Friday, December 9, 2011
Since I mentioned my friend in China...
My friend Casey taught in China for a few months in 2009, came back, and is now teaching in a different city there and loving it. He often writes on his friend Tom's excellent blog, Seeing Red in China. Casey's pieces can be accessed here. Between the two of them and a Chinese-American friend, the blog provides a really interesting, varied look at life in China, the teaching experience, the ex-pat experience, and more.
TEFL courses, getting started in the TEFL world
It's funny how things happen all at once. I posted that entry yesterday, gave a great deal of thought to a vacation to Quito next year (still deciding- LAN is offering a great airfare), and wrote a story for my other blog about an incident that happened to me in Quito. And then today I got a message from a college friend. She and her husband are considering teaching English abroad.
"There are so many programs that it's difficult to figure out which ones are credible," she wrote.
I replied:
Credibility is a HUGE factor in the TEFL world, as you've noticed. I went through Oxford Seminars. I recommend it under some circumstances, as it worked out for me, but it may not be the best program. If you know where you want to go in the world, that will be your guide.
Kati's Huge Generalizations (which may be based on old information):
- Japan: pays well, works you hard, somewhat hard to get into
- Korea: pays well, works you hard, somewhat easier to get into
- China: moderate pay, huge demand, visas are tricky (I know people who've been misled and had to go home)
- Latin America: low pay, relaxed working environment, demand is hit-or-miss
- Western Europe: good pay, moderate work, hard to get into, most places prefer to hire people with EU passports (like from the UK)
- Eastern Europe: probably easier to get into, but I know no details
- Middle East: good pay, but some of the countries are probably not worth living in no matter the pay (Saudi Arabia)
- Southeast Asia: lower pay, high demand in some countries
- former USSR: not sure about pay, but I've definitely heard of jobs in some of those countries
- elsewhere: I never hear about TEFL in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific islands.
I won't presume to tell you about the qualifications expected in different regions, because it depends on the school and the country. There are a lot of good online resources, including Dave's ESL Cafe. You can either decide on a region, find out the best qualification, and get it- or you can go the Kati route, which was to just jump in and take the Oxford class because I could afford it ($1050, I think, for three weekends- they say it's 60 hours, but really it was less than that.) I wasn't very sure where I wanted to go, and just wanted to learn more. I took it in May and June of 2009 at the Butler University campus in Indianapolis.
My class was good, although a friend who took one in California didn't think hers was. It probably depends on your teacher. We had discussions, practiced teaching, did small-group and partner activities, and created indivudual mock lessons. We discussed the various kinds of learners and learning styles, and the importance of creating lesson plans that work for diverse groups. (Since my undergrad degree is in education, it was review for me, but still interesting.) We did exercises that put us in the shoes of ENL* learners. We had a lot of conversations about living abroad and the teacher experiences, as well as the realities of finding a job abroad.
Our teacher was an older woman who began teaching in Chinese universities well into her career. She was engaging, fun, and had interesting stories. My class was small- 13, I think- and we had a great rapport. I'm still in touch regularly with three friends I made there, and catch up every now and then with a few others. While several of us were the "typical" 20-something college grads wanting to immerse ourselves in another culture, several weren't. At least three were in their late 30s to 50s. One had lived in Germany for his job and wanted the training for either that job or a new one, while another wanted the certification for his religious mission work, I think in Central America. A third worked at a university doing some kind of ESL teaching. One girl who'd just graduated (from DePauw!) was headed to Ukraine with the Peace Corps to teach English. Another girl worked with Burmese refugees here in Indiana and had done missionary and/or non-profit work in Egypt. She planned to go back and teach there, which she did until the uprising this spring. At least two of them went to China, and their varied experiences there deserve far more attention than I'll give in this post. Another girl went to Argentina and loved it.
Oxford has a lot of connections in some regions, and they help you find a job. There's a guarantee of some kind- something like you "work with them" and they'll find you something in six months or less. They can also advise you a little on contracts and such, even if they don't find you the position. I did a bit of thinking and researching before I activated my six months with them. First, I considered Japan or South Korea, because teachers are respected there, it's a common destination, I knew of people teaching there, and the money is good. I also got in touch with a school in Vietnam that advertised online. The director wanted to hire me immediately, but I got some bad vibes and found negative information on him online, so I nixed that one. That experience reminded me of the importance of credibility and made me turn to the job-assistance folks at Oxford. They tried to steer me towards China and Taiwan, where I didn't want to work. (I was very leery of teaching in China, given my friends' experiences.) A friend told me about a job she'd heard about in Venezuela, which got me thinking about Latin America. I decided Latin America would be better for me than Asia: the culture interested me more, picking up Spanish would be more useful, and the working environment wouldn't be so demanding. I emailed the job-search folks and asked them to send my resume to any contacts they had in the region. They said they didn't have many, but they did it, and almost immediately, the academic director at a school in Quito wrote back to me, and that's where I went to work several months later. I never heard from another school in the region, but it didn't matter. Everything ended up just fine.
I got paid a little more because I had the Oxford certificate and a degree in education, but honestly I don't think my school required any particular education. (I don't even know if everyone had a degree- most did, but a few of the teachers were 19-22. Everyone had a professional attitude, though.) A lot of schools in the region want CELTA certifications, and many of my coworkers had that. It's more intensive, but it's more marketable, so definitely look into that. If I go back into the TEFL field, there's a good chance I'll do that course. I don't know if I'll actually learn much more, given my background and experience, but I might, and it'll make me more marketable.
Also- many of the teachers at my school worked at other schools too, since it was hard to get enough hours and the pay was just enough to live on. (We could opt for health insurance, incidentally, which I did.) I managed to get enough hours after about six weeks, so I didn't do that. Several of us lined up the job before we went, but others just showed up and got hired. Some markets are like that.
Well, that's enough info to start on. Don't hesitate to ask me questions- I know people who have taught all over the world and I can put you in touch with them. Best of luck!
* - There are a lot of acronyms in the TEFL world. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, which you probably know if you're reading this. ENL, or English as a New Language, is my favorite term.
