(gentle music)
- Good morning everybody, from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
My name is Alex.
I will be taking over the Instagram Story today.
I will be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.
So I will leave a question box somewhere around here.
I teach very short day on Thursdays, only eight to 12.
So thankfully, I will be able to walk around
and show you the rest of the city.
So please let me know if you have any questions.
But for right now,
I'm going to take you and show you my apartment.
So we'll start off with the best part of my apartment
which is the view of the mountains
and the lovely roof terrace that I have.
Here is the street that I live on.
I live in a very residential area about a 10 minute walk
from the main part of town
which I will show you guys that walk to town later.
And then when you head inside,
this is the rest of my apartment.
Very exciting.
I am the top floor of four units.
It's basically a house they turned into four apartments.
So I am the top floor.
So this is where I teach.
This is my kitchen.
And then you walk through here.
The bathroom is over that way.
And this is my very exciting bedroom.
Also for anyone who is wondering the beach
is right behind that building right there.
That's the Sheraton hotel.
So I am about five blocks from the ocean.
I will post a budget breakdown later
that goes through my rent.
So don't worry.
All right, I have a bit of a break waiting
for some of my students to join my class right now.
They're in some meetings so there might be a minute.
So just to clear up my work situation.
I actually worked for two small schools in Costa Rica.
I don't work for any of the big online schools.
Since I graduated from the ITA course in Costa Rica,
all of my connections and it was easiest
to find a job there.
So I don't have any advice for any of the big schools
like VIPKid or, you know, any Whales or any of those.
My situation's a bit weird.
But thanks to the pandemic,
I can work for these schools living somewhere else.
So most of my students are Costa Rican.
But I do have some students from all over Latin America,
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, et cetera.
So a bit of a unique situation.
I love this question.
So I have been coming to Mexico since I was child.
My parents and I used to visit quite frequently.
And I did a couple internships here
while I was still in the biology field.
So I just love it here.
The culture is amazing, the food's amazing,
and the people are amazing.
So one of the coolest things about PV
and one of the reasons I moved here
is because the ex-pat community from US and Canada
and other countries around the world
is actually very large here.
So it's very easy to make friends.
However, the locals are also very friendly to everyone
regardless of where they're from.
The answer is everything.
No, I loved the ITA Costa Rica course.
The teachers there are fantastic, super helpful.
The practicum was really easy, really helpful.
Future lesson planning.
I loved everything about it.
So the nice thing about Mexico,
at least for US citizens is that you automatically
receive a 180 day tourist visa
as soon as you enter the country.
And there is no downtime between visas.
So if you leave for one day and come back,
it renews for another 180 days.
I don't work for a Mexican company.
So I don't need a Mexican work visa which is super nice.
However, it's from what I hear
pretty easy to get a residential visa
or another visa in Mexico if you are a US citizen.
So just check out the government website for that info.
Super interesting question.
So I do think TEFL is viable for saving for a future
but it kind of depends on company,
place that you're living,
a lot of different factors.
So I'll get into a little bit more detail in the next slide.
So more on the saving.
So if you work for some of the bigger companies like VIPKid
or some of those, they do have a higher pay rate.
And depending on where you're living
that pay rate can be very high
compared to your cost of living.
Especially if you're living in Latin America
or Southeast Asia where cost of living
is generally a little lower.
If you're planning on living in the United States
or if you're working for some of the smaller schools
that pay a little lower,
it might be a little more difficult.
So what you may need to do is look at your different options
depending on schools and locations
that you're willing to live
and make that decision yourself.
My savings has not increased very much
since I've moved here.
I did have a very decent amount of savings
before I moved though.
But it is definitely possible to save
up for retirement in the future.
You just have to make some changes in your life, probably.
All right.
So a little bit more information about my classes
before I start my 11 o'clock class.
So my students like I said earlier
are from all over Latin America.
They are all adults, I only teach adults.
And they basically,
for the most part want to learn either Business English,
or Conversational English or both.
So some of my classes are group classes.
