes here are significantly lower than MB was, and as soon as I got here, things started going my way. I met a lot of really nice people right off the bat who have been extremely helpful. It sounds corny, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Everything is just... good. Dropping everything and moving, it's a gamble. But, as long as you learn about where you are going, find your resources, make friends ASAP... you can save yourself a lot of stress. ... I don't know a ton about teaching abroad, but I do have a good friend who teaches in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He tells me that although you don't make a ton of money, money goes a lot further- you can get a full meal made with real food for a dollar, as opposed to $8 for processed poo poo here. Elephants are accustomed to people the way squirrels sometimes are here. It's beautiful, and people are generally happy and friendly there. If I could, I would go there in a heartbeat.
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Aug 25, 2014 22:37
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HFCS posted:It sounds corny, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Everything is just... good. That's a great story. Puts a smile on my face knowing people are still doing this. I did it a while back and am living happily ever after in a town in the Midwest. My reasons for coming here were the worst: following a woman who was missing her home town. I left a pretty good job and a nice place in California, where I grew up. Now I am very very glad I did it, mostly for the reasons you mention, "I feel like I'm supposed to be here.. Everything is just... good." By the way, that trip from the west coast to here was in 1988. Yeppers.
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Aug 30, 2014 00:47
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Alternatively OP, move somewhere in Europe/Asia and act as a tour guide for English speaking tourists. There's a few companies that do that out there.HFCS posted:
Where do you park your car to sleep in it? You'd probably get paid more at one of the new wawas in the area. You ought to just hang out at vista way with the college program people and couch surf. I think they cram like 6 people in some of those awful places but it's probably better than living in a car.
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Sep 1, 2014 05:31
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I've done this three times, in a way. Twice temporarily for study abroad programs during college, and once for grad school (I am a PhD candidate). The important thing for me each time was to put myself in an environment where I would quickly meet new people, which meant living in residential colleges that have tons of events and trips etc to encourage people to meet one another. While you're obviously in a different kind of situation, perhaps there would be expat communities in whatever country you end up in that would serve a similar purpose? It makes so much of a difference. So many people in my department know only a handful of people thanks to living in standard university assigned apartment buildings. I arrived a few weeks before starting my program last year and met literally hundreds of new people before I had my first class. Another tip; resolve romantic entanglements before moving.
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Sep 1, 2014 22:24
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erobadapazzi posted:Ummm.... the majority of the industry in Korea is set up to do just that. Welp, I'm completely wrong, and that's a good thing. Wasn't aware that the Korean programs would go that far, cool!
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Sep 2, 2014 01:55
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1500 isn't enough for ESL. How much is your car worth?
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Sep 2, 2014 20:11
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Cacafuego posted:Where do you park your car to sleep in it? You'd probably get paid more at one of the new wawas in the area. You ought to just hang out at vista way with the college program people and couch surf. I think they cram like 6 people in some of those awful places but it's probably better than living in a car. Those places have security and there's no overnight staying allowed. If people fudge that rule, I guess I just met all the wrong people.
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Sep 3, 2014 13:41
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I'm about to kinda teach english abroad. I'd recommend people give it a try, especially if they have any experience in teaching or leading groups of people, that sort of thing. http://www.daveseslcafe.com/ is a good place to start, some places don't need a tefl qualification even (vaughan systems in Spain is one, though you might want to read up on that before deciding to do it). The thing I realised about TEFL teaching is that there's quite a lot of shysters and dickheads around, but you can get a good feel for the school through the interview. I'm thinking about what I'll be doing after teaching english abroad, but I suppose things will be a different a year or two from now.
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Sep 3, 2014 15:27
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How are you "kinda" about to teach abroad?
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Sep 3, 2014 15:39
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I'm volunteering for a charity and teaching english is just one part of what I'd be doing.
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Sep 4, 2014 09:55
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Figure out a way to get a job somewhere else and then do it. Don't spend time worrying or thinking about all the bad things that could happen by taking risks. The best advice is to figure out a way to market yourself, talk to a recruiter, get a job somewhere new (stateside or overseas), and just do it. Edit: I have a very niche skill set and just moved to Abu Dhabi for work making a lot of money.
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Sep 24, 2014 16:53
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