"There are so many programs that it's difficult to figure out which ones are credible," she wrote.
I replied:
Credibility is a HUGE factor in the TEFL world, as you've noticed. I went through Oxford Seminars. I recommend it under some circumstances, as it worked out for me, but it may not be the best program. If you know where you want to go in the world, that will be your guide.
Kati's Huge Generalizations (which may be based on old information):
- Japan: pays well, works you hard, somewhat hard to get into
- Korea: pays well, works you hard, somewhat easier to get into
- China: moderate pay, huge demand, visas are tricky (I know people who've been misled and had to go home)
- Latin America: low pay, relaxed working environment, demand is hit-or-miss
- Western Europe: good pay, moderate work, hard to get into, most places prefer to hire people with EU passports (like from the UK)
- Eastern Europe: probably easier to get into, but I know no details
- Middle East: good pay, but some of the countries are probably not worth living in no matter the pay (Saudi Arabia)
- Southeast Asia: lower pay, high demand in some countries
- former USSR: not sure about pay, but I've definitely heard of jobs in some of those countries
- elsewhere: I never hear about TEFL in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific islands.
I won't presume to tell you about the qualifications expected in different regions, because it depends on the school and the country. There are a lot of good online resources, including Dave's ESL Cafe. You can either decide on a region, find out the best qualification, and get it- or you can go the Kati route, which was to just jump in and take the Oxford class because I could afford it ($1050, I think, for three weekends- they say it's 60 hours, but really it was less than that.) I wasn't very sure where I wanted to go, and just wanted to learn more. I took it in May and June of 2009 at the Butler University campus in Indianapolis.
My class was good, although a friend who took one in California didn't think hers was. It probably depends on your teacher. We had discussions, practiced teaching, did small-group and partner activities, and created indivudual mock lessons. We discussed the various kinds of learners and learning styles, and the importance of creating lesson plans that work for diverse groups. (Since my undergrad degree is in education, it was review for me, but still interesting.) We did exercises that put us in the shoes of ENL* learners. We had a lot of conversations about living abroad and the teacher experiences, as well as the realities of finding a job abroad.
Our teacher was an older woman who began teaching in Chinese universities well into her career. She was engaging, fun, and had interesting stories. My class was small- 13, I think- and we had a great rapport. I'm still in touch regularly with three friends I made there, and catch up every now and then with a few others. While several of us were the "typical" 20-something college grads wanting to immerse ourselves in another culture, several weren't. At least three were in their late 30s to 50s. One had lived in Germany for his job and wanted the training for either that job or a new one, while another wanted the certification for his religious mission work, I think in Central America. A third worked at a university doing some kind of ESL teaching. One girl who'd just graduated (from DePauw!) was headed to Ukraine with the Peace Corps to teach English. Another girl worked with Burmese refugees here in Indiana and had done missionary and/or non-profit work in Egypt. She planned to go back and teach there, which she did until the uprising this spring. At least two of them went to China, and their varied experiences there deserve far more attention than I'll give in this post. Another girl went to Argentina and loved it.
Oxford has a lot of connections in some regions, and they help you find a job. There's a guarantee of some kind- something like you "work with them" and they'll find you something in six months or less. They can also advise you a little on contracts and such, even if they don't find you the position. I did a bit of thinking and researching before I activated my six months with them. First, I considered Japan or South Korea, because teachers are respected there, it's a common destination, I knew of people teaching there, and the money is good. I also got in touch with a school in Vietnam that advertised online. The director wanted to hire me immediately, but I got some bad vibes and found negative information on him online, so I nixed that one. That experience reminded me of the importance of credibility and made me turn to the job-assistance folks at Oxford. They tried to steer me towards China and Taiwan, where I didn't want to work. (I was very leery of teaching in China, given my friends' experiences.) A friend told me about a job she'd heard about in Venezuela, which got me thinking about Latin America. I decided Latin America would be better for me than Asia: the culture interested me more, picking up Spanish would be more useful, and the working environment wouldn't be so demanding. I emailed the job-search folks and asked them to send my resume to any contacts they had in the region. They said they didn't have many, but they did it, and almost immediately, the academic director at a school in Quito wrote back to me, and that's where I went to work several months later. I never heard from another school in the region, but it didn't matter. Everything ended up just fine.
I got paid a little more because I had the Oxford certificate and a degree in education, but honestly I don't think my school required any particular education. (I don't even know if everyone had a degree- most did, but a few of the teachers were 19-22. Everyone had a professional attitude, though.) A lot of schools in the region want CELTA certifications, and many of my coworkers had that. It's more intensive, but it's more marketable, so definitely look into that. If I go back into the TEFL field, there's a good chance I'll do that course. I don't know if I'll actually learn much more, given my background and experience, but I might, and it'll make me more marketable.
Also- many of the teachers at my school worked at other schools too, since it was hard to get enough hours and the pay was just enough to live on. (We could opt for health insurance, incidentally, which I did.) I managed to get enough hours after about six weeks, so I didn't do that. Several of us lined up the job before we went, but others just showed up and got hired. Some markets are like that.
Well, that's enough info to start on. Don't hesitate to ask me questions- I know people who have taught all over the world and I can put you in touch with them. Best of luck!
* - There are a lot of acronyms in the TEFL world. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, which you probably know if you're reading this. ENL, or English as a New Language, is my favorite term.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
An overview of my time in Ecuador
Oh, this abandoned blog. I started really enjoying my time in Quito and, for a variety of reasons, never wrote anything else I wanted to publish here. I came back to the States on August 31, 2010. Recently, on Pinterest, a woman noticed that I'd lived in Ecuador and asked me about it. We ended up emailing. She wrote:
Hey....thanks for writing . My son is looking into relocating there and thinks I would enjoy the country, too. I'm somewhat scared, thinking it might not be as wonderful as all the sites, videos, articles, etc..... Lately, I've been noticing is rated #1 retiring spot in the world. What do you mean money concerns? Did you find it really cheap to live? Like lots cheaper than the U.S.? Were there any hidden costs that surprised you? Were people friendly and did you find people were honest when dealing with you? What were the positives and the negatives? Sorry to hit you with soo many questions but so far, I haven't talked with anyone who has actually lived there.
