I live in Guangdong province and would suggest you try to bring your prescription medication with you from the states. You may be able to get it locally or some version of it. Our experience with doctors in China, even at the international clinic, is they want to try weaker meds before the western equivalent. Lots of teachers I know go to Hong Kong for medical treatment and medicines.

I don't agree with Sid (and I usually do) about his characterization of QSI curriculum being teacher center and lots of testing. I was an educator in the states for a long time and I felt we tested the student to excess, QSI has been so much better for me in this area. I can assess students however I want, using multiple measures. I can asses using projects, reports, collaborations, really anything. I appreciate being able to determine what type of assessments are best suited for each unit of study and/or for each student. I find the curriculum pretty rigorous, but not really teacher centered, more as teacher as a facilitator of student learning. I have colleagues that have moved on from QSI and are happy at their new places and colleagues who left and came back. I am going on my 4th QSI school and almost everyone I have worked with at every school has been experienced, certified, and a lot have MA degrees too. QSI has worked for us, so I wouldn't discourage you from taking a position with QSI.

I agree with Dredge and a few others. Your cover letter is written in poor English, with many grammar, verb conjugation, and some spelling errors. It's probable that schools aren't getting past your letter to even look at your CV. Sorry...you really need someone to rework your letter.

I've been with QSI for a while now. On my third school, didn't start in China or a stan (but a lot do). I have not worked for a religious director. we don't teach any religion, we use the same books my teacher friends are using in the states, and the curriculum follows like NCTM for math, and other nationally recoginized ed standards for each subject. I get tired of people, esp those who have never worked for QSI, perpetuating this religious myth. Do you come across religious teachers in QSI-yes, in other intl schools-yes. But nothing compared to the religious fanatics I encountered in the states. QSI is defintely a good place to start and make a career, especially if you have 2+ kids.

Congrats on your job in Thailand. We loved it there. Here are some of the things we brought (not including clothes, etc).
Good towels and bed sheets- you can buy nice towels and sheets there, but very expensive.
Shoes: esp if you are a larger size (women over size 9 or so and men over 11 or 12), same for clothes if you are a bigger size.
Toys and baby products: enough to get you started
Basic medicines: but in Thailand you can get most everything without a perscription
Mexican spices
Kindle or books
laptops
Famiily photos and some things for the walls that made us feel at home, not a lot.
If you have a hobby, bring your things for that
You can get most everything in Thailand esp in BKK.
Good luck and enjoy.

Your school should help you with this. They have to submit a fair amount of paperwork to the labor office. But, while you are in the states you should get your FBI clearance done ASAP and apostilled. Get birth certificates, marriage cert apostilled too. Ask you school what other documents you will need, and get everything apostilled if possible. We have been running into problems securing work permit/residency permits for foreigners without apostille. Notary is not enough.

Stephanie,
You could possibly get something, but not BF. TEFL is worthless at an international school, but if you got a job somewhere perhaps he could find work teaching English at a language academy. Also, since you are not married, many (not all) international schools won't consider you a teaching couple. Sometimes it