Thank you
It will be hard to support yourself by teaching. Through a private company you will earn ~11USD/hr, but they dont pay for transportation time or cost, or the time it takes to create the lesson plan. So the actual figure ends up being more like 8.50USD/2 hours.
You can do much better through private lessons (up to 40usd/hr) but they are hard to get - you usually find your privates by teaching through a company and stealing their clients. (They pay the company about R$75/hr, so if you are good you can convince them to drop the company and pay you R$50-R$60/hr - which is about 25usd-30usd)
I went down there by myself, without speaking the language or knowing a single person and 6 months later I had a big social circle and was somewhat of a group organizer/leader.
It was easily the best 6 months of my life and I realized if I can flourish in Rio De Janeiro - one of the most dangerous cities in the world - without knowing the language, or knowing a single person, I can do anything I want.
"Abroad" is a very large and diverse place.
I can consult numerous guides on living abroad in all kinds of locales as well as read various blogs on this topic.
I am more curious about how the HN community members made it work for them, independent of their locale.
As for "every country would be a different answer", why not have every country listed here?
Scratch that... maybe living in Quebec City could qualify. Ha!
I am basing this on my own assumptions, which could be quite wrong, please correct me if I'm making the wrong assumptions.
Some countries are more difficult than others. Work visas can be a pain in the ass, I left the US because the H1B wasn't really a good deal. Languages are always the biggest barrier, but in some countries you can start working even if you only speak English.
Three advices.
- Be positive, there will be times that things go wrong and/or you feel lonely. Don't desperate it take time and effort to build a social network in a different country.
- Keep in touch with your family and friends back home, Sooner than later you will be back.
- Try new things out of your confort zone. The job that I liked best so far was when I restored a very old country hause in Italy.
I am a EU citizen, so I can work in any country of the EU (Schengen countries actually). Romania was not a full EU country at that time, so I applied for a visa, it was quite easy, but requires a lot of paperwork, in my case the girl I was dating at that time did it for me.
Anyway the first thing that I always do is to call the embassy or consulate of the country that I want to visit at ask for information, each country has its own laws. In some embassies they would provide you the contact address of law firms that are specialist in this.
Were you already in the country when you applied for the work visa?
I did such a master's at Chalmers University in Sweden and it was really a great experience.
Where are you working now? Has your masters at Chalmers been beneficial?
I'm working at a startup in Boston now. The masters has been a huge benefit to me, though my job these days doesn't exactly relate to the program I was in (Complex Adaptive Systems).
One interesting feature of the master's programs in Sweden (compared to the US) is that most students do their thesis work with industry, so it might be a good match for people leaning more towards business than academia (ie, those who read HN).
I know a number of people who continued to work in Sweden after they graduated without any problems, but I don't know the details of their visa arrangements.
The only problem is that you get a lot more out of Japan if you speak Japanese. Not many people here are very good at English. There's plenty of expats, though. Everyone I know who has visited Kyoto temporarily as a tourist or student has loved it and wanted to stay as long as possible.
There are English teaching jobs aplenty in Japan, but many have low pay and not so great conditions. As long as you're not from America, you can come on a working holiday. (I'm American so I came here with a job on the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) Program. It pays a lot but usually places you in the country-side, not a sweet place like Kyoto.)
Personally, I think living abroad is one of the best, most educational things you can do for yourself. If I could run my own country, I'd require all citizens to live abroad for at least one year.
Good luck, and have fun on your adventure!
In Asia, finding a shared flat is usually pretty straightforward. Just ask students and other young people on the street. They will be more than happy to help and practice their English. Networking with other foreigners also works pretty well, though living with the locals is a good way of learning the language fast.
Email me if you need any help.
As a side-effect, you will also get a much deeper understanding of the local people/culture if you have at least a basic understanding of their language.
Make sure you have enough money, and that you can work legally in the country of your choice. Please learn the local language---if only out of courtesy.
Chile has an interesting programme to lure entrepeneurs. See http://www.startupchile.org/ for details.
Searching various job sites and just playing with the country setting can yield some interesting results. If you have some language skills searching sites like the UN, world bank, IMF etc. can be useful.
Teaching English can be fun, most people I have met doing it tend to do it for six months or so before disappearing into thin air. Although you do get to work a lot less hours.