Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

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rogerrabbit
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by rogerrabbit »

JamesAlexander89 wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:59 pm
Kammekor wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:50 am Why Cambodia? You can get more bang for your buck in other countries. Wages are relatively low here and prices keep rising.
And about the teaching- if you’re good at it it can be really rewarding job, but having been a teacher for ages I can tell you must teachers aren’t that good, and then it can be struggle.
Make sure you have a plan b besides your teaching plans, and make sure you have a an idea about your live when you turn 60. As said before you will not build up any social security here and a medical issue will take a cut from your savings.
I could probably go other places. it has to do a bit with location. Cambodia seems like a convenient location in terms of traveling to and from other counties. the generally relaxed visa laws and proximity to other south east asian countries. Also i am a first time teacher. i have taught kids on baseball as well as been a dance teacher in the past so i have experience with teaching but from everything i hear and read Cambodia is a great place for a first time English teacher to get started there is not as much competition as say thailand, vietnam, china, korea, ect.. the initial plan is to teach for a couple years and then move to vietnam to teach with 2 years experience. who knows what will actually happen i may never leave or i may take off in 6 months to a year. i may forget teaching all together someone in this thread already offered me a structured cabling or network infrastructure/construction job which is what the majority of my work experience pertains to. I may just branch off and do something other than teaching. really the relaxed visa regulations, easy for a first time teacher, and lets face it the beer is cheap lol thanks for the question and information
Even though Cambodia is pretty centrally located, roads and flights connections are still pretty poor and thus flights are more expensive when compared to neighboring countries and bus/car trips tend to take long... and I mean very long.
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by Mishmash »

rogerrabbit wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:36 pm
Even though Cambodia is pretty centrally located, roads and amount of flights connections are still pretty poor and thus flights are more expensive when compared to neighboring countries and bus/car trips tend to take long... and I mean very long.
Yep - traffic, nowadays it takes me a week to get from my house near the airport to the places next door to the hostess bars that I never visit.

Before, it was a 20 minute trip - max!
taabarang
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by taabarang »

This advice is smiler to that given by Frank Lloyd Wright to beginning architects which advised them not to start out in bigger cities but in hamlets in the Deep South. After a few years of
necessary apprentiship, they would become aware of their successes and
failures and not leave a trail of eyesores in their wake.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
explorer
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by explorer »

JamesAlexander89 wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:50 pm i would hope that i land at a job where i feel i am actually making a difference that is sort of the sensationalized/romanticized reason i am going is to really help people learn and have better opportunities due to that learning.
You can make a difference in the lives of a small number of people. I financially assist students from poor families to get a university education. Instead of things like planting rice and catching fish, they should get a decent job. It really changes their lives. But it may be some time before you get to know poor people with a good attitude.
## I thought I knew all the answers, but they changed all the questions. ##
explorer
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by explorer »

Something you may find interesting. Get Cambodian students or teachers to write out the letters of the alphabet. That is:

AaBbCcDdEeFfGg etc.

Many will be able to do it, but they have no idea where some letters go in relation to the line, or how tall some of the letters should be. For example 'g' is often written completely above the line. They have not been taught. Many Cambodian English teachers don't know. When you teach them they don't care.

When you teach them something, they may write it correctly, or say it correctly for you. But then they go back to the old way.

With many of the things that are important to us, they don't care.
## I thought I knew all the answers, but they changed all the questions. ##
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Soriya
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by Soriya »

explorer wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:37 pm

There are many schools where students from wealthy families have to be given good results even if they put in little effort, and learn very little. If you don't give them good results, you will lose your job. It is not about learning. It is about making money.



Then there is the roads and driving. You will see it. A ridiculous amount of people get killed on the roads every year. If you are involved in an accident, you will be blamed, and you will have to pay compensation to the other person, because you have money, even if it is the other persons fault. I suggest you start with a bicycle, so you get familiar with the traffic while going slow.

The police are more concerned about taking money than stopping crime.

You may be sick a number of times before you understand how bad the food is, and learn you need to be selective where you eat.

So true about wealthy students getting passed.
Also if they got brothers and sisters at same school they will get passed as they are scared parents will remove them all from the school if one isnt passed.



