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[Sappho]

I'm currently in a TEFL certification course in Prague.  The certification I'll get at the end will allow me to get a job teaching English as a foreign language.  It is not a cheap course.  I had about $3500 saved up when I got here, and after paying for the course and the apartment they have me stay in this month, I'm down to about $1000 in the bank.

I can only stay in this apartment until August 28, then I have to move out.  To get an apartment in Prague I need three months' rent as a down payment.  I also need to begin the application process to get my work visa immediately.  This involves buying health insurance, traveling to Germany to visit the Czech embassy (no one seem to know why), and paying a 99 Euro fee on top of everything else.  In addition, I have $105 student loan payments each month.  I would also like to be able to eat on occasion.

Now I am finding out something that they never mentioned until today (halfway through the course): even if I get a job tomorrow, I won't see a paycheck until AT LEAST October 15.

Assuming I do get a job and somehow manage to stretch my funds until my first paycheck, the pay here is feasible for living locally, but the exchange rate is shit and I'd have to work here for ten years to save up enough money to move anywhere else.  And here's the kicker:

I don't want to live here!

I want to live in Germany.  But in order to live there and find work, I'd have to have several thousand Euros to live off of until I find something and get through the resident permit process.  This is money I do not have, and it's money I won't make in the Czech Republic.

I'm losing my mind.  I have a lesson to plan for this afternoon, I have to find something for lunch, I have to start looking for a place to live and a job, and I just don't know what the hell to do.

My other option is to spend the last of my money on a plane ticket back home, move back in with my mother (I'm 24), and work somewhere for the next year or so, until I have enough money to come back and try again.

I do not want to move back in with my mother, and I do not want to live in the United States.  If I wanted to live there, I would not have spent my savings coming here.

When I signed up for this TEFL program, they made it sound all glamorous.  We'll help you find a job, they said, there's loads of work here, they said, you'll make a very good local wage, they said, all you need is a couple thousand dollars to get situated and you'll be all set, they said.

They mentioned nothing about mandatory health insurance, trips to Germany out of pocket, having to get by for three months without a paycheck, having to put three months' rent down on an apartment, or how few full-time jobs there are here.

So....  I'm at a total loss.  Do I do like the rest of my classmates and start looking for work and housing here in Prague?  Do I beg all of my relatives for loans and go to Germany and chase my dream?  Do I give up and go back to my mom's house for another year?

I haven't even decided what I'm doing my lesson on this afternoon and I only have a couple of hours to plan it before I teach...  This course is sucking the life out of me.

[ChairmanPoo]

well, if you are czech, you shouldnt need a permit to stay in Germany, right? In theory EU citizens dont need residence permits for other EU countries, I think, Romania being the exception, for some reason.

[Sappho]

I am not an EU citizen.  I'm an American citizen.  I left America to become an English teacher so that I could live in Europe.  I don't even have a visa to LIVE in the Czech Republic right now - I'm here as a tourist, but that only lasts a month or so.

[Ai Shizuka]

Go back home and start from scratch.
I'll never understand why it's SO OMG TOTALLY PATHETIC (not in this case, but it's a wide-spread opinion, esp. in the US and UK) for some people to stay at home at 24 or 26.
If your family can afford it, they are happy to do it and the place is adeguate to house another person, why not? It's your mother, not some random stranger.
What's better between:
- accepting the first shitty job with a miserable wage, just to barely survive and probably go nuts for the stress
- going back home to build up some money while you don't have to worry about rent, food and stuff.

Or if you don't want to go back home, just borrow some money. If they can afford it, of course.
Nothing wrong in asking for help from YOUR FAMILY.

[Armok]

Go back home and start from scratch.
I'll never understand why it's SO OMG TOTALLY PATHETIC (not in this case, but it's a wide-spread opinion, esp. in the US and UK) for some people to stay at home at 24 or 26.
If your family can afford it, they are happy to do it and the place is adeguate to house another person, why not? It's your mother, not some random stranger.
What's better between:
- accepting the first shitty job with a miserable wage, just to barely survive and probably go nuts for the stress
- going back home to build up some money while you don't have to worry about rent, food and stuff.

Or if you don't want to go back home, just borrow some money. If they can afford it, of course.
Nothing wrong in asking for help from YOUR FAMILY.

Seconded.

[Pillow_Killer]

Go back home and start from scratch.
I'll never understand why it's SO OMG TOTALLY PATHETIC (not in this case, but it's a wide-spread opinion, esp. in the US and UK) for some people to stay at home at 24 or 26.
If your family can afford it, they are happy to do it and the place is adeguate to house another person, why not? It's your mother, not some random stranger.
What's better between:
- accepting the first shitty job with a miserable wage, just to barely survive and probably go nuts for the stress
- going back home to build up some money while you don't have to worry about rent, food and stuff.

Or if you don't want to go back home, just borrow some money. If they can afford it, of course.
Nothing wrong in asking for help from YOUR FAMILY.

Seconded.

Thirded. A bad way to change Your life You picked.

[DJ]

Get loans from your family and relatives. Helping each other out is what families are for.

Alternatively, marry a rich old German dude, then wait for him to die / poison him.

[Mephansteras]

What are your chances of getting a second job of some sort? Preferably some sort of work-from-home sort of thing? Do you have any other skill-sets you can draw on?

[redacted123]

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[Jreengus]

Depending on your family I second the loan option, Your family should hopefully charge you no or minimal interest and if it all falls apart you can still move back and get a job to pay them back.

[Mephansteras]

Another option that might help: sharing an apartment with lots of people. It can be annoying and sometimes uncomfortable, but with enough roommates you can live a lot cheaper and save up more money.

[sneakey pete]

Why do you *have* to get an apartment that needs 3 months downpayment? no boarding houses/hostels etc. that are cheaper? And start looking for a job now, dammit, quit messing about.

[Sensei]

How demanding is this english teaching job? Could you get a second part-time job, or job as a translator to scrounge up some extra cash?

[Little]

Rob a bank.

[Vester]

If moving back home with your mother is not something you want to do, then you might have to settle for temporary underemployment.

Since you need a way to raise cash, why not get a job in Prague that could pay for cheap housing and food in the meantime?