My friend in Prague says it's easy to find work there!

[Winston]

Hi all,
I forgot to tell you all. A few days ago I talked to my buddy in Prague, Rob, whom I hung out with for three weeks in Krakow, Poland back in 2005. Ever since then he has been living in Prague, Czech Republic.

During our conversation on Skype, I asked him if it's easy to live there and find work. He said YES!!!!!!!!!!!

He said he gets asked that a lot and does not know why some think it's hard to find work in Europe. He says that in Prague at least, there are many available jobs to teach English, and are very attainable.

So that's the good news.

The bad news is that rent there is kind of expensive and average around 600 dollars for a flat, which you can share of course.

Just thought I'd let you all know.

[Free]

Thanks for the report, but that is somewhat on the general side.
Although I was not aware of the popularity of TESL there so thanks for the field report.

It certainly depends on his particular scenario.
For example, does he have an EU passport or long stay visa? Well then certainly businesses would not mind hiring him.
How is he able to stay so long? Under the radar, or has the documents?
Also, if he is referring to working under the table, well then I can see that for any place a person goes.

By the way, next time you talk to him, ask about other Czech areas that are not Prague as I hear even Prague can be swamped with tourists, tourist prices, some barricades with dating due to the overwhelm, etc.
Also, what he thinks for the dating realm of Hungary vs Czech as that is a fairly popular discussion?

[Think Different]

I lived in Prague for 2 years and I know that there is plenty of TESL work there, and also in other cities. As you said, the rent in Prague is CRAZY (think western prices, while you're earning an Eastern salary).

That said, if you're into incredible (but uptight) girls, great beer, awesome cultural things to do (in 2 years, I couldn't see it all), then Prague is great.

One caveat: the Czech language is a bitch to learn, if you're not used to Slavic languages. But, in Prague nowadays, most young people now speak English more or less. When I first went there in 1991, it was still very communistic, no English understood, and there were still occasional Russian soldiers about (mainly heading home).

I could also recommend some other great cities in the Czech Republic that are good choices for TESL, but not nearly as expensive, but also don't have quite as much culture.

Cesky Krumlov and Ceske Bujejovice (the original home of Budweiser beer) are two awesome cities, but that's just a start.

That all being said, Prague is still my favorite city in the world, but it does have a seedy underbelly. Lots of prostitution (mainly kidnapped chicks from Eastern Europe, or gypsies), it's a crossroads of the drug trade, and Russian mafia is pretty active there. But hey, if you leave them alone and keep your head on straight and your nose clean, you'll do fine. I routinely walked home in the middle of the night and never had a problem. Just avoid trouble!!

[Winston]

Thanks for the report, but that is somewhat on the general side.
Although I was not aware of the popularity of TESL there so thanks for the field report.

It certainly depends on his particular scenario.
For example, does he have an EU passport or long stay visa? Well then certainly businesses would not mind hiring him.
How is he able to stay so long? Under the radar, or has the documents?
Also, if he is referring to working under the table, well then I can see that for any place a person goes.

By the way, next time you talk to him, ask about other Czech areas that are not Prague as I hear even Prague can be swamped with tourists, tourist prices, some barricades with dating due to the overwhelm, etc.
Also, what he thinks for the dating realm of Hungary vs Czech as that is a fairly popular discussion?

No, Rob has a US passport. As to the visa, I think he just leaves the country every three months and then comes back for a new automatically stamped visa at the border. That's how it usually works there.

Ok I'll ask him, but he is so busy with work, his band and his son that he doesn't travel much anymore.