What if this happened?

You accept a job you and are very happy. You start getting ducks in rows for your transition to your new school. All is good with your world. About 3 weeks later, you get an email from said new school...
_______________________________
Dear Mr./Ms. Pluke:

This is very awkward, but we need to let you know we just do not have a teaching position for you anymore. A teacher who we really, really want has approached us to come here. It is a teacher we have wanted for several years, and all of a sudden she has said she will accept the offer we made yesterday for the position we already gave to you. We know this is poor form, but we may never get a chance at this teacher again, so we have to do what we have to do.

Again, we are very, very sorry for the inconvenience. Good luck.

Sincerely,
The New School
_______________________________

My guess is you might be on ISR posting a very different topic.

kleikm wrote:
> Do you know of any school employees who have died from Dengue?

Nope, but when I had dengue there was about a six hour hour stretch the third night when I truly hoped I would die.

I don't have an answer, but I'm sorry that happened to you. I have watched some absolutely terrifying legal events unfold over the last year and a half, and the reality of how "at risk" we really are when overseas is...it gives me much to think about and be grateful for. I do know that since the suicide and consequent revelations of a certain sickening individual, a growing number of schools are committed to conducting the best international background checks possible. This is obviously very good and very needed. More and more schools will hopefully follow suit and do away with only requiring the simple letter from local police. Again, I am sorry that happened...glad you are safe now.

That really is up to the individual school. My school, along with a number of others, did away with the concept of "local hires" a few years ago. It has been nothing but a positive decision in terms of team, unity, morale, etc... Hopefully more and more will follow suit.

"Not to mention the fact that the two major international schools, one of which is JIS, are both experiencing considerable internal difficulties, leading to very high staff turnover."

The fact is the difficulties at JIS have not yet led to high staff turnover. Perhaps that will change next year...perhaps not...but to date this is not the case. It is also very misleading to say the difficulties we are experiencing are "internal" as faculty, administration, parents, and students are still united and supporting each other. The other "major international" school was absolutely pummeled from within, but the JIS family is still hanging strong despite the lies that assault our school.

The realities of international teaching in Indonesia are troubling at best right now. One should absolutely do their homework before deciding to come here, but to imply that JIS is internally falling apart is flat-out wrong. Our campus is as strong as it can be. Period. End of story.

ISM is a great school and I would bet there is nothing sinister about the number of openings. Sometimes the numbers just fall that way. My school is very similar to ISM, and after a number of years with very few openings in one department we suddenly had seven positions to fill. I am certain many people thought, "Gosh, what is up at ---? Look at all the those X department openings! Is something wrong?" Here is how the cards truly fell...

2 Mandatory retirements (60 years old) Both enjoyed 20+ years here.
1 Vice principal (part time in that department) moving on to lead own school. Increasing enrolment makes that a full time opening.
1 The above's spouse. Both enjoyed 15+ years here.
1 Hired internally to administration.
2 Leaving for "usual" reasons as that is what international teachers do.

No drama. Nothing diabolical. No need to start an ISR thread. :)

I have friends who were hired there through the BKK fair.

Still...the best way to get a shot at any of the IASAS schools is to know people already there who will bring your name to the principal, head of school, etc... In most cases that ensures your application materials will be truly considered. That is huge as schools like ISM get hundreds and hundreds of applications every year.

No worries. Im from Florida, and my parents, along with a million-billion other people, are snowbirds (Half a year in Florida/Half a year elsewhere), so I know a bit about leaving an empty home just from listening to them. Biggest thing to prevent is water damage. My dad leaves his fridge running on the warmest setting too. Says it costs pennies and avoids mildew and the like.

Here is some good advice: https://www.travelers.com/prepare-preve ... ation.aspx

Anyone else notice "they" (At least in the US) have been talking about the glutton of retiring baby boomers, retirement, and the inevitable onslaught of job openings when I was in still doing my undergrad coursework.... One should note I graduated in 1993 and "they" are still are still talking about it.

