For much of our lives, we have struggled to make ends meet.

We have become penny-pinching experts, thrift store aficionados, and minimalist savvy. Our savings mindset has seemed to seep into our bones, even when we had an increase in income. For the first time we had made far more then ever before and this is because we took an opportunity to teach overseas. 

This post isn’t about penny-pinching per say, but I must say it did help on our journey to pay off $14,000 in debt, saving $25,000 and traveling around the world enjoying experiences like a real African safari, sleeping in the Jordanian dessert or exploring beautifully historic German towns. All of this, and much more, was done in 10 months and with our son. Because of our big leap to try something new, we were able to bring our 6 year old to 7 countries on 3 continents (Europe, Africa, Asia [Middle East more specifically]) within these 10 months to explore culture, nature and make international friends. Overall in these ten months, we made over $100k between our wages, picking up extra work here and there and all the lovely perks of our vocation.

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This article is about the job that paid us more than any job we have ever had, gave us experience living in a very new-to-us culture, and allowed us to meet our goal of traveling more. My wanderlust goes deeper than my husband, Nathan’s, although he certainly has a desire to explore. Like many, wanderlust takes hold after your first trip and that is no different for me and with each trip and new location our family becomes more restless.

When the opportunity arose, it was an exceptionally difficult time for our family. We were not even living paycheck to paycheck really, my job was temporary and generally worked 6 weeks on, 4 weeks off and time was ticking on Nathan’s job as his contract was running up only a couple months later. Our prospects were glum to say the least.

We were lucky enough to have some great friends that, like us, enjoyed adventure and were willing to take big steps to achieve it. It was ultimately with their encouragement and help that we became overseas teachers in Kuwait.

There are lots of stigmas about the Middle East, but as a family who lived, worked and traveled there we can attest to the fact that it can be quite amazing. I remember a time when I couldn’t properly spell Kuwait (thought it started with a ‘Q’) and couldn’t have found it on a map. Now it’s the country that we always look for on globes and world maps. It’s the place that holds beautiful memories full of the neighborhood friendly baker, the endless culinary possibilities, lively evenings, lovely beaches and tropical resorts. It’s a home that we lived in with friends left behind and friends who had become our family.

It was one of the most difficult decisions, challenging times and rewarding experiences of our lives and I want to share how it helped us pay off our $14,000 of debt, save $25,000 and see 7 countries (including Kuwait):

 

Teaching Overseas: Quick Important Facts

 

1. 1. We are not professionally trained teachers. In fact, we were a little surprised that we were able to be hired with a Bachelors in Theological Studies considering we were teaching in an Islamic country. But we were, and so our summer was spent cramming everything we could in about teaching (thanks to many bloggers and YouTubers!).
   2. We taught at an English Elementary School (both English as the primary language and English as in British-based curriculum) called Cambridge English School.  
   3. We were classroom teachers, not ESL teachers. Nathan taught Grade/Level 5 and I taught Grade/Level 1. Nathan had the challenge of students with oncoming hormones and I had the challenge of students with little knowledge of English at the start of the year (they were excellent at speaking/reading/writing English by the end of the year…so proud of them all!)
   4. Our son was 5 (soon to turn 6 years old) and entering Grade/Level 1. The students in his class were approx. 50% Kuwaiti, 45% Egyptian, 5% other. My son was the only Caucasian in his grade and the only English-as-his-first-language student. He was shy (before we left) and it was hard for him to adjust at first, but eventually, Kuwait became his home and he made some great friends from around the world, both which he misses to this day. He learned how to be more open and less shy. It helped him to learn what it was like to be the ‘odd man out’ and how difficult it can be to adjust somewhere with a completely different culture than his own (as did we!). He learned how to speak a little bit of Arabic, enough to be polite. And he learned that language is only a barrier to friendship if you let it be and finally that fun and play can happen even if you don’t fully understand each other.
   5. Wages and Perks: Combined we made approx. $8000/CDN per month and our housing (including bills) were paid for. We lived in a fully furnished 2-bedroom/2-bath nice apartment only a 5-minute walk to the school (which was good in the heat!). Round-trip flights are also included.
   6. Vacation Time: Like most teachers, you get the summer off. In Kuwait, this means from mid-June (the students are generally done by the First week of June, then you stay 2 weeks for the end of year roundup) and you come back end of August. Throughout the year we had an additional 5-6 weeks of vacation plus 1-day holidays (3 days in September, 1 week in October, 3 weeks over winter holidays [most schools break this up with 2 weeks for winter holidays and 1 week in February], 1 week April). Altogether we counted up 16-17 weeks per year off and available for travel.
   7. Taxes: Depending on the country you are coming from, you may not have to pay government taxes. Kuwait doesn’t have income tax or sales tax and when we moved from Canada we had declared that we technically moved to Kuwait from Canada (because we didn’t own a house or property in Canada at the time) and therefore didn’t have to pay income tax in Canada either.
   8. Additional Income: There were many opportunities that came up for us to make a little extra money. Mostly this was in the form of extra tutoring (both through the school and on our own. [Tip: you make more money on your own]), but I also had the opportunity to take on the role of youth pastor at our church (yes, there are Christian churches in Kuwait. This isn’t true for all Middle Eastern Countries, but you might be surprised how many have Christian churches/communities).

