Getting There
If you are going to Asia, you will probably have to fly and depending on where you go in Asia there might not be a direct flight. When you choose your flight I would suggest you look at the wait times between flights. Too little wait like one hour and you may miss your ongoing flight and too much time like ten hours is going to end up either costing you money or sleep since you may have to go to a hotel.
Most schools will pay for your flight but I have a word of advice. You will likely come to the school with very little money and you will have to live for the first month on what you bring, unless you can negotiate with your school for them to pay for your flight up front so that you have some living money. Most schools do not like to do this in case you decide to quit after a few months and they are out the money but if you push hard enough they may give you the money which you will need because you have to get accommodation which will ask for a few months rent in advance and you may like to eat the occasional meal the first month.
If they do not pay for the flight for a few months, you may ask them for an advance against your future pay and most schools are willing to do this.
If you are going to Asia, you will probably have to fly and depending on where you go in Asia there might not be a direct flight. When you choose your flight I would suggest you look at the wait times between flights. Too little wait like one hour and you may miss your ongoing flight and too much time like ten hours is going to end up either costing you money or sleep since you may have to go to a hotel.
Most schools will pay for your flight but I have a word of advice. You will likely come to the school with very little money and you will have to live for the first month on what you bring, unless you can negotiate with your school for them to pay for your flight up front so that you have some living money. Most schools do not like to do this in case you decide to quit after a few months and they are out the money but if you push hard enough they may give you the money which you will need because you have to get accommodation which will ask for a few months rent in advance and you may like to eat the occasional meal the first month.
If they do not pay for the flight for a few months, you may ask them for an advance against your future pay and most schools are willing to do this.
Banking
You may have debts in your home country which you have to pay off out of your salary. This may sound easy but often it becomes quite complicated for a few reasons. The first one is that you have to open up a bank account and you will not be able to do this on your own in most Asian countries. I guess they are concerned about security so you will have to get he owner of the school to come to the bank with you to vouch for you.
Once you have your bank account, the deposits from the schools will be in local currency which you have to translate into the currency of your home country if you need to wire some money home to pay for any debts. This sounds easy but might provide some challenges since currencies go up and down and different banks give you certain different rates.
Before you leave your home country, visit your local bank where you do your banking and ask them for all of the details they need to accept funds from abroad. All of these things may take a few months before they start to flow smoothly so I would leave some money at home to pay of things like student debt or mortgages knowing that flow of money between two countries will take a few months to flow smoothly.
You may have debts in your home country which you have to pay off out of your salary. This may sound easy but often it becomes quite complicated for a few reasons. The first one is that you have to open up a bank account and you will not be able to do this on your own in most Asian countries. I guess they are concerned about security so you will have to get he owner of the school to come to the bank with you to vouch for you.
Once you have your bank account, the deposits from the schools will be in local currency which you have to translate into the currency of your home country if you need to wire some money home to pay for any debts. This sounds easy but might provide some challenges since currencies go up and down and different banks give you certain different rates.
Before you leave your home country, visit your local bank where you do your banking and ask them for all of the details they need to accept funds from abroad. All of these things may take a few months before they start to flow smoothly so I would leave some money at home to pay of things like student debt or mortgages knowing that flow of money between two countries will take a few months to flow smoothly.
Accommodation
Most apartments in Asia do not have bathtubs so if you fancy one, you have to ask for it specifically. Depending on how much money you want to spend, you may get other amenities like swimming pools, fancy lobbies and games rooms and so on. I think you should expect to pay about 25% of your salary on accommodation but it can certainly be less if you are willing to "slum it"
There are many shared apartments where there might be three bedrooms and three teachers share these accommodations. You can also get a shared room in a house which is the cheapest way to go.
You will be asked to pay a few months rent in advance on a year lease. Many teachers have told me that they never see this money again, although I have been lucky and have always gotten my money back at the end of the lease.
Make sure you write an escape clause in your lease that allows you to get out of the contract under extenuating circumstances such as a crisis at home where you have to break the lease.
Your biggest expense will likely be things like electricity which you have to factor in when you create your budget. Make sure you find out ahead of time how much money this might be.
You also have to decide how far away from the school you want to be. In large cities like Bangkok, Beijing or Ho Chi MInh City this is a major consideration since you do not want to spend hours fighting traffic every day. If you are in a more rural area then it will not be a major issue and you can live anywhere you please because traffic will be light.
Most apartments in Asia do not have bathtubs so if you fancy one, you have to ask for it specifically. Depending on how much money you want to spend, you may get other amenities like swimming pools, fancy lobbies and games rooms and so on. I think you should expect to pay about 25% of your salary on accommodation but it can certainly be less if you are willing to "slum it"
There are many shared apartments where there might be three bedrooms and three teachers share these accommodations. You can also get a shared room in a house which is the cheapest way to go.
You will be asked to pay a few months rent in advance on a year lease. Many teachers have told me that they never see this money again, although I have been lucky and have always gotten my money back at the end of the lease.
Make sure you write an escape clause in your lease that allows you to get out of the contract under extenuating circumstances such as a crisis at home where you have to break the lease.
Your biggest expense will likely be things like electricity which you have to factor in when you create your budget. Make sure you find out ahead of time how much money this might be.
You also have to decide how far away from the school you want to be. In large cities like Bangkok, Beijing or Ho Chi MInh City this is a major consideration since you do not want to spend hours fighting traffic every day. If you are in a more rural area then it will not be a major issue and you can live anywhere you please because traffic will be light.
Singapore Botanical Gardens
In the next "installment" I will talk about transportation, clothing, and weekends.
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