I have been in accident.locals tried blaming me and wanted money 50$
Cops turned up and backed me up as i had obviously been hit from behind.they let me drive off.altho i got no compensation for the minor damage to my bike

So so true about the food. I no longer eat from food stalls as it always makes me ill.
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simon43
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by simon43 »

Why limit yourself to teaching in 'bricks and mortar' schools? Although I don't live in Cambodia, I live 'next-door' in northern Laos. I teach Science and English online to students in China, Burma, USA and Korea. I have a lot of freedom to choose how many lessons I teach each day - some are one-to-one private classes and some are teaching large classes of kids in some rural backwater in north China.

The money won't make me rich, about $3,000 tax-free income every month. But working for several different teaching companies minimises the risk of being made redundant and losing all my income stream. Oh, I'm going on 61 years old - age is not an issue if you're a good teacher, (not that you've got an age issue yet!).
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Soriya
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by Soriya »

Mishmash wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:48 pm
rogerrabbit wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:36 pm
Even though Cambodia is pretty centrally located, roads and amount of flights connections are still pretty poor and thus flights are more expensive when compared to neighboring countries and bus/car trips tend to take long... and I mean very long.
Yep - traffic, nowadays it takes me a week to get from my house near the airport to the places next door to the hostess bars that I never visit.

Before, it was a 20 minute trip - max!
i too live very near the airport, and to get to riverside takes me normally 20 minutes 30 max. i will add that is driving myself not using a tuktuk, which could well take hours.
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Kammekor
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by Kammekor »

Soriya wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2019 7:20 am
Mishmash wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:48 pm
rogerrabbit wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:36 pm
Even though Cambodia is pretty centrally located, roads and amount of flights connections are still pretty poor and thus flights are more expensive when compared to neighboring countries and bus/car trips tend to take long... and I mean very long.
Yep - traffic, nowadays it takes me a week to get from my house near the airport to the places next door to the hostess bars that I never visit.

Before, it was a 20 minute trip - max!
i too live very near the airport, and to get to riverside takes me normally 20 minutes 30 max. i will add that is driving myself not using a tuktuk, which could well take hours.
My guess is that's driving a motorbike using the sidewalk as a fourth or fifth lane... :stir:
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JamesAlexander89
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Re: Moving to Phnom Penh in January 2020

Post by JamesAlexander89 »

Kammekor wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:18 pm
JamesAlexander89 wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:07 pm
Kammekor wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:50 am Why Cambodia? You can get more bang for your buck in other countries. Wages are relatively low here and prices keep rising.
And about the teaching- if you’re good at it it can be really rewarding job, but having been a teacher for ages I can tell you must teachers aren’t that good, and then it can be struggle.
Make sure you have a plan b besides your teaching plans, and make sure you have a an idea about your live when you turn 60. As said before you will not build up any social security here and a medical issue will take a cut from your savings.
also i really hope it can be rewarding and fulfilling. that really is the purpose of all this. i know things dont always work out as planned but i hope to start in cambodia and eventually branch out if i feel like leaving cambodia. teaching in countries and places that need good teachers that actually care. who knows maybe in 6 months like some are saying here i will be living in the gutter regretting all of this just looking for my next drink and hooker hahah. I highly doubt that will be the case for me so i am willing to take the risk regardless of the warnings. where do you teach?
I quit teaching eight years ago. Two years of teaching in Cambodia (as a teacher trainer) made clear teaching wasn't enough to enable a certain lifestyle. Nothing fancy by the way, but a worry free lifestyle with the possibility to save some money for the future.
That is what I keep hearing here but I wonder what exactly everyone is spending so much on? I have been talking to a fellow teacher in Cambodia and she guarantees with my TEFL and prior experience teaching children I'll get about 1,400USD a month with 240$ a month for a decent apartment and let's say 60$ a month electricity that's 300$ a month living cost. That 1,100$ a month give or take for good and getting to and from work if needing a moto taxi. the math to me seems pretty simple I cant really imagine what I would spend the remaining 1,100$ on that will make my life there uncomfortable or just scraping by. I'm just confused on exactly what people are spending on to maenit so hard to live? Booze and hookers? by my calculations I'll be able to live comfortable and save money as well as travel when I have time. Maybe i am just completely off?
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