Now that you know a bit about what we did and how much we made, I thought I would let you know more about our expenses and the process in how we got hired.

 

Our Monthly Expenses:

Each country that you could teach in will have its own varying expenses, but we thought we would give you the low down on expenses in Kuwait and how we kept our budget tight to save more money.

Groceries: Kuwait subsidizes some essential foods, such as bread, flour, milk, eggs, salt, sugar, etc. In a country where most food must be imported, groceries aren’t cheap and so the government helps to reduce the costs. We might spend approx. 140+KWD ($600CDN) each month on groceries and we are careful with what we buy.

Internet: We spent approx. 30KWD ($90CDN) every 3 months on wireless internet. The best part is that it came in the form of a ‘biscuit’ that was the size of a cookie and could be taken anywhere with you. This way you had internet at all times and never needed data on your cell phone.

Cell Phone: We spent 20KWD ($60CDN) per month on our cell phone service. It’s not much different than our service in Canada and just as easy to sign up.

Taxi: This largely depends on how often you go out and how far you go. I will average your per taxi ride to 2KWD each trip (x2 for round trip). You can be surprised at how often you go out (for groceries, mall, see a friend, event, restuarant, beach, etc).

5 times per week: 80KWD per month

8 times per week: 128KWD per month

10 times per week: 160KWD per month

 

Medical: Hopefully you don’t get sick too often, but if you do you will have to choose between a 5KWD government hospital visit (which is fine, but not as clean as you might be used to) or a 40KWD private hospital visit. This is for a regular cold/flu checkup. Once you get into bigger problems that cost can become quite high. Some schools will have a medical plan/insurance but not all will (ours didn’t). We brought our son once to a private hospital which cost us nearly 100KWD ($400CDN…which is a lot for us Canadians who aren’t used to hospital bills) after a blood test, IV, and some other medication.  

 

Total Average Expenses of necessities for a family of 3: $360KWD($1440CDN) /month

As I mentioned above, we brought our frugality with us to Kuwait even though we were making far more than we ever had before. Because of this, we saved more money than some might because we continued to limit our spending allowing us to:

• Pay off $14,000 of debt
• Save $25,000
• Travel to 6 other countries and explore Kuwait

 

These countries consisted of:

• Jordan: Where we got to sleep under the stars in the desert, climb sand dunes and rocky cliffs, visit world wonders like Petra and ancient cities like Jerash, and relax at Evason Ma’in Hot Springs near the Dead Sea, and dip our toes in the river that Jesus was baptized. (Psst…you can read more about this here)
• France: We explored Paris seeing major sites such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Champe de Elysee, Arc de Triomphe and more. We also spent Christmas and boxing day at Disneyland: Paris.
• Germany: Here we met up with our parents to explore some lovely German Towns (my favorite being Meissen and Rothenburg), majestic castles and lush forests.
• Czech Republic: We drove through Czech Rep. to visit Prague, an intoxicatingly elegant city.
• Austria: Where we saw the charming countryside filled with rolling hills, timber-framed homes and Inns, and castles.
• Kenya: After an 8hr bumpy ride through Kenya watching cities and small villages go by we arrived at our beautiful resort, Ashnil Mara Camp where we slept in luxury tents, ate delicious meals and safaried around Maasai Mara (which borders the Serengeti) to find lions, cheetahs, hippos, zebras and so much more.

