Work for potatoes?
Week 7 of this crazy free fall and I feel like we’ve hit a wall.
A job wall. The more we talk to other expats looking for work, the more we realize that the job market here sux. Supply of teachers is seemingly dominating the demand of jobs.
The opportunities for teachers in BA seems pathetic. I have applied for every job available, pushed my resume via email to every language school; and short of tap dancing on the street with a sign, or posting an ad about myself in the BA Herald, I’m out of optimism. Yes, whine alert!
Today I got a call with a ‘maybe’ job. Would I like to travel 1 hour to a small house in a shitty suburb, walk 7 blocks at 9pm at night to teach 3 children for 2 hours in their home? Travel back, prepare the classes from scratch (we can lend you a book) and we’ll pay you the equivalent of 1 bottle of shit wine for a total of 6 hours of your time – twice a week. Grand total 4 hours actual work + 4 hours minimum travel time + 4 hours lesson planning for 100 pesos. A shitty $28 AUSD. Luckily we are perfecting the fine art of living like vagabond scabs.
I would rather chew off my right arm than start 4 hours per week here and there for 5 different agencies a week. TESOL I hate you today. In hindsight, the video testimonials of happy students frolicking around the globe grates me. Lucky I arrived cashed up. This is a warning for other would be teachers to this city. The more I speak to others in the same situation the more I realize we have to shift. Andres has applied for about 10 or more jobs per day since we arrived and we don’t even get email replies. I go to interviews and they don’t call you back when they say they will at least let you know. We even researched volunteer jobs to spend our time altruistically and we can’t find one for free.
Apparently things are better in regional towns and other countries. Still crap pay but living costs are less – Argentina being one of the most expensive cities on the continent. We are researching organic farming to WWOOF our way through some food and accommodation, of which I’m super excited to do! We’ve also been doing some research to find a seemingly elusive volunteer job that doesn’t involve heavy self funding.
Just sharing the reality, after keeping in touch with other Brisbane TESOL buddies we seem to all be feeling the same frustration. Love the country, love the culture, just have to be patient to make the work dream materialize. It seems the real TESOL opportunity is for the language schools churning out expensive qualifications. Well paid jobs exist in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Japan but definitely not on every continent.
The upside: it’s still way cheaper to be unemployed and looking for work here than in Australia. Living creatively on about $450 AUSD a month each is as frugal as we can be. Next dream scam (while hunting for a real job) is to find a funded living space and cut out rent – like working on an organic farm.
Lucky we are in this together and packed a good dose of ‘stubborn pride’!
Kris
There are 12 Comments to "Work for potatoes?"
Work for potatoes?[2sporks1cup.com] Week 7 of this crazy free fall and I feel like we’ve hit a wall. A job wall. [...]
Hello lovelies, the organic farm sounds great. What a bugger about work, you guy`s have tried so hard. As you say it`s probably a lot cheaper to be unemployed in BA than Brisvegas.
Loving all the your daily news and photos… especially the photo of the over grown Oscar look a like. Love always Cassatta Flamenco Fontana. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Appreciate the support Cassata. We have to wait out our lease now, currently researching WWOOFing options and have found so many good places to get gardening. Will keep you posted on our plans. Lots of love Kris x
Unbelievable! Just finished hours of reading about the amazing opportunities that exist through WWOOFing. Never realized just how hard it could be to decide where to volunteer. On the upside, it is really encouraging to envisage myself floating around central and south America from one farm to the next actually learning the skills required to be able to perhaps one day be self sufficient. Pretty keen to get stuck into something like that straight after Costa Rica, but again so many choices. Been checking out these guys as an option too. http://www.artforhumanity.org/ Can be a tutor, teacher, or even work on their organic coffee farm. Lettuce know if you end up on a farm, be so keen to get the inside word on how it all works : >)
Jono
Cool hey Jono! So many options – and thanks for the extra link. We are definitely going WWOOFing as soon as our lease ends in BA (end of August). We have chosen about 15 farms to apply to in Argentina alone, so that should get us moving happily across the country North. Bolivia is looking better for volunteer and teaching jobs. We’ll see? Can’t wait to get the hands dirty and get outdoors again. Kris
Hey, anyone looking for volunteering in the city, a way to get a great recommendation/reference for teaching English later on, check out Centro Conviven. We don’t charge any fees. I repeat: it is FREE to volunteer with us, as should be! Check out our website and blog and then email me for more information. We primarily teach English, but the kids learn so much more than language skills.
http://www.centroconviven.blogspot.com
I don’t understand why you are having so many problems finding a job… I arrived here 3 weeks ago and already had several terrific job offers. Although, I have experience and university degrees…I don’t really know what your situation is…good luck anyways!
Thanks for the encouragement Kelly – I believe the key words in your message (and apparently missing from my interview criteria) are possibly ‘experience’ and ‘degree’ and I’m beginning to believe ‘American’. Kris
Reading the BA Expats website today I found this enlightening discussion. The teaching situation in this city is particularly difficult:
http://baexpats.org/expat-life/10680-anyone-else-mistreated-english-teacher.html
Kris
Found you through the aforementioned BA Expats discussion – have enjoyed reading the blog. Can’t believe I didn’t find it whilst during the six weeks we were actually in San Telmo, there could have been wine and alfajores!! We’re currently traveling around Argentina/Boliva until Dec and were contemplating ways of coming back next year – teaching English in Buenos Aires obviously isn’t going to be one of them…
Thanks for the feedback Cate. Happy to have helpfully burst the teaching dream bubble before it was too late! If we cross paths we can see about that vino! Heading North soon. Kris
Some more interesting fodder for the teach English overseas enthusiasts: http://matadorabroad.com/is-teaching-esl-recession-proof/