I tried to keep my reply succint, but kept thinking of more to add. I probably hit the poor woman over the head with all of my thoughts. However, I want to dump them all in here, for two reasons:
1) I get asked about Ecuador a lot, both from people with a casual interest and from those who are considering a trip or job there.
2) When I was researching my trip, I found bloggers to be great resources.
So, in that vein, I will copy the email I sent her. Please keep in mind that I can give a lot more details if you want to know specifics. There's really a lot more to say, but that's why books were invented and why I might write one sometime.
Nice to hear from you. I lived in Quito from March 1 to August 31 last year. I was 23 at the time and taught business English at a school called inlingua, which I really enjoyed. I will now proceed to write you a small, meandering book on aspects of living there. :)
On the whole, I'm really glad I went and I want to go again. I learned so much and had tons of fascinating experiences. I liked my job and I met people from all over. I grew as a person. Ecuador is not for the faint of heart. It's not terrible- it is wonderful in many ways- but it is challenging. It's for an adventurous spirit. I'll lay out the positives and negatives as I experienced them.
I was unhappy for the first 2.5 months. This didn't have much to do with Quito itself, but because I had very little money, I had no true friends, I was sick, and I quickly became unhappy with the guy who I dated there for a few weeks. I missed my family and friends and I hadn't found a key to unlock the good parts of living abroad that I'd heard about.
That turned around in the space of a few weeks, though. My health returned. (For reasons unknown, for about two weeks I'd had a fever, some kind of respiratory problem, chills, severe congestion... I can't remember what the doctor diagnosed.) I cut the guy out of my life. I made decent money. I started making really nice friends. We hung out a lot. My sister booked a ticket to visit for a week. The rain decreased. I was more confident with my Spanish, even though it wasn't very good, and with my ability to navigate everyday life. I felt much more positive about being there. I looked into what I would have to do to stay longer, but found I couldn't make it happen. And I already had a plane ticket home (round-trip), so I decided to stick to that and perhaps return again the next year. (I stuck to that plan for a few months once I returned to the States, but eventually I decided to stick around here for longer- not because I didn't miss Ecuador or anything. It just made sense and felt right given everything going on in my life.)
My money concerns were because I came down there without much money (I only had about $2000 in the bank, and brought about $500 of that down in cash) and didn't earn tons of money there. I could have kept living there, though, were it not for my visa expiring. And to get the visa I would have needed to stay, it would have cost over a thousand dollars, and I simply could not handle that cost at all. So that's what I meant by money problems. If you go down there with several thousand dollars and find a job such as teaching, you should be just fine. Or if you go down there with a lot more money, you won't need a job. Of course, do your own math!
It is a lot cheaper to live than the US. They use the American dollar, and most things cost less there. A few things cost the same or more, but in general, it's a lot cheaper. I made $400-600 a month with my teaching job and got by- not a lot of room for luxuries like eating at fancy restaurants or taking taxis everywhere- but enough to pay rent ($150 was my share of a nice apartment I shared with another teacher), buy groceries, buy food or treats at cheap restaurants, take public transportation to work and for errands, take taxis when I went out at night, pay utilities, do social activities, and take a weekend trip every month or two. I had health insurance through work, and the few times I went to a doctor, it was a nice modern facility and the care was just fine.
Hidden costs... hmmmm. Nothing jumps to mind. Once you arrive, you'll need to buy the things you couldn't bring down, like some toiletries and household items. Depending on your visa type, you will have to do some paperwork and get some documents once you arrive. The ones I needed weren't more than maybe $20 or so. Getting money from a US account at an ATM will incur fees, of course. Food isn't expensive. I'm a vegetarian and it wasn't hard to be one there. I did shy away from eating lunch at the cheap mom-and-pop restaurants, though, because they never seemed to offer vegetarian lunches. I ate a lot of fruits, bread, pasta, cereal, soups, potatoes, carrots, beans... and my fair share of junk food. There's plenty of good stuff there. If you like seafood, it's very abundant there, especially near the coast. There are tons of international restaurants in Quito, including cuisines I've never tried in the US. I remember seeing or going to Afghan, Indian, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Colombian, Argentine, Spanish, Mexican, Cuban, Canadian, American, British, Irish, Nigerian, Saudi, Iranian, and Chinese restaurants.
I didn't make a lot of money in the first two months, because my school was slow to get me the hours we'd agreed upon. I was assertive and showed myself to be a good, willing teacher, so they gave me what they could and eventually I had a full schedule (only about 25 hours a week, not counting prep and travel time.) My academic director was incredibly helpful and went out of her way to help me and make sure I got more classes. They had told me it might take a few weeks, but it was more than a few. If I'd known, I would have saved up more money before coming. I was down to 84 cents by one payday, not counting a few hundred I had in my US account. (I could've accessed it through an ATM if I needed.) My mom gave me maybe $100 or so to cover medicine I needed.
I walked a lot, for several reasons: exercise, seeing the city up close, and saving money. Beware Quito's crumbling sidewalks. I tripped a lot. In Quito, the elevation is very high. It took some getting used to. I'm from Indiana, a pretty flat place. I'd lived in Colorado before, so I knew what it was like to adjust, but Quito is much higher. But after a while, it wasn't noticeable. I went running and was fine. My sister came to visit me and went on a normal-length run her first full day! She might be an anomaly, though... The UV index is really high too. I'm a fair-skinned redhead, so I wore 100 SPF sunscreen most days.