 

Teaching Overseas: Where We Saved Money

 

Eating Out: This is no different than anywhere else, eating out can cost a LOT of money. I would say we would spend twice as much in a restaurant in Kuwait than in Canada. (Average of 20KWD per meal or $80/meal). We had started eating far more than we should have because we could. Then I reigned in our spending, invoked my savings brain and limited our eating out to once a week out and once a week in (using an online food delivery service Talabat, which is amazing!). This is still waaay more than we ate out at home, so it felt like we were loosening the purse strings while still saving money.

Expenses: 160KWD/month

 

Bakalas: In addition to eating out, we had made a very bad habit of stopping at the local bakala (corner store) to buy ourselves treats. We ended up limiting this to once a week. We would celebrate the end of the week with a treat. Better for our diet and our bank account.

Expenses: 20KWD/month

 

Shopping: There is soooo much shopping that you could do. So many big stores, malls, and markets. If we went to any of these places (which was often enough) we might buy an item or two for ourselves. We spent more on our son who got a toy just about each time we went. But we didn’t update our wardrobe every other month

Expenses: 90KWD/month

 

Household Items: While we recommend anyone staying for multiple years to update their apartment to become more homey with your own style, we didn’t do this. We bought ourselves a used television set, updated our sheets and purchased a few kitchen products, a couple picture frames and eventually a new (used by someone we knew) bed, but that’s about all. Other may want to update their couch since the one they provide is not very comfortable. You may also want to paint to pick your own colors and add more pictures to the walls, grab some items that fit your style (which I promise you can find).

Expenses: 20KWD/Month

 

Other Travel/Experiences: Some may say that we missed out, even myself sometimes, but we had a goal of paying off debt and having a bit of money to save by the end of the year. Many teachers went to local countries/cities like Dubai, UAE to ‘let loose’ and enjoy the drinks that aren’t available in Kuwait (since Kuwait is a dry country…no alcohol). Others enjoyed more local nightlife including ‘underground’ bars that may or may not have the beverages they desire. This wasn’t our scene and so weren’t tempted by it.

Expenses: 0 KWD/month

 

Entertainment: We enjoyed our own places like the Scientific Centre (with a membership of 80KWD per year for the family, going to malls, walking the boardwalk, going to movies (they have big theatres with English speaking movies or headphones with the English version), enjoying time in the desert gathering with friends, generally exploring the city.

Expenses: 60KWD ($240CDN) on entertainment.

 

Overall we may have spent around 700-800KWD per month. Less than one of our monthly salaries. We continued to be careful with our money while trying to enjoy our time there. Of course, lots of the saved income went to traveling other countries, but that was well worth it. We absolutely loved every moment. Top of our son’s list was the opportunity to see some of his favorite animals in real life and would love to go back to Africa to see more of it.

 

 

How did we do it?

With all that said, I’m going to jump back to the beginning and explain how the process went for us to get such a great job in a country far, far away.

 

Credentials:

Yes, for us, much of it depended on having friends on the inside. However, this was certainly not true for everyone. If you are fluently English speaking (doesn’t have to be as your first language, there were teachers from all over the world) and have at least a Bachelor’s degree, then you can get into some of the schools in Kuwait (or other overseas schools). Most schools do require teaching credentials, so if you do have those credentials, then you’ll be well ahead of the game.

 

Preparing Your Resume:

When you apply you will want a resume/ CV and a cover letter complete with all the experience you have in teaching/tutoring/leading groups that you can. Find any tidbit of experience you have in teaching others to highlight. If need be, go to a local employment center and see if someone can help you do this. If you don’t have anything in your background, then jump into it now. Find volunteer work or tutor as a side hustle, do what you need to do to say I have ‘x’ experience to offer as a teacher.

