Don't forget the Beijing climate and pollution.
Air quality is getting worse and worse and the dry weather, sand, cold, aspen "puffs" every spring can wreak havoc if you or your family have respiratory problems and/or allergies.

But the campus and location are nice though it can be a traffic nightmare if you plan to actually see the city every now and then.

I taught in China for 7 years and have been to Beijing many times but it is definitely - for me and a lot of others - the proverbial "nice place to visit but..."

Biggest CON not on your list:
Your husband had to be cajoled into this by you.
YOU may want to experience the world but HE will be the one working. If HE doesn't really want to do this then he will not be happy and more than just his job could be in jeopardy.
Just for our information, what do you think you will be doing while your husband works?

And that last post is exactly why so many people think teachers are underworked, overpaid, clowns.

Are you all serious?

Let's try to keep our profession out of all that Kardashian/Honey Boo Boo/Survivor type reality show garbage.

Seeing someone crying because they did not get an interview at a job fair is the kind of entertainment that is making our students mindless and unfeeling zombies.

Again I will repeat:

Getting a job at a top IS is as much luck as anything else. EVERY IS, even the so called "Top Tier" hire people every year with little or no experience, single teachers with dependents and a non-working spouse, people who have broken contracts. You know, the "young 22 year old fresh out of college hired by the lecherous school head" type of thing or the "one of my teachers says he is good so I'll hire him" baloney that goes on all too often.

Just apply every and anywhere you would like to work and see what happens.

And again, there a a lot of IS admin types who are not competent enough to hire the "best" people available. And if you continue to put much stock in whether or not these people think you are good teachers, you will just become more and more disappointed and insecure.

There is A LOT of difference between North America cold and China cold.

I worked in China for 6 years, traveled a lot there, and there was always something very depressing about northern China when it is cold, much more so than any other country I have been to.

I would definitely not do it unless you have lived in China before.

There are that many vacancies because the package keeps going down, for example SAS offered a retirement of 10% just a few years ago, while teacher duties and responsibilities keep going up.

Combine this with a group of administrators who are less than able and/or human and as the French say, Voila!

And don't buy any of the sure to follow replies that the turnover is normal and/or due to SAS having so many teachers. THAT is pure admin BS.

Just like...

a 16 year old boy!

He could be a 16 year old international school student having fun with all of us.
That could explain a lot of the things he has said.

Walter and Dave:

Just kiss and make up, will you.

WHERE ARE YOU HEADING?

Come on, man, just tell us the school.

I'll say what I've always said: EVERY SCHOOL, Tier 1 included, has members on its faculty that on paper would make people shake their heads and wonder how they got the job.

Just apply, go to the job fair(s), email directly, and wait to see. Don't quit before the fight, no matter what discouraging words are spoken to you by this site's so called "experts".

To Sevarem,
You are right. And I apologize for implying that your ignoring a rude person was weakness.

Good luck at the fair.

To Sevarem:

Don't ever let someone tell you point blank that "something is wrong with you". Stand up for yourself and stop being bullied.

With all due respect, while a lot of school heads like to employ doormats, they are not respected or much liked by their colleagues.

Now go the job fair and stop worrying so much.

Yeah, you probably did not get the job. But..

think about, if you do get the job, what a FANTASTIC headmaster the guy would be to work for. Anyone who is secure enough and wise enough to keep his sense of humor is ok in my book.

Alas, very few school heads are that secure or possess much of a sense of humor. That's why they become school heads.