Most of the people were very friendly, or they just left you alone (not rudely.) I barely knew any Spanish when I arrived, but shopkeepers and others were usually very nice and patient with me. Some spoke some English and helped, although I never expected that and always tried to speak Spanish. I learned a lot very quickly, which was exciting. Immersion is the way to learn! Nevertheless, I had a few friends and coworkers who were fluently bilingual, and I occasionally leaned on them for help with bureaucratic matters and the like. Many of my friends were also foreigners who I met at my school or through other teachers. We also hung out with several Ecuadorians, and I became close friends with two of them. One was a girl a few years younger than me. We spoke enough of each other's languages to communicate just fine (her English was a bit better than my Spanish), and we went to parties and talked about boys and music and whatnot. It was a very cute, girly friendship. The other was a guy about my age who had spent about 8 or 9 years of his early childhood in Arizona. His family hosted foreign exchange students. He and his brothers spoke English almost perfectly and had a lot of foreign friends. He was an artist and invited me to a lot of underground art events. There's a vibrant street art and avant garde scene in Quito if you know where to look, and it was a lot of fun to be a part of it and make friends with talented folks. Most young people speak at least a little English, especially if they went to private school (almost all middle-class and above families send their kids to private school.)
While I'm sure some people had misconceptions and stereotypes about me as an American (specifically, that I was rich), it wasn't brought to my attention much. Most people do know a decent amount about the US and are curious about it. I was the same way about Ecuador, and people were happy to explain things. There are a lot of foreigners in Quito, so I wasn't that unusual. The two only times anyone was rude to me, openly based on my nationality, it came from Irish men. Weird. (I've met plenty of other nice Irish people, so I won't make generalizations.) Most people probably didn't see me as rich or naive, because I dressed casually and was alert when I was out in public.
And why was I so alert? Petty crime is rampant in Quito and other parts of Ecuador. I was one of the only people I knew who wasn't robbed. That is the big downside to life in Ecuador. I know a lot of expats live in Cuenca, and I don't know anything about Cuenca. But you have to be on guard in Quito. I carried pepper spray for a while, although I eventually lost it and never replaced it. (You can buy it at hardware stores.) I took calculated risks and judged every situation individually. Take my laptop to a cafe with wi-fi a mile away? Sure, in the afternoon if I walk on busy streets and sit inside once I get there. Take my laptop to that same cafe at night? Probably not, depending on the circumstances (taxis, neighborhood, etc.) I didn't go out much at night- never to do errands, only to socialize. You have to take a taxi at night. Walking after dark is unsafe in most areas of town. If you're careful, public transportation might be okay, but you still have to get to the bus or trolley stop and back in the dark.
Break-ins, muggings, and pickpocketing are common. Most houses are behind gates with broken glass or barbed wire at the top, and most apartment buildings have guards. One of my friends was robbed at gunpoint (she thinks it was a toy gun) and had to hand over her phone and money. I met four people who had their passports stolen. Another friend had his phone and Timex stolen by a group of guys outside his house. I carried an old phone (given to me by an Ecuadorian guy I briefly dated there) and wore simple jewelry. I kept cash in my bra and only carried a color copy of the ID page of my passport. I had an Ecuadorian ID card with me too, so I'm pretty sure that was okay. The British teacher I lived with suggested it- she'd lived there for several years. No one at the bank or at the security office of the buildings where I taught ever questioned it. I heard one story of a teacher spending a night in jail for not having a passport on him, but I think there was more to the story.
I had two big brushes with crime and a few small ones. The first was on a trolley at noon on my way to a class. The trolley was so crowded you couldn't move. I had a hand on each of my bags. When I got to the office, I realized there was a big gash in one of the bags (a very modest one sold in indigenous markets, popular in Ecuador.) I quickly surmised someone had slashed it, either to stick their hand in or to get things to fall out. Nothing was missing, but it was chilling- especially because the cut was less than two inches from where my hand had been.
Another time, a man came up to me on a busy street in a decent neighborhood (my own) in broad daylight. 9 in the morning. I had my iPod on (strung down my shirt for security, and it was a small shuffle iPod that I won years ago, so I wouldn't be devastated if I lost it.) He started talking to me, but I didn't understand. He gestured towards my headphones. He didn't show any weapons, and I didn't feel endangered (probably because cars were whizzing past and he just seemed loony.) He waved his hand by my ear/neck, and I grabbed his wrist and shoved his hand away and told him to get away. I said it in English and threw in some profanity. He brought up his hand again, probably trying to intimidate me into handing it over, but I'd been there 5 months and was sick of this nonsense. I forcefully yanked his hand away and walked into the edge of the street and kept walking on my way. I kept my eye on him. He wandered off. It was really surreal. I think he was on drugs or had mental problems. If he'd shown a weapon or signs of violence, I would have ran away or handed the iPod over- not worth getting hurt over.
There were also a few times people came up to me on the street asking for stuff, but thankfully they left me alone when I ignored them or turned them down. Sadly, there are a lot of very impoverished people there, and you may see child beggars. You'll almost certainly see children selling things on the streets and buses, which disturbed me. The country has made many advances, but there's still a long way to go in that area.
There was a South African drifter who bothered my sister and I with a long sob story about his passport being stolen and needing money. At first I believed him, because it was a story I heard a lot from people I met at parties. He seemed pleasant and genuine at first. I offered to give him my change at the grocery store nearby and maybe share some of our food. As we walked there, though, he said some very horrible racist things about black people in his home country and in Ecuador. His demeanor became more menacing. I realized he was probably on hard drugs. He sat down in the store where my sister and I couldn't escape unseen. We didn't know what to do- ask the store security to remove him? Run past him? Make up a story about why we couldn't give him money? Directly confront him for being a nasty person? In the end, we picked out our groceries and paid separately. I picked up my bags and motioned him to one store exit. I said I was waiting for my sister to pay. When she was done, I ran up, grabbed her and the bags, and we ran out the door on the other side of the store. We ran around the corner and zig-zagged through the streets, terrified he was behind us, but we lost him. Looking back, I bet the store security guard and management would have helped us, but we didn't think of it at the time. We laugh about it now, but it was really weird and creepy at the time. I saw him three more times. Once he was getting arrested on a busy street. Another time he saw me walking down a quiet street. He yelled and gestured menacingly, and I was scared (especially because I had my laptop with me), but he was also probably really strung out and didn't cross the street to bother me. I walked away as fast as I could and then ran. The last time was my last full day in Ecuador. I was out for a run and I saw him ahead on the crowded sidewalk, looking elsewhere. I just ran faster!