Some of my classes are through corporate companies
and some are private classes through the school.
So a bit of a variety but my students are fantastic.
They keep me entertained every day.
I teach about 30 hours a week between Monday and Friday
with my longest day being Tuesdays for about 12 hours,
my shortest day being Thursdays from eight to 12.
So my schedule is very variable throughout the week
but I do not teach weekends which is very nice.
Yes, yes I do.
I have a bachelor's degree in biology
with a focus in ecology and evolution.
I was actually a biologist
before becoming an English teacher.
So a bit of a career change there,
if anybody has any questions about that.
Okay, so I have gotten a lot of questions
about my career change
since I brought it up a couple of videos ago.
So I did switch from being a biologist
to an English teacher last year and the crazy year of 2020.
So I'm going to address all of these questions
in the coming videos.
So I do have my degree in biology
with a focus in ecology and evolution.
With that degree, I have done research in Greece.
I did a couple internships in Mexico
and I also was at one point a microbiologist,
and finally I worked for a pharmaceutical company.
So I've had a bit of a variety of jobs with my degree.
The reason I changed careers, a couple of reasons.
Main one was my job at the pharmaceutical company.
To be honest, handled the pandemic pretty poorly.
It was a very unsafe environment
and I just could not for mental health reasons
be in that career anymore.
I love traveling, I love education.
I love all of that.
So this seemed like the best option for me.
I started looking into TEFL certifications and ITA came up.
So here I am.
If you're thinking about making a career change,
if you're unhappy in your job,
if you feel like your life has more meaning in it,
my advice is to just do it.
That's all I've got.
So I wanted to show you guys
one of the coolest things that PV has.
And I hope you can hear me, okay.
But we have this massive sports complex.
Let me turn my camera around.
So there's this really, really cool sports complex in PV
that has everything from basketball courts,
to tennis courts, to soccer fields,
to skating rinks, to everything.
And it's super awesome.
And it's right next to my house which is pretty cool.
Just wanted to show you guys a little bit more.
So here are some of the basketball courts.
Uncovered and covered, as well as there's a boxing ring,
and you can see back there is the running truck.
(gentle instrumental music)
All right, guys.
So welcome to the main strip called the Malecon here.
But the reason I stopped here is because of this sculpture.
So a really cool thing about PV
is the focus on the art scene here.
There are art galleries throughout the entire city,
as well as sculptures, pretty much everywhere you look
and murals and all kinds of other cool things
that are art-related.
So if you're big into art
this is really a good place for you.
All right.
So I knew that COVID was gonna be a pretty big,
big question today.
So I will cover the pandemic situation
in the next couple of videos.
So as many of you are probably aware the pandemic
has hit Mexico, pretty, pretty hard.
There've been quite a lot of cases here.
And unfortunately, the infrastructure in Mexico
is not exactly designed to handle this massive
of a global pandemic which most countries weren't.
So one thing I do have to be honest
with you guys about is that if COVID is a big worry
or a big concern to you or if you are immunocompromised,
then this might not be a good place
for you to move at the current moment.
A lot of the hospitals are well over capacity here.
A lot of tourists are still traveling here
and refusing to wear masks,
refusing to follow any protocols,
or just traveling here in general,
without any protection or traveling here
knowing they have coronavirus that has also happened.
So that's something to keep in mind.
Maybe put off your travels to Puerto Vallarta,
if COVID is a big concern for you.
That being said,
Jalisco has recently implemented new restrictions
to take coronavirus a bit more seriously,
now that the state has turned red by the country standards.
So that is why the beaches are closing at 3:00.
Also museums, zoos, things like that are closed.
Restaurants and bars have to close at 10:00 p.m
and parks and gyms actually just reopened the other day.
Due to a lot of complaints from people.
Masks are technically required everywhere.
And a lot of the restaurants and bars
are following the protocol
that requires them to use disinfected masks
and hand sanitizer and take their pills (indistinct)
at the front door.
So there are measures in place to help combat it,
but it is still a bit of an issue, so.
(gentle music)