You can also make sure to add any experience you have interacting with the culture you are about to move into and your experience moving and adjusting to new places. It will put their mind at ease that you are not going to have a difficult time adjusting.

 

Do a School Search:

Kuwait isn’t the only country you can teach in overseas, it’s not even the only one in the Middle East. There are countries all over Asia, Africa, Europe, South America that are in need of teachers. You truly can go anywhere. And once you’ve taught in one country, you can move to another. Exploring the countries around you as you go.

 

We picked Kuwait because that’s where we had a connection, but you can go where you feel the biggest pull. Here is a list of my Top 5 Recommended Middle Eastern Countries  to teach in, but please do extensive research of your own:

 

1. Kuwait (of course!): More on Kuwait below
2. Jordan: We had friends who taught here too and loved it even more than Kuwait, which they also taught in. Partly because the country itself has more diversity in the experiences you can have. For example, Ancient wonders like Petra and Jerash, as well as dessert experiences, the Dead Sea and much more)
3. UAE: Abu Dhabi and Dubai hold more entertainment possibilities then you can imagine! They have decked out these cities with so much fun and luxury that you could easily spend all your hard earned money right in that city. This happens to be the #1 country that teachers seem to like to go to for a weekend away. Partly because it’s cheap to get here, it is one very flashy country and because it’s a wet country, meaning it allows alcohol (unlike Kuwait…more below)
4. Bahrain: This little island country will help you save more as it doesn’t have all the excitement of Dubai, but still has some relaxing beaches and enjoyable experiences awaiting you.
5. Oman: How I wish we got to Oman. It had been on our list of places to go, but we just never got there. We have heard some lovely things about this mountainous tropical country and would suggest it as a lovely place to spend a year saving and exploring.

The Middle East has some of the highest paying teaching jobs in the world, so be sure to consider it. Put aside what you think you know about these countries, hop on Pinterest or Google and see what they have to offer…A LOT! They are beautiful, diverse, fun and filled with great people!

 

Here are two great resources for finding schools in the Middle East:

1. British Schools in the Middle East
2. eTeaching International

Pick the top schools that you would like to apply to and apply to as many as you can/want. Most school will have their own website that helps you through the process, which can be as simple as emailing your resume/CV and cover letter.

 

Interview Process:

If you are chosen for an interview, then the principal or vice-principal will likely conduct the interview over Skype or a similar program (for us it was the principal). If you aren’t a teacher or if you don’t teach in the same school system, then I would suggest finding someone (you know or can connect with on a forum or FB page/group) and ask them about some of the big trends in their system, gleaning key terms and processes to use in the interview.

Always remember that in an interview it is not really about you, it’s about what you can offer them. What do they want to hear from you? They want to know that they can put you in a classroom and not worry about you, that you can abide by their policies and work within their curriculum, that their school will look good because of your teaching and that the students come away with excellent education. Always shape your answers to these concerns and you will get your name to the top of the pile.

 

Hired:

It took 6 weeks for us to find out if we were hired or not. Perhaps this was just our situation and this could look different in different scenarios, but we had lost hope (or gained hope if you were our family and friends back home) that we weren’t going to be hired. Many workplaces take time to get through the hiring process, so be patient. If you don’t hear from them after 3-4 weeks, then I would say it’s safe to email them to politely check in.

 

Once hired we went through the arduous process of filling out paperwork, mailing documentation and getting degrees stamped by the Canadian Embassy and Kuwaiti Embassy.

 

The Hardest Part:

 

Coming to terms with the big step you are actually going to take, telling your family and helping them adjust to the idea. Then the waiting for the day to fly out begins, saying goodbye to family and friends and then arriving to see this new city and culture firsthand. So scary and so thrilling and so wondrous.

 

We talk more about the perks of living in the Middle East here. You can learn about ‘Living in the Middle East: 10 Things that Make it Amazing & to be Aware of’.