The machismo attitude still influences interactions with some men. I got whistled at and yelled at and hissed at on a regular basis. It was really unpleasant. I either ignored it or glared at them for being disrespectful. Some taxi drivers asked if I was married. I often just said yes. That said, if you're single, there are a lot of very handsome, fun, sweet men there.
The police are unreliable. They often demand bribes and they tried to overthrow the president last year. There may be good apples, but most Ecuadorians do not trust them and for good reason.
And taxis... I do NOT miss that aspect of life there. Transportation was the one area where I found people less than honest. During the day, taxis must use a meter. If a taxista says it's broken ("El taximetro esta roto"), they're probably lying and you don't want to deal with them. At the very least, agree very clearly on where you're going and how much it will cost before you get in. I never had a taxista tell me that, but a lot of my friends did. Also, you must be sure to use a registered taxi. If I remember correctly, in Quito you could tell by a registration number.
In the evening, though, they turn off the taxi meters and negotiate fares. And that's usually when I took a taxi. I quickly learned how the range for much my usual trips cost. Let's say I was going to La Mariscal, a party neighborhood popular with tourists and residents alike. It wasn't very far from my apartment; I could walk there in 15 minutes in the day. I learned that $1-2 was all I should pay to get there in the late evening (8-10 pm.) So I would walk down to the busy intersection around the corner (a bit nerve-wracking, but I stood at the gas station, which was well-lit) and waved down taxis. It doesn't take long. So I'd stick my head in and say where I wanted to go. The taxista would say okay, and perhaps offer a fare. If not, I'd suggest my lowest rate, $1. I would then bargain with him (always a man) and often we'd reach an agreement. Sometimes he was very agreeable and would just take my $1 offer. Usually it would be $1.50. Depending on his demeanor and how desperate I was to get there and how much money I had on me, I might take $2. Anything more, though, and I knew they were taking advantage. I would say, "No, gracias", shut the door, and wait for the next one. Some were unwilling to negotiate, so you had to decide whether it was worth it to take their offer. Every situation was different.
One day, it was raining and I was late for a party. Every taxi that went past for ten minutes was full. Finally, an unregistered taxi (still looked pretty official, though) pulled up. He offered a fair price, so I decided to just do it. He was the nicest driver I ever had. My friends lived in a maze of one-way streets, and most taxistas dropped me off at the corner. But my friends had recently been robbed on that street, which was a dark, quiet street just off of a busy street in a party neighborhood. I told him this, and he dropped me off at their door. Then I rang their bell and waited. He waited too. I rang and rang. A group of six young men rounded the corner and looked at me and walked in my direction. I jumped in the taxi. The taxista calmed me down and let me sit there until someone finally opened the door. Of course, I'm not going to say "take an unregistered taxi", but that time, I'm glad I did.
For a little bit more money, you can call a driving service. A lot of my Ecuadorian friends did that at night. I'm sure most retirees would prefer that over the inconsistency and vulnerability of relying exclusively on flagging down taxis.
Well, that was a lot! One of the best parts of living there was realizing how much we all have in common. Talking to my students was so fun. I heard about their families, their interests, their school days, their travels, and about Ecuadorian customs and culture. Through my friends there, I ate meals with their families and met their pets. I loved just taking walks around town and poking around stores. There are several nice parks in Quito. Sometimes I went to the fancy shopping malls nearby and had fun noticing the similarities and differences between American malls. And occasionally I just got on the trolley and rode it into a new part of town just to see what was outside the window. The Historical Centre is an amazing place to visit. You have to be cautious and not show a nice camera or anything, but the colonial architecture and winding narrow streets take you back in time. There's a charming street called La Ronda that was once the hub of bohemian life there. It's for pedestrians only. At night, guards stand on the corners, and people walk around freely between the cafes and shops and stalls. I made sure I went there on my last evening in Ecuador.
Oh, and I didn't even mention all the other towns I visited with friends, travel groups, or by myself. Mindo, an eco-tourism hub in the cloud forest, where I ziplined across deep valleys and hiked to see waterfalls. I saw butterfly, orchid, and hummingbird gardens. Otovalo, a small city with a huge indigenous market. Mompiche, a tiny village on the Pacific, where many of the locals are rasta surfers. I went on a boat tour of an almost deserted island and saw blue-footed boobies on the cliffs. I bought a rum-spiked fruit smoothie from a street vendor. It cost $1.50 and had a huge chunk of pineapple on the side. Baños, a city at the foot of an active volcano, renowned for its mineral springs and nearby waterfalls.
When I came back, I missed the beautiful sights and adventures. I was relieved to not have to watch my back so closely, and to be able to walk around at night with less trepidation. I was glad for the lack of harassment and "over-attention", but sometimes missed being such an unusual sight that people turned their heads to see me. I missed speaking Spanish, but I was glad I didn't have to plan out what I was going to say before I approached someone (only to find out it was all wrong half the time!)
Alright, I think that's more than enough for now. I guess I had a lot to say- things I wish I'd known going there. :) Since you're nervous- if I can make a suggestion, perhaps you could visit there for a week or two before you commit to a longer stay? Flights down there aren't cheap ($630-800 usually, round-trip), but once you get there, it's not expensive, even for nice hotels. (There are a lot of international chains. I lived down the street from the J.W. Marriott and a Holiday Inn Express.) I've heard of American-based groups that cater to people thinking of retiring there, giving them tours and advice. In fact, in the customs line in Houston when I returned, I stood next to a group of women who had just been doing that.
Hopefully I didn't overwhelm you. I'd love to hear more questions or hear more of your son's plans. Hope to hear back soon!