I agree with you 100%, Mr. C4ke. The experiences you mention are not readily available in Jakarta. As you know since you lived here, nothing in Jakarta comes easy, but with some time they do come. I have lived in Jakarta for five years, and am just barely starting to understand the complexities of my neighborhood, let alone Jakarta itself. There is so much more going on besides instant coffee on the street next to motorbikes, and the hurdles to climb are much higher than in cities like Bangkok for a number of reasons- economic, religious, etc... I think we can both agree the millions and millions of Farang who have visited Bangkok have absolutely enabled such "authentic experiences" there. Heck, Bangkok is the number one tourist destination in the world- something like 15 million a year. Nothing wrong with that, just pointing out that it certainly creates a different vibe than few Bule who visit Jakarta for business. Westerners eating great street food is the norm there, but when I buy some Satay on the street, jump on a bus, or even ride my motorbike it is a fascinating event to some, even in Kemang. It is usually greeted with a few cell phone pictures and some giggles, but always ends with smiles, a few sentences exchanged in broken English and even worse Bahasa, and a handshake or two. Sometimes later as one is recognized more and more it is followed by an invitation to see a local band play or a morning fishing...but not often. Honestly, those moments are very authentic, maybe even more so than Sheesha in Cairo. Jakarta will get there eventually, at least I hope it will. Best of luck to you. Peace.

Cheery, You might be surprised and I would encourage you to not believe everything you read here. Jakarta continually gets a bum rap on ISR, so I thought I would offer up the other side of the story. Despite Mr. C4ke's disdain for Jakarta, please know that many of us here do not share his feelings. Five minutes of research will tell anyone that Jakarta's traffic is probably the worst in the world, it is hot every single day, and infrastructure is very substandard. It is not a western city in Asia like Singapore, Hong Kong. In fact, Jakarta is a mess and has made pretty much every mistake a giant city could make. That being said, many of us absolutely love our lives in Jakarta and even find the city beautiful in its own unique way. The number of teachers at JIS who have been around for a while will attest to that.

JIS is an amazing community. The kids are great, and I am fortunate to get to work with and learn so much from my colleagues. Of course we have problems like any school, but it really is the best job I have ever had. The Indonesian people are friendly, very proud, and warm. Jakarta is incredibly safe, at least compared to where I come from in Florida. The neighborhoods surrounding JIS (Pondok Indah, Cipete, Cilandak, Kemang, etc…) are nothing like wherever Mr. C4ke was stationed and the vibe totally different from places like Mumbai. For example, I live in Kemang. My house is awesome, and the back yard is simply paradise. I have a beautiful garden and swimming pool, and there is nothing I enjoy more than laying around in the sun and enjoying the outdoors. At night, within a ten minute walk (That’s right; I said walk) of my front door is every sort of restaurant, pub, and club one can imagine- 24 hour dim sum, live music, a TGI Fridays (haha), homemade pasta, an Irish pub, etc... The same walking time gets me to western grocery stores, a new mall complete with an “executive” movie theater, gym, liquor store, and other amenities.

For what it is worth, beer and booze is available literally everywhere. With a few easily found connections, liters of spirits (Smirnoff, Bacardi, etc…) are about $16 USD, which isn’t too bad. Sadly, wine is ridiculously expensive as bottle of Jacob’s Creek will set you back about $16 dollars, too. Imported beer such as Kilkenny is everywhere too, but expensive. Local beers Heiniken, Bintang, Anker, etc… isn’t too badly priced served in almost every restaurant. If you want to dare the street food bring a beer with you. No one cares. The point is one will not need to suffer a happy-hour-free-existence in Jakarta.

I absolutely believe there is a certain mindset that will never be happy in Jakarta. That is not a bad thing, it just is what it is. Jakarta is certainly not for everyone. Maybe I am a bit twisted, but life here is pretty good: a proud, progressive school, beautiful home, a fun neighborhood, great friends, amazing travel, and potential to save for the future. Last time I checked, those were the exact reasons I decided to give this overseas thing a try.

I cannot give you the ins and outs of the package, but I have some friends there. What you read on the pay side is still accurate. There are definitely some downsides to RIS, but you could do worse too. It is not anywhere close to being an ISB or NIST. I think it would be an ok first posting to do 2 or 3 years, keep your head low, enjoy Bangkok when you can, and then look to move on and up.

Feel free, but don't be shocked if you find yourself with zero jobs at the end of the process. The international school world is quite small and word gets around. Or... first call the school where you accepted the job and let them know you are still looking. Second, let the new school know you have already accepted a job for next year, but you want to interview anyway. That would be the honest thing to do, but I doubt it will go over very well.

If you emailed me about my school I would be glad to tell you all about it as I am very happy and proud of where I work. That being said, if you find that after emailing a couple of teachers they don't want to talk to you...well....I think that would be a pretty good indicator of that's school's climate.

Like stated above, the sports at the big Asian schools are not like high school sports in the US. That being said, the individual winners of the IASAS cross country meet in both the men's and women's races had times that would of qualified for the state meet in Florida. I believe the 9th grader from ISM would of placed in the top 50 or so, which is pretty solid.