Jobs are overrated

[ertyu]

+1 there is a small army of English as a second language teachers at the university where I currently work. The pay isn't great, but the work isn't hard. Lots of opportunity to travel during vacations. More specifics than that would depend on the country you choose. This gig has become easier lately because of the inflation and salary increases that have been happening in the US. While people are likely going to be comfortable locally, they're unlikely to save a meaningful amount in dollar terms, eg. I will probably end up saving 10k usd per year, 15 if I push it, though so far I have not been pushing it. Not the highest savings level while you're still saving but a good opportunity to coast. At the same time, the comparatively low pay often means there isn't much competition for the positions (though again, this depends on the country, some countries that are popular tourist destinations might be more competitive just based on that).

[sodatrain]

I met a South African woman in Vietnam who was teaching English to Koreans! It was a little early in the morning, but it was her source of income and allowed her to be very nomadic and free from other types of work. It was online and seemed low on the administrative side of things. And a very different gig than a normal classroom teacher. She has continued to travel and stick with this as a source of income.

[dara]

Thanks for the comments guys.

@sodatrain
I believe @AxelHeyst knows Blender and from looking at his journal @MountainFrugal wants to learn it (?). Blender is a free 3D software. It's pretty much capable of doing anything you'd need but it's not the industry standard. One has to learn at least 2-3 others to get employed.

Are you comfortable sharing any info about your current expenses or expense targets? Sounds like they are well managed but it's always interesting to hear some specifics. No pressure.

Maybe later on, right now I don't want to. Also it gets a bit complicated as we both contribute differently (my wife bought her flat that we live in before meeting me). Regarding expense targets, it's hard to say as Lima is much cheaper than other places we'd like to live in. But when we meet up we could discuss it in more detail.

How's the thinking on finding work?

I've been pondering this question a lot lately. I just don't think I could tolerate most 9-5 jobs, especially that my employer doesn't have any leverage on me, I could easily walk away from any job as my livelihood doesn't depend on the next paycheck and I don't have a loan on my car and a mortgage on my house. Contrast between this and this. I also have a low tolerance towards bullshit and red tape (I hate doing even the necessary immigration/visa paperwork that we frequently face).

@guitarplayer, @ertyu
I appreacite the inputs. I was actually considering teaching English online and in person. I'd have to look a bit more into it but from what I heard a teacher here earns close to minimum wage which is around $300. Unless you live in a cheap area, this is considered very little in the capital. Just renting a decent small flat (let's say 1 br, 50 sqm or around 540 sqft) would cost at least $200. I am also not sure about how much time this would require. The mornings I'm still betting, then cook lunch and in the afternoon I'm with my son for a few hours. It'd probably clash with at least one of those and financially it makes no sense for me to give up betting for a much lower pay teaching English.

But a bigger issue than that is the curriculum/structure. I myself learned several languages on my own and have first-hand knowledge of how ineffective and outdated traditional language classes are (3 semesters of Italian classes and I could barely string together a sentence. After 3 months of self-study I could read simple books - it helped that Italian is a relatively simple language to learn if you speak English already).

In a nutshell when learning a foreign language you should have comprehensible input (you know enough to understand the overall meaning but it's challenging enough, so you learn new words) and native materials made for natives strictly in the target language. Listen to and read as much native media at your level as possible and refrain from speaking until you reach a high enough level that it comes out naturally. Don't translate, don't learn 1-on-1 translations of the words, instead transition to a monolingual dictionary as soon as possible (definition of a word in the same language tells you way more than one translation in another language*). This will make you think in the target language instead of trying to translate from your native one. That's the high level overview. Instead what happens in a language class (L1 is the native language, L2 is the target)? You have simple exercises trying to translate individual words from L1 into L2, the teacher uses more L1 than L2. Students don't consume any native media except for the forced listening exercises found in text books (which are made for language learners not native speakers). Also, language learners expect to pick up the language during classes which just doesn't happen. It's kind of the ERE way of learning languages vs the traditional method. Knowing this I'd like to help my students reach a high level in their target language efficiently which I haven't figured out how to do even 1-on-1 (they would have to follow my methods), let alone in a classroom setting.

*Example: bonito means nice (or beautiful) as in ¡Que bonitas flores! (How nice (are the) flowers!) but you cannot translate nice as bonito in the following sentence: He's a nice person (El es una persona amable). If amable means nice, can I say ¡Que amables flores! (No, you cannot.) These are simple examples, it gets much more complicated with words that don't even have equivalents in the other language (that's why translations can never reflect the depth and meaning of the original).

What I've been thinking of lately is that working for money takes the fun out of it. That's why I am not big on monetising one's hobbies. Eventually it also becomes a job. Now of course there are various ways one can mitigate this but what it comes down to in my opinion is that with money involved comes a lot of headache - be it a full-time job, self-employment, freelancing, or even a business. You have to either deal with your boss, colleagues, clients. This is obviously not always negative but my point is: why deal with all of that if you can choose to do something that you enjoy but brings in no money? In other words, if we take money out of the equation, why would one choose to do something, the main objective of which is to earn money? The most common reply to this is "because I like it/gives me fullfilment/etc.". You're in the very small minority of wage-earners with that, great. But if you really didn't need any more money, could you not find some kind of project (be it your own or volunteering) or just some other activity that's fun (e.g. reading books) and do those instead of working for money?

