I am a 22-year-old English teacher living and working in the Russia’s capital, Moscow. I graduated last year from Lehman College with a mass communications degree and a minor in Russian. Although I am not doing what I love – audio and film production – I am still gaining some experience living and working here. I have decided to get in contact with The Bronx Journal because I wanted to share my stories about living here. It has been a bumpy road (isn’t that always the case?) from the moment I landed in Moscow to the moment I am sitting here now writing about my experiences. Of course there is a culture shock and of course there are money issues, but that always comes with changing your life as quickly as I have done.
I came to Russia with my wife, Anna, who I met at Lehman College. For the most part, it was a very easy process for me to find a job. As a native English speaker with a background in mass communications, it really helped me get my foot in the door. If you are looking to travel the world and make some extra money, it is always a good idea to look at teaching jobs. When you look online, you will see that many places require you to get a certificate of some sort to actually teach. However, you will also find that you don’t really need this at all – for instance, I don’t. Although I can’t say that I LOVE teaching English, it pays the bills and allows us to live better than most young couples here in Russia. My wife is currently a photographer and has set up her own business in wedding and event photography. She is also working with different schools for school albums and working as a photographer in a store for advertisements and magazine covers. Talk about hard working!
So why Russia (besides the fact that my wife is Russian?) Because, it is such an interesting country, with interesting, intelligent people and a huge line of history and culture. If I could write about the history of Russia for you, it would take me 100 years and that is not even going to cover the surface of what has happened in Russia. Moscow is just like New York. However, it is huge. If you do plan on making a trip here, be sure to find a guide that will be willing to take you around the city -don’t ask me though – I am terrible with directions! In fact I got lost today in the subway station. But that is a story for another time. Come to Russia, experience what I am experiencing now and you will never ever forget the time you had here