Chongqing is closing at the end of the year. They almost closed in October, but closure in June is definite. The school director already left and other schools in China are scheduled to receive Chongqing's inventory.

Suzhou is *probably* closing at the end of the year. They haven't been able to compete with the other (enormous) schools in Suzhou (Singapore and Dulwich, I believe).

I'm not sure about the other closures.

@gccoach:

Do you have dependents? Because my friend's complaint about the health insurance was that dependent insurance was *not* covered, so they ended up paying a LOT out of pocket for their two children.

I've no firsthand experience at YC, I'm simply repeating what my friend told me. They were obviously quite unhappy with their experience. They were at the YC in Qingdao. I'd expect that the schools in Beijing and Shanghai are quite a lot bigger, so perhaps better structured?

I guess no one wants us. I don't know. It's hard not to feel incredibly disheartened if schools in Sudan and Nigeria aren't contacting us.

Oman and UAE sound especially great. Thank you for all of the "talking up." It makes me want to jump on a flight and head to Oman right this minute.

I do have a weird question though. The more I read about the visa processes for the various countries in the ME, the more crazy it's beginning to sound. I'm reading that not only to they test for HIV/AIDS (which is to be expected), but they're also screening for Hepatitis (A,B, and C) AND tuberculosis AND syphilis AND a whole battery of STDs AND diabetes AND high blood pressure.

And that if any of these things are found, even if, for example, you had TB years ago, but were cured, or were treated for Hep C and were cured, you're instantly deported anyway? Even if you were cured? Even for high blood pressure? Is this true? How would anyone possibly get a visa this way? I've also read that the medical tests are different for South Asians than they are for Canadians and Americans? It's difficult to parse what's really true from what's simply fear mongering malarkey.

How many tests do they really run? What are they REALLY looking for? I have images of them taking pints and pints of blood now, screening for everything, including your cholesterol levels.

1) Ha. Okay, I won't take offense to that. Likely nothing is wrong with me, save that I don't have many years of experience.

2) Certified in both. Have taught both.

3) Hubby is certified. He's been teaching math for a few years and AP Calc for two.

4) Oh, wait, you skipped 3. Oh, well. We've applied to neither elite nor DOS schools and we have zero interest in Europe. We've been applying to schools in Asia, ME, and a handful in Africa.

5) More like 40.

Thus far, our job search has gotten us... diddly squat. One "see ya at the fair," a couple of "your resume has been forwarded to so and so," and one rejection. In a way, I actually prefer the rejection; at least that means they're communicating with us and our resumes haven't just been thrown into a void.

My husband teaches AP Calculus. I can teach language arts or elementary. The fact that we haven't gotten anything is... disheartening, especially when it appears that lots of people are already getting skype interviews.

Any advice? How are ya'll doing at this point?

If you really want to get a job with QSI, it's not terribly good to be picky about going to the -stan countries. The -stan countries, especially Kazakhstan (there are at least four schools there), are often the go-to countries for new QSI teachers. After putting in your time there, you can request to transfer elsewhere.

To my knowledge, only the bigger schools have counselors. That would be a handful of schools in the -stans, Chengdu and Shekou in China, Kyiv, and *possibly* Bratislava, but I'm not sure about that one.

So you technically have one year of teaching experience in an actual K-12 school? And your husband is uncertified?

I would say your *best* chances of getting a job would be IN mainland China or Kuwait, especially China. You could more than likely get something in China. I suppose you could also try QSI, if you're willing to go to Kazakhstan or some such.

For the job we ended up accepting, we had one (quite long) interview and then several follow up emails. We had an offer from another school after one interview, we had done two interviews with one school and they were going to follow it up with a third before we ended the process (as we had accepted the other job), and we had done two interviews with another school (and were not offered jobs).

I have some friends who worked at Yew Chung (married couple, two kids), and from what they told me about their experience, PsyGuy is correct. The health insurance was terrible, because the allowance didn't provide for much (and doesn't provide for dependents at all), and they ended up paying a lot out of pocket. They said they were given about 30 classes per week, with no support, and after taxes, the take home pay was terrible.

They quit and went home after one year.

On the other hand, one of my students used to be at Yew Chung in Beijing. She was there for, I believe, four years. By the time she came to my school, she was fully conversant in English and Chinese. And no, she's not of Asian descent at all.

ETA: Her parents sent her to Yew Chung because they liked the Christian atmosphere of the school. I don't know if that's a concern for you or not.

So... I know there are some very vocal posters on this forum who have nothing good to say about the Middle East, but I'm interested in those who have worked/are currently working there and have something positive to say. I know the drawbacks. I want to hear the positives.

I used to say I would never work in the ME, especially KSA, but the more I look at some of the schools/countries, the more intrigued I am. I'm not interested in schools that cater primarily to locals; I've heard too many horror stories from too many people, but I am interested in the American/IB schools out there. Kuwait still scares me and is off the list. Also, we have a young daughter, so that's a factor.

So people... good things about the ME? Specific country things that are cool? Stuff that you miss? Experiences that made it great. Talk about all things ME here.

Well, if you go to Asia, you should be in luck! There are plenty of single female teachers of all ages, and most of them are roundly ignored by expat men as far as dating goes. Most of the single expat men want to date/marry Asian women (this isn't a judgement call, it just is what it is), which means you'd have a fairly large pool of single women in which to potentially find a partner.

Lots o' single women in all of the major cities in China, by the way. Not a bad place to start.

If you leave me your email address here, I'll contact you.

History Guy, are there are teaching couples with children working at your school? Especially young children? Is it something you'd recommend to families with young children or no?

Yes, actually, though I only have bare bones information. One of the teachers at my school has a family member working there, who just signed a second contract because she loves the school and Paraguay so much. The teacher here has applied to and will probably be offered a job at the school, and she's very excited, based on the good information she's heard about the school.

Sorry it's not terribly much. That's all I have.