We need some more fresh blood

[ecocks]

on here. 

Anyone teaching EFL down around Odessa?  I'm curious what the going rate is for EFL teachers in that area.

Apparently nobody wants to tutor math either.  Guess the Kyiv market is not too difficult for the expats to find work these days.  Or is it that they don't get to this website?   

Sigh...back to recruiting from out of the country.

[P-N]

It's about $30 an hour here.....or so I'm told.  Considering going myself as my English is appauling 

[P-N]

Apparantly $30 is for a child (individual) starting at ABC.  If a group (not more than 5) all pay $20-$25 per hour and class tuition 2 times a week is $135 for 2 x 1.5 hour lessons.  The wife used to work for HTB interpreting US and English films into Russian but although Ukraine, like many Ukraines in Odessa, she cannot speak Ukraine only Russian.  Maybe she'd be some new blood your looking for - get her out of the house etc. 

[SilverBullet]

$30 per hour seems steep to me but you live there and know what's going on. I know interpreters make $10 to $15/hour in Odessa so why would English lessons be twice that rate? The private interpreters in Odessa should start teaching instead. Better pay  $30/hour would be high even in the US. Min pay in California is $8.50/hour, other states less. Wondering how people in Odessa can pay for English lessons costing $30?

Do you ever think of all the very expensive cars seen in Odessa? Not only the standard Mercedes and BMWs but they are the top of the line; the V8 and V12's. People just laugh and say it is the port of Odessa generating such wealth 

[P-N]

$30 per hour seems steep to me but you live there and know what's going on. I know interpreters make $10 to $15/hour in Odessa so why would English lessons be twice that rate? The private interpreters in Odessa should start teaching instead. Better pay  $30/hour would be high even in the US. Min pay in California is $8.50/hour, other states less. Wondering how people in Odessa can pay for English lessons costing $30?

Do you ever think of all the very expensive cars seen in Odessa? Not only the standard Mercedes and BMWs but they are the top of the line; the V8 and V12's. People just laugh and say it is the port of Odessa generating such wealth 

You're forgetting the Bentley's and Astin Martins too - Almost all the poeple I know here are "cash rich" to a much greater extent than those I knew in the UK.  This is probably due to the fact nobody here has a mortgage or other such loans to banks.  Also there is a lot of work on the ships (both cargo and cruise liner) always being advertised which pays very well in comparison to other jobs in Ukraine, again paid in USD and obviously "tax avoidable" as the majority of the employers are EU or far eastern ie. Malaysian.

I have no problems selling undercorated houses here (on average 250 sq metres) for a minimum of $400,000 cash.

There is (no matter what anyone says) a huge amount of money "under the bed" in cash here which they all either keep for a rainy day or invest in porperty for either rent or buy a house from the likes of me and then either again rent their appartments for about $500 per month or in summer $1000 per month without difficulty.  If not they sell their appartments and again are cash rich. 

Before you ask, the reason I don't really build smaller than the above metre sq is that a reasonable percentage sell their appartment and Baboshka's to buy the house and then pay for me to decorate it.  (This way it is big enough for them to lead se[erate but joint lives in the house ) - even then they are left with some cash left over for the BMW or Merc etc.

Decorated house sells for minimum $600,000 for basic decoration - depending on the style of decoration can sell for over $750,000 - you don't want to know my net profit margins!!  

[SilverBullet]

Nik, good to hear you are doing fine in Odessa and that business is great. There should be more to come if you want to move into renovation of old historic buildings and start building new condos. The banking regulation is changing in Ukraine and soon young people will start buying their homes with a mortgage.

As for the Bentleys and Aston Martins (current models of course) you see around, I have always had a suspection that some of the luxury cars come from Transnistria, and that the original owner reported the car missing elsewhere  : I was told that if I wanted to buy a car at a great price (almost too good to be true), Transnistria was the place to go. Not too far from Odessa but a dangerous place from what I hear. The person heading the "security force" of Transnistria is actively sought by Interpol and can not leave the region. The only enterprise in Transnistria is under the name "Sherrif" controling supermarkets, gas stations, red light districts, etc. I would think there are some spillover wealth that ends up in Odessa from Transnistria.     

