(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Alright Jack, so thanks for doing this for us.
I really appreciate it.
I'm just gonna ask a few questions
about your experience here in Costa Rica and about
the course.
First of all, Jack do you mind, how old are you?
- I'm 67 years old.
- [Narrator] Good, so you're entering the retirement phase?
- Yes.
- [Narrator] So in yours 60s, what made you think about
teaching English?
- Absolutely nothing.
I realized that my retirement was gonna be pretty
limited in the United States.
So I started looking around for lower cost of living,
really, and I pointed myself to South America.
And then I thought, I still feel like working
so why not do something while I'm there?
And this looked like an opportunity, then.
- [Narrator] Excellent, Jack.
So what advice would you give to somebody planning,
considering teaching abroad,
especially if they're in their retirement years?
- Don't be afraid of it.
Its, I've got all the tools I need now to find a job,
the jobs are plentiful out there.
If you want to travel, that's wonderful,
if you want to go some place and stay, that works well too.
I plan on staying in Costa Rica.
The support system here is wonderful,
the country is welcoming, don't be afraid of it.
Give it a try.
- [Narrator] Excellent 'cause you originally planned on
going to Colombia, is that right?
- I did.
But the jobs were so available here they were like
low hanging fruit.
I found the perfect job I've been looking for
my entire life, really.
So it was pointless to go to another country
and try and find the same thing.
The airfares and the airlines out of Costa Rica
are much more convenient and much less expensive
than other places in South America.
And the benefits of being in Costa Rica just really
outweigh my desire for, maybe, a cooler climate.
- [Narrator] Excellent, excellent.
How much money do you think you need to make per month
in order to live her comfortably?
- I think I can live very comfortably on 400 colons
a month, which is about $700 US.
My rent and my room is very inexpensive and I would
have to try hard to spend more than that, I think.
- [Narrator] Excellent.
And how much do you think the English teachers usually make?
So you say you could live on 700, $800 a month, and--
- The price varies with what you're doing and who
you're working for, but I'm thinking I'm making almost
$9 an hour at my classes.
And the work is out there, really.
If you need online work that's easily available,
there's a school here in Costa Rica,
there are always jobs coming up,
there are always schools wanting more people,
and there's always private tutoring available, too.
So I don't think making that amount of money is going
to be that hard for anybody.
- [Narrator] Excellent.
And what concerns did you have before you came here
when you were researching and thinking about?
- Really just, not being a traveler myself,
it's living in a foreign country,
what's that going to be like?
I speak almost no Spanish and so how hard is that
going to be for me?
Am I able to adapt to the situation?
Costa Rica is a very welcoming country.
The people here have been so friendly and so helpful,
I've been able to buy anything I've wanted,
there's always been an english-speaking person
there to help me.
And if they don't speak english, they're willing to
take their time with me, work through the whole thing.
It's a wonderful country.
The concerns I had have fallen apart.
I was a little concerned that Costa Rica was more
expensive than some of the other Latin American countries,
but that's not a concern that really should matter
because the jobs are here, the money's here,
and the support system is here and that's so important.
- [Narrator] Excellent.
And have you done much traveling in your past?
- Almost none.
I really don't like to travel very much.
- [Narrator] So how does that coincide with your
teaching english all over the world?
- Well I haven't really, I've moved here,
I didn't travel here.
And so I'm not interested, particularly,
in traveling around the continent, central America
or any of that.
When I came I brought everything with me.
I mean, I was making a big change.
But this is moving, not being a tourist.
- [Narrator] Fantastic.
And how about your current job, how was the job search
after the course?
- It was amazing, there were three of us that stayed
in Costa Rica and two had jobs before the course
was over.
And I finished the course on a Friday,
I applied for a job on a Monday and walked out
with the job.
- [Narrator] Excellent, alright.
So tell me a little bit about that job that you've got,
what do you do now?
- It's what I've been wanting to do all my life.
It's a degree granting university that has me
teaching English.
They seemed excited because I was going to be
a permanent resident and my experience in business
and background in selling different areas was
just what they were looking for.
They've made me feel so welcome.
- [Narrator] Fantastic.
And are you working full time or part time there?
- Part time right now, they have plans to give me
more and more so I don't think the number of hours
will be a problem within the next three to four months.
- [Narrator] Excellent.
So you finished the four week course,
what were some of the things that you liked
about the course?
- When I came in I had no idea how you could teach
english only in english, not speaking the native language.
And I was a bit skeptical of that.
But by the time I've left I now feel like I could
teach english to anybody from a four year old child
to a retired Spanish-speaking person.
I have all that confidence, the course gave me that
confidence, showed me how to do every aspect of it,
and was just amazing, really.
- [Narrator] Fantastic.
And how about finding accommodation after the course?
- I went online and started looking for apartments
and rooms to rent and at first I thought I wanted
my own apartment, but in thinking about it,
there was no need.
That's American thinking, that's not,
there's no use for all those rooms.
So then I switched to a regular room,
the first person I called rented a room at $260 a month
and some of the utilities and it's the perfect setup,
two kilometers from where I work so I can walk to work
and back.
And the first thing I looked at worked out real well.
So everything's falling into place amazingly.
- [Narrator] Excellent, excellent.
(upbeat music)