Question by Saul: Teaching english: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, or somewhere else?
I’m going to be graduating university in less than a year and thinking of teaching English in central or Eastern Europe for a bit. I will have a bachelor’s degree but not TEFL certification…. although if it’s absolutely necessary I may do this.

I know many teach in East Asia but I’ve already lived in China and Taiwan. I also studied in the UK for a year and saw most of Western Europe so now I want to have a new experience.

What do you think about these countries in terms of cost/wages, ease of finding work, sentiment toward foreigners, nightlife, meeting local women, and trip opportunities?

How are the expat communities in these places? Cliquish of open?

If it matters I’m from the U.S.

Best answer:

Answer by Willeke
You will find it almost impossible to get a work permit and without it you can not work anywhere in Europe.

For you to get a work permit, the employer needs to prove that they can not find any European to do the job, and as the English and Irish are native speakers too, you will only have a very small chance on being given one.
Only if you have a citizenship of one of the European countries you can move there and work.

I do not know about the other countries, but I happen to know that Slovakia requires every teacher to have a completed teaching education, not just an TEFL certification as far as I understand.

Besides, to live in the countries and to teach beginners levels you have to speak the local language, and the Slavic languages are not ones that you can pick up in a few weeks.
The expat communities are not very big, but as far as I understand they will welcome others to their groups, it is best though not to rely on expat communities, as they are not big.

Added:
I just saw an other question where the work permit situation is explained better, and with links: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjbenuJgWI6eTBNkz6zuFfVe7RR.;_ylv=3?qid=20090828224232AAvfM1T

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Question by Moraco Mole: Right wing, Left wing, Republicans, Democrats, Citizens of the UK, and everyone else in the world?
I sometimes ask stupid questions to prove a point. So what was my point? All elected heads of state represent their country whether you as a citizen support them or not. So when you bash your head of state on an international stage it reflects badly on you although you may not have voted for that person. Do you see the people from the UK bashing their PM? So why do we (in the US) hate our persident and elected officials?… It’s not just GW but others as well, but much to your chagrin these people keep getting re-elected. If we spent as much time and effort trying investigating the candidate and actually voting for who we thought was best as we do asking questions on YA and blogging about how much we hate X candidate I think we would be better off and better informed. I have included myself in my complaint, but after this question is resolved in will retire from YA. I am going to get off my a** and do someting about all these things that piss me off.
I will help the canidates I support and spred the truth about the ones I don’t.

Best answer:

Answer by David
Good for you.

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Question by MacSteed: Have you ever been started at by someone else, whether a group or an individual?
How did it make you feel? How did you respond? Did you stare right back? Did you just ignore it? How do you react when you’re being stared at?

Quick anecdote: When I was living in Japan, it didn’t take me long to realize that as a gaijin (literally “outsider”), I tended to stand out in a crowd. Notwithstanding the Japanese penchant for good manners, people would often stare, openly. This little sociological trend was more noticable in the country than in the major cities, but it was fairly ubiquitous. Like my fellow American, British, Canadian and Australian ex-pats, I soon got used to this quaint little custom and just went about my business. But given that staring at someone is widely considered rude in the west, I often wondered why the otherwise very polite Japanese had no qualms about staring at the “filthy gaijin” (my term, not theirs). When I returned to the states after two years, I must confess I found it quite nice to blend right in and be ignored again.
***Correction: It took nearly a day to notice it but I mistyped “stared” as “started” in posting this question. I’m thinking this is just the sort of thing YA should allow us to edit. I’m also thinking I really need more sleep. :p

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Question by Johnny B: Help?! Burglars… don’t know what else to do?
Okay, well we live near the border of Mexico. My parents decided to built their big, old retirement home here and it’s been crazy ever since. The first week we stayed in the house, we had a burglar attempt to break a window and get in. They ran away after hearing a scream but it was pretty scary. We installed an alarm system in the house. A year later (now), we have had people steal our water hose (open our backyard to get to it, we have since put a lock on it), a light that is on the ground that lights the house up at night, and just this weekend, they came and stole 2 over 150-lb potted plants that were in front of our garage and attempt to take the neighbors as well (they were apparently too heavy and dropped one so they left them).

A few months back also, we have a lot beside our house where the buyers have not yet constructed their home, and we found a large box leaned towards our fence and being stepped on as if they were peeking over the fence into our yard. This is ridiculous! Our neighborhood is not gated even though it is considered a very nice neighborhood. My family is speaking of cameras and motion sensor alarms but I have a feeling these things won’t phase them. If anything, they would attempt to steal the cameras as well and most of these thieves aren’t scared of cameras.. I want something that will scare them enough to leave our house alone.. Does anyone have any ideas? I believe our house is more of a target since it is pretty large, built on a corner and has 2 sides facing the street and it is clearly visible that bedrooms are on the other side of the house.. Any ideas please? It is really scary since most of the time, there are only 4 girls in the house at night.. with no males.
Oh and we have lights on at night, every night on both sides of the house. The house stays lit up at night.

Best answer:

Answer by jekin
I suppose it is illegal to shoot themon your own property. I think you made a dumb choice to live among mexicans. Did you ever wonder why all the walls around homes in mexico and neighboring states. You need to put razor wire on top of the wall.

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Question by ticallionstallion: MLS teams calling all Mexicans, who else is on their way? ?
Well many of you people heard that Luis Angel Landin is on its way to Houston Dynamo. In my opinion one of the worst fowards Mexico has ever produced, next to Sergio Santana and Esqueda.

Landin to Houston:

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/81990-houston-after-mexican-phenom-landin

NOW, rumor has it, and I think this one is more of a possibility, el zorro del desierto, Jared Borguetti might be on his way to Texas also:

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/81990-houston-after-mexican-phenom-landin

Also, Adolfo Bautista coming to Chivas USA, so in the future his transaction to Chivas Guadalajara can be easier and cheaper. (sorry no link for this one, heard it on Radio)

What do you guys think of players like Landin, Borguetti, Bautista and others coming to the MLS?

Easy Money?
Retirement home? (Borguetti)
Lack of playing time in Mexico? (Landin & Borguetti)
Or just outshine the league? (example: el Temo)

opinions…

ps. they are not the only ones ive heard of, if I find links i’ll provide.
@el mero mero: I agree with you, even if I do support Chivas USA, i wouldnt want him to come to the MLS, I rather for him to go to a bigger team than Chiapas, either a team like Cruz Azul, Morelia, Toluca, or Monterrey…benefit? better chances to be called up to the seleccion for Bofo, in my opinion thats who we need in el Tri
side note: Ms. Lady Donovan is set for another try at Europe:

http://overthere.american-soccer-news.com/?p=122

Another Player: Jose Luis “Parejita” Lopez to MLS:

http://www.esmas.com/estadioweb/futbol/noticias/744479.html

even though this link is old(summer 2008), this was another player I heard of possibly coming to the MLS during december, hear it on the radio.

Best answer:

Answer by {{O$C@R $}}
I THINK SOME PLAYERS ARE GOING TO THE MLS CAUSE THEYRE GONNA GET PAYED BETTER THERE AND HAVE LESS COMPETITION TO START

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