Kati
Hey....thanks for writing . My son is looking into relocating there and thinks I would enjoy the country, too. I'm somewhat scared, thinking it might not be as wonderful as all the sites, videos, articles, etc..... Lately, I've been noticing is rated #1 retiring spot in the world. What do you mean money concerns? Did you find it really cheap to live? Like lots cheaper than the U.S.? Were there any hidden costs that surprised you? Were people friendly and did you find people were honest when dealing with you? What were the positives and the negatives? Sorry to hit you with soo many questions but so far, I haven't talked with anyone who has actually lived there.
I tried to keep my reply succint, but kept thinking of more to add. I probably hit the poor woman over the head with all of my thoughts. However, I want to dump them all in here, for two reasons:
1) I get asked about Ecuador a lot, both from people with a casual interest and from those who are considering a trip or job there.
2) When I was researching my trip, I found bloggers to be great resources.
So, in that vein, I will copy the email I sent her. Please keep in mind that I can give a lot more details if you want to know specifics. There's really a lot more to say, but that's why books were invented and why I might write one sometime.
Nice to hear from you. I lived in Quito from March 1 to August 31 last year. I was 23 at the time and taught business English at a school called inlingua, which I really enjoyed. I will now proceed to write you a small, meandering book on aspects of living there. :)
On the whole, I'm really glad I went and I want to go again. I learned so much and had tons of fascinating experiences. I liked my job and I met people from all over. I grew as a person. Ecuador is not for the faint of heart. It's not terrible- it is wonderful in many ways- but it is challenging. It's for an adventurous spirit. I'll lay out the positives and negatives as I experienced them.
I was unhappy for the first 2.5 months. This didn't have much to do with Quito itself, but because I had very little money, I had no true friends, I was sick, and I quickly became unhappy with the guy who I dated there for a few weeks. I missed my family and friends and I hadn't found a key to unlock the good parts of living abroad that I'd heard about.
That turned around in the space of a few weeks, though. My health returned. (For reasons unknown, for about two weeks I'd had a fever, some kind of respiratory problem, chills, severe congestion... I can't remember what the doctor diagnosed.) I cut the guy out of my life. I made decent money. I started making really nice friends. We hung out a lot. My sister booked a ticket to visit for a week. The rain decreased. I was more confident with my Spanish, even though it wasn't very good, and with my ability to navigate everyday life. I felt much more positive about being there. I looked into what I would have to do to stay longer, but found I couldn't make it happen. And I already had a plane ticket home (round-trip), so I decided to stick to that and perhaps return again the next year. (I stuck to that plan for a few months once I returned to the States, but eventually I decided to stick around here for longer- not because I didn't miss Ecuador or anything. It just made sense and felt right given everything going on in my life.)
My money concerns were because I came down there without much money (I only had about $2000 in the bank, and brought about $500 of that down in cash) and didn't earn tons of money there. I could have kept living there, though, were it not for my visa expiring. And to get the visa I would have needed to stay, it would have cost over a thousand dollars, and I simply could not handle that cost at all. So that's what I meant by money problems. If you go down there with several thousand dollars and find a job such as teaching, you should be just fine. Or if you go down there with a lot more money, you won't need a job. Of course, do your own math!
It is a lot cheaper to live than the US. They use the American dollar, and most things cost less there. A few things cost the same or more, but in general, it's a lot cheaper. I made $400-600 a month with my teaching job and got by- not a lot of room for luxuries like eating at fancy restaurants or taking taxis everywhere- but enough to pay rent ($150 was my share of a nice apartment I shared with another teacher), buy groceries, buy food or treats at cheap restaurants, take public transportation to work and for errands, take taxis when I went out at night, pay utilities, do social activities, and take a weekend trip every month or two. I had health insurance through work, and the few times I went to a doctor, it was a nice modern facility and the care was just fine.
Hidden costs... hmmmm. Nothing jumps to mind. Once you arrive, you'll need to buy the things you couldn't bring down, like some toiletries and household items. Depending on your visa type, you will have to do some paperwork and get some documents once you arrive. The ones I needed weren't more than maybe $20 or so. Getting money from a US account at an ATM will incur fees, of course. Food isn't expensive. I'm a vegetarian and it wasn't hard to be one there. I did shy away from eating lunch at the cheap mom-and-pop restaurants, though, because they never seemed to offer vegetarian lunches. I ate a lot of fruits, bread, pasta, cereal, soups, potatoes, carrots, beans... and my fair share of junk food. There's plenty of good stuff there. If you like seafood, it's very abundant there, especially near the coast. There are tons of international restaurants in Quito, including cuisines I've never tried in the US. I remember seeing or going to Afghan, Indian, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Colombian, Argentine, Spanish, Mexican, Cuban, Canadian, American, British, Irish, Nigerian, Saudi, Iranian, and Chinese restaurants.
I didn't make a lot of money in the first two months, because my school was slow to get me the hours we'd agreed upon. I was assertive and showed myself to be a good, willing teacher, so they gave me what they could and eventually I had a full schedule (only about 25 hours a week, not counting prep and travel time.) My academic director was incredibly helpful and went out of her way to help me and make sure I got more classes. They had told me it might take a few weeks, but it was more than a few. If I'd known, I would have saved up more money before coming. I was down to 84 cents by one payday, not counting a few hundred I had in my US account. (I could've accessed it through an ATM if I needed.) My mom gave me maybe $100 or so to cover medicine I needed.
I walked a lot, for several reasons: exercise, seeing the city up close, and saving money. Beware Quito's crumbling sidewalks. I tripped a lot. In Quito, the elevation is very high. It took some getting used to. I'm from Indiana, a pretty flat place. I'd lived in Colorado before, so I knew what it was like to adjust, but Quito is much higher. But after a while, it wasn't noticeable. I went running and was fine. My sister came to visit me and went on a normal-length run her first full day! She might be an anomaly, though... The UV index is really high too. I'm a fair-skinned redhead, so I wore 100 SPF sunscreen most days.