[mountainFrugal]

WRT to getting better at art... you just have to put in the "pencil miles". viewtopic.php?p=238630&hilit=drawing+skill#p238630

I believe @AxelHeyst knows Blender and from looking at his journal @MountainFrugal wants to learn it (?). Blender is a free 3D software. It's pretty much capable of doing anything you'd need but it's not the industry standard. One has to learn at least 2-3 others to get employed.

I do want to learn it! I have punted that learning to fall when I am spending less work time on the computer. @axelheyst has mastered it. It is easier to get a job doing freelance art then it would be to have an entire skillstack to work in a large art studio. @bos is also really good at 3D and did it professionally if I recall. He might have the most insight.

[dara]

I met a South African woman in Vietnam who was teaching English to Koreans! It was a little early in the morning, but it was her source of income and allowed her to be very nomadic and free from other types of work. It was online and seemed low on the administrative side of things. And a very different gig than a normal classroom teacher. She has continued to travel and stick with this as a source of income.

Something like this could work and I'm thinking about it as I really like languages. I just don't know how to go about teaching it as most students would expect the traditional "Teach new vocabulary (using word for word translations), explain grammar, do exercises, give homework. Rinse and repeat." See what I wrote above.

Interestingly without mentioning this my wife just told me out of the blue yesterday that she heard English teachers charge around $20 for a 45-minute private lesson. We're talking about run-of-the-mill non-native English teachers from an ok but nothing special high school. That surprised me. I'm sure I could charge this much even without any credentials. The only downside is that this involves going to children's homes, so getting there and back reduces the hourly rate significantly. If it's around 20 minutes one way on my bike I wouldn't mind it.

Now question is do I want to do this? I assume it would mainly involve helping them with their homeworks as a lot of parents don't speak much English. Would that accomplish much other than me pocketing some easy money? Also I assume it would be in the afternoon when I'm with my son which would definitely complicate things. As my lovely wife put it "You're very good at finding no's. You have to decide if you want to try it and then we can find solutions". Very true that I can always find reasons why not do something.

I also searched for English teacher jobs just to see what's out there. What is shocking is that often times they put more emphasis on having experience teaching than on the English level. A bunch of jobs say "advanced" or "B2 or C1 level". That's not very demanding, no surprise the average English level is pretty atrocious, even among educated people (as @guitarplayer already mentioned regarding a different Latin American country). And to show you what my issue with a position like this is (google translate):

• Design and plan collaboratively with your team the classes to be taught.
• Establish constant communication with parents.
• Keep the pedagogical and administrative documentation up to date in your charge.

My hands would be tied regarding the curriculum and I'd have to deal with all the administrative bullshit. I am looking at this too negatively?

[dara]

@mountainFrugal
Thanks, I know it all comes down to mileage. My main problem is I don't really have any particular subject in mind that I'd really like to draw. I heard a lot of suggestions, a lot of people say "find a project". I don't have any particular project in mind and I get discouraged when there is a disconnect between what's in my mind and what ends up on the page (I guess this never completely goes away). Should I just follow a schedule and focus on one area for a certain time every day? Brute forcing it doesn't seem sustainable.

I do want to learn it! I have punted that learning to fall when I am spending less work time on the computer. @axelheyst has mastered it. It is easier to get a job doing freelance art then it would be to have an entire skillstack to work in a large art studio. @bos is also really good at 3D and did it professionally if I recall. He might have the most insight.

I've only done Blender guru's donuts so far. Thanks for the info, maybe @bos can provide some insight. It's such a vast field, I'm struggling to find what to focus on.

[mountainFrugal]

Focus on what is interesting to you to start. Break down those objects into primitive shapes and learn to construct them from primitives. This will serve drawing and 3D. Repeat. The main thing is to draw every day. Start with 5 minutes. You can draw for longer, but you must hit 5 minutes every single day. Then after a few months move it up to 20 (you may already be there after 5 minute habit). The tough love part is that if you can't do this, you do not really want to draw. There is going to be grinding in the beginning as you move up the competence slope. There will always be a gap in your minds eye and what is on the page. No worries. How you remedy that is by iterating on a drawing to get closer and closer. Thumbnails (shapes, composition, contrast, values) --> 3-10x blow up thumbnails with increasing amounts of detail --> pick aspects that you like and dislike with each iteration --> combine images --> come close to final image --> do not over do it (there is a too much point). Until you have done this literally 1000s of times on subjects you feel comfortable with do not expect it to come out looking good on the first attempt (rarely if ever). With even a moderate amount of skill and lots of iteration you can get to good images. Or another way to put it, there are always a number of things to make the image better. You will hit a point when drawing will reinforce drawing. You will think about the world fundamentally differently as everything is broken down into shapes, value, color, etc. This will further reinforce a desire to draw because even when you are not drawing you are observing and that is what drawing actually is.

[dara]

Thank you. Good advice. I know from experience that if you don't feel like working out, convincing yourself to just do one set will more often than not make you do your whole workout.