Borispol airport was expanded not too long ago with new international departure hall and terminals. As for Odessa International, that airport is not too bad and has some upgraded areas already. It could probably use some runway maintenance, new navigation landing systems and hangars but otherwise ok.   

[P-N]

Nik, good to hear you are doing fine in Odessa and that business is great. There should be more to come if you want to move into renovation of old historic buildings and start building new condos. The banking regulation is changing in Ukraine and soon young people will start buying their homes with a mortgage.

As for the Bentleys and Aston Martins (current models of course) you see around, I have always had a suspection that some of the luxury cars come from Transnistria, and that the original owner reported the car missing elsewhere  : I was told that if I wanted to buy a car at a great price (almost too good to be true), Transnistria was the place to go. Not too far from Odessa but a dangerous place from what I hear. The person heading the "security force" of Transnistria is actively sought by Interpol and can not leave the region. The only enterprise in Transnistria is under the name "Sherrif" controling supermarkets, gas stations, red light districts, etc. I would think there are some spillover wealth that ends up in Odessa from Transnistria.     

Borispol airport was expanded not too long ago with new international departure hall and terminals. As for Odessa International, that airport is not too bad and has some upgraded areas already. It could probably use some runway maintenance, new navigation landing systems and hangars but otherwise ok.   

I know the place you're talking about SB 

Odessa is getting a brand spanking new internation airport $250 Million worth (not small potatoes for Ukraine) and a reasonable sized project.  It is scheduled to open 2010 but as normal no money has appeared as yet and frankly if it doesn't come soon then 2010 is unrealistic. 

The design is good, done by an archietect friend of mine (famous apparantly here and in Russia) and the contractor has been appointed and we have had initial discussions  , but everything is waiting on the money as usual.

As for my business, it's not "officially" a business, just something that stops me getting bored on a daily basis and keeps the wolves from the door .  (A long way from the door as it happens - not that I knew that when I started ) 

If they don't stop sitting on the money Odessa will be lucky if the new airport will be open for the 2012 Euro football !!

[ecocks]

Remember that a $30 rate is either a group up to mid-size or an individual lesson for a real manager/executive type which is often paid by a company or well-to-do individual. For regular people, dividing the group rate by 4 shows it a more realistic $7.50.  In Kyiv rates are as high as $75/hour and some of us have pretty full schedules.  Understand that to get that rate you also are probably spending a couple of hours total allowing for travel time and then there is the dead summer period, travel and cancelled lessons due to meetings and such.  Not all bon-bons and lunches at the Cosmopolitan, I assure you.

[SilverBullet]

Ed, makes sense then. I was not aware that they were group rates. I expect you have to spend some time preparing for the classes too which you don't get paid for. Thanks for the clarification. 

[Moving]

Did not read the whole thread and sorry if I am off-topic.

Should Odessa turn out to be another snobbish hole like Moscow (with the difference that Moscow, hosting millions of people and being a mammoth metropolis able to satisfy all people needs, was the kind of city where everyone can find his/her own room -  so at the end I cannot complain about Moscow) I will be off to Kiev (probably even more snobbish but at least a metropolis where everyone can find what he/she wants) in a week

Good I am paying the school week by week

Ok, sorry for this post

Will meet some of you pretty soon I guess

[Carlushika]

Did not read the whole thread and sorry if I am off-topic.

Should Odessa turn out to be another snobbish hole ........ (snipped by me)
Ok, sorry for this post

Will meet some of you pretty soon I guess

Odessa a snobbish hole? Snobs are people who crawl to their social superiors and are disdainful of or condescending to those less expert or having different tastes. You won't find many like this unless you attract them ............ except maybe those who control 5 or more rubber stamps!

[Carlushika]

Seems the word "snob" might have a totally different meaning in Russia and the FSU countries.

Russian billionaire to set up magazine for snobs
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080423/tod-uk-russia-rich-d987f7f.html

Part of the article reports, "According to the Oxford English Dictionary's online edition, www.askoxford.com, a snob is: "A person who has an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth and who looks down on those regarded as socially inferior".

Shmarov said Russians attach a different meaning to the word,

"Snob to us means a person who is a 'self-made man', a person who has gained a right to snobbishness," he said emphasising the main difference with the British meaning which he said referred to inherited wealth.

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