Most of the people were very friendly, or they just left you alone (not rudely.) I barely knew any Spanish when I arrived, but shopkeepers and others were usually very nice and patient with me. Some spoke some English and helped, although I never expected that and always tried to speak Spanish. I learned a lot very quickly, which was exciting. Immersion is the way to learn! Nevertheless, I had a few friends and coworkers who were fluently bilingual, and I occasionally leaned on them for help with bureaucratic matters and the like. Many of my friends were also foreigners who I met at my school or through other teachers. We also hung out with several Ecuadorians, and I became close friends with two of them. One was a girl a few years younger than me. We spoke enough of each other's languages to communicate just fine (her English was a bit better than my Spanish), and we went to parties and talked about boys and music and whatnot. It was a very cute, girly friendship. The other was a guy about my age who had spent about 8 or 9 years of his early childhood in Arizona. His family hosted foreign exchange students. He and his brothers spoke English almost perfectly and had a lot of foreign friends. He was an artist and invited me to a lot of underground art events. There's a vibrant street art and avant garde scene in Quito if you know where to look, and it was a lot of fun to be a part of it and make friends with talented folks. Most young people speak at least a little English, especially if they went to private school (almost all middle-class and above families send their kids to private school.)
While I'm sure some people had misconceptions and stereotypes about me as an American (specifically, that I was rich), it wasn't brought to my attention much. Most people do know a decent amount about the US and are curious about it. I was the same way about Ecuador, and people were happy to explain things. There are a lot of foreigners in Quito, so I wasn't that unusual. The two only times anyone was rude to me, openly based on my nationality, it came from Irish men. Weird. (I've met plenty of other nice Irish people, so I won't make generalizations.) Most people probably didn't see me as rich or naive, because I dressed casually and was alert when I was out in public.
And why was I so alert? Petty crime is rampant in Quito and other parts of Ecuador. I was one of the only people I knew who wasn't robbed. That is the big downside to life in Ecuador. I know a lot of expats live in Cuenca, and I don't know anything about Cuenca. But you have to be on guard in Quito. I carried pepper spray for a while, although I eventually lost it and never replaced it. (You can buy it at hardware stores.) I took calculated risks and judged every situation individually. Take my laptop to a cafe with wi-fi a mile away? Sure, in the afternoon if I walk on busy streets and sit inside once I get there. Take my laptop to that same cafe at night? Probably not, depending on the circumstances (taxis, neighborhood, etc.) I didn't go out much at night- never to do errands, only to socialize. You have to take a taxi at night. Walking after dark is unsafe in most areas of town. If you're careful, public transportation might be okay, but you still have to get to the bus or trolley stop and back in the dark.
Break-ins, muggings, and pickpocketing are common. Most houses are behind gates with broken glass or barbed wire at the top, and most apartment buildings have guards. One of my friends was robbed at gunpoint (she thinks it was a toy gun) and had to hand over her phone and money. I met four people who had their passports stolen. Another friend had his phone and Timex stolen by a group of guys outside his house. I carried an old phone (given to me by an Ecuadorian guy I briefly dated there) and wore simple jewelry. I kept cash in my bra and only carried a color copy of the ID page of my passport. I had an Ecuadorian ID card with me too, so I'm pretty sure that was okay. The British teacher I lived with suggested it- she'd lived there for several years. No one at the bank or at the security office of the buildings where I taught ever questioned it. I heard one story of a teacher spending a night in jail for not having a passport on him, but I think there was more to the story.
I had two big brushes with crime and a few small ones. The first was on a trolley at noon on my way to a class. The trolley was so crowded you couldn't move. I had a hand on each of my bags. When I got to the office, I realized there was a big gash in one of the bags (a very modest one sold in indigenous markets, popular in Ecuador.) I quickly surmised someone had slashed it, either to stick their hand in or to get things to fall out. Nothing was missing, but it was chilling- especially because the cut was less than two inches from where my hand had been.
Another time, a man came up to me on a busy street in a decent neighborhood (my own) in broad daylight. 9 in the morning. I had my iPod on (strung down my shirt for security, and it was a small shuffle iPod that I won years ago, so I wouldn't be devastated if I lost it.) He started talking to me, but I didn't understand. He gestured towards my headphones. He didn't show any weapons, and I didn't feel endangered (probably because cars were whizzing past and he just seemed loony.) He waved his hand by my ear/neck, and I grabbed his wrist and shoved his hand away and told him to get away. I said it in English and threw in some profanity. He brought up his hand again, probably trying to intimidate me into handing it over, but I'd been there 5 months and was sick of this nonsense. I forcefully yanked his hand away and walked into the edge of the street and kept walking on my way. I kept my eye on him. He wandered off. It was really surreal. I think he was on drugs or had mental problems. If he'd shown a weapon or signs of violence, I would have ran away or handed the iPod over- not worth getting hurt over.
There were also a few times people came up to me on the street asking for stuff, but thankfully they left me alone when I ignored them or turned them down. Sadly, there are a lot of very impoverished people there, and you may see child beggars. You'll almost certainly see children selling things on the streets and buses, which disturbed me. The country has made many advances, but there's still a long way to go in that area.
There was a South African drifter who bothered my sister and I with a long sob story about his passport being stolen and needing money. At first I believed him, because it was a story I heard a lot from people I met at parties. He seemed pleasant and genuine at first. I offered to give him my change at the grocery store nearby and maybe share some of our food. As we walked there, though, he said some very horrible racist things about black people in his home country and in Ecuador. His demeanor became more menacing. I realized he was probably on hard drugs. He sat down in the store where my sister and I couldn't escape unseen. We didn't know what to do- ask the store security to remove him? Run past him? Make up a story about why we couldn't give him money? Directly confront him for being a nasty person? In the end, we picked out our groceries and paid separately. I picked up my bags and motioned him to one store exit. I said I was waiting for my sister to pay. When she was done, I ran up, grabbed her and the bags, and we ran out the door on the other side of the store. We ran around the corner and zig-zagged through the streets, terrified he was behind us, but we lost him. Looking back, I bet the store security guard and management would have helped us, but we didn't think of it at the time. We laugh about it now, but it was really weird and creepy at the time. I saw him three more times. Once he was getting arrested on a busy street. Another time he saw me walking down a quiet street. He yelled and gestured menacingly, and I was scared (especially because I had my laptop with me), but he was also probably really strung out and didn't cross the street to bother me. I walked away as fast as I could and then ran. The last time was my last full day in Ecuador. I was out for a run and I saw him ahead on the crowded sidewalk, looking elsewhere. I just ran faster!
The machismo attitude still influences interactions with some men. I got whistled at and yelled at and hissed at on a regular basis. It was really unpleasant. I either ignored it or glared at them for being disrespectful. Some taxi drivers asked if I was married. I often just said yes. That said, if you're single, there are a lot of very handsome, fun, sweet men there.
The police are unreliable. They often demand bribes and they tried to overthrow the president last year. There may be good apples, but most Ecuadorians do not trust them and for good reason.
And taxis... I do NOT miss that aspect of life there. Transportation was the one area where I found people less than honest. During the day, taxis must use a meter. If a taxista says it's broken ("El taximetro esta roto"), they're probably lying and you don't want to deal with them. At the very least, agree very clearly on where you're going and how much it will cost before you get in. I never had a taxista tell me that, but a lot of my friends did. Also, you must be sure to use a registered taxi. If I remember correctly, in Quito you could tell by a registration number.
In the evening, though, they turn off the taxi meters and negotiate fares. And that's usually when I took a taxi. I quickly learned how the range for much my usual trips cost. Let's say I was going to La Mariscal, a party neighborhood popular with tourists and residents alike. It wasn't very far from my apartment; I could walk there in 15 minutes in the day. I learned that $1-2 was all I should pay to get there in the late evening (8-10 pm.) So I would walk down to the busy intersection around the corner (a bit nerve-wracking, but I stood at the gas station, which was well-lit) and waved down taxis. It doesn't take long. So I'd stick my head in and say where I wanted to go. The taxista would say okay, and perhaps offer a fare. If not, I'd suggest my lowest rate, $1. I would then bargain with him (always a man) and often we'd reach an agreement. Sometimes he was very agreeable and would just take my $1 offer. Usually it would be $1.50. Depending on his demeanor and how desperate I was to get there and how much money I had on me, I might take $2. Anything more, though, and I knew they were taking advantage. I would say, "No, gracias", shut the door, and wait for the next one. Some were unwilling to negotiate, so you had to decide whether it was worth it to take their offer. Every situation was different.
One day, it was raining and I was late for a party. Every taxi that went past for ten minutes was full. Finally, an unregistered taxi (still looked pretty official, though) pulled up. He offered a fair price, so I decided to just do it. He was the nicest driver I ever had. My friends lived in a maze of one-way streets, and most taxistas dropped me off at the corner. But my friends had recently been robbed on that street, which was a dark, quiet street just off of a busy street in a party neighborhood. I told him this, and he dropped me off at their door. Then I rang their bell and waited. He waited too. I rang and rang. A group of six young men rounded the corner and looked at me and walked in my direction. I jumped in the taxi. The taxista calmed me down and let me sit there until someone finally opened the door. Of course, I'm not going to say "take an unregistered taxi", but that time, I'm glad I did.
For a little bit more money, you can call a driving service. A lot of my Ecuadorian friends did that at night. I'm sure most retirees would prefer that over the inconsistency and vulnerability of relying exclusively on flagging down taxis.
Well, that was a lot! One of the best parts of living there was realizing how much we all have in common. Talking to my students was so fun. I heard about their families, their interests, their school days, their travels, and about Ecuadorian customs and culture. Through my friends there, I ate meals with their families and met their pets. I loved just taking walks around town and poking around stores. There are several nice parks in Quito. Sometimes I went to the fancy shopping malls nearby and had fun noticing the similarities and differences between American malls. And occasionally I just got on the trolley and rode it into a new part of town just to see what was outside the window. The Historical Centre is an amazing place to visit. You have to be cautious and not show a nice camera or anything, but the colonial architecture and winding narrow streets take you back in time. There's a charming street called La Ronda that was once the hub of bohemian life there. It's for pedestrians only. At night, guards stand on the corners, and people walk around freely between the cafes and shops and stalls. I made sure I went there on my last evening in Ecuador.
Oh, and I didn't even mention all the other towns I visited with friends, travel groups, or by myself. Mindo, an eco-tourism hub in the cloud forest, where I ziplined across deep valleys and hiked to see waterfalls. I saw butterfly, orchid, and hummingbird gardens. Otovalo, a small city with a huge indigenous market. Mompiche, a tiny village on the Pacific, where many of the locals are rasta surfers. I went on a boat tour of an almost deserted island and saw blue-footed boobies on the cliffs. I bought a rum-spiked fruit smoothie from a street vendor. It cost $1.50 and had a huge chunk of pineapple on the side. Baños, a city at the foot of an active volcano, renowned for its mineral springs and nearby waterfalls.
When I came back, I missed the beautiful sights and adventures. I was relieved to not have to watch my back so closely, and to be able to walk around at night with less trepidation. I was glad for the lack of harassment and "over-attention", but sometimes missed being such an unusual sight that people turned their heads to see me. I missed speaking Spanish, but I was glad I didn't have to plan out what I was going to say before I approached someone (only to find out it was all wrong half the time!)
Alright, I think that's more than enough for now. I guess I had a lot to say- things I wish I'd known going there. :) Since you're nervous- if I can make a suggestion, perhaps you could visit there for a week or two before you commit to a longer stay? Flights down there aren't cheap ($630-800 usually, round-trip), but once you get there, it's not expensive, even for nice hotels. (There are a lot of international chains. I lived down the street from the J.W. Marriott and a Holiday Inn Express.) I've heard of American-based groups that cater to people thinking of retiring there, giving them tours and advice. In fact, in the customs line in Houston when I returned, I stood next to a group of women who had just been doing that.
Hopefully I didn't overwhelm you. I'd love to hear more questions or hear more of your son's plans. Hope to hear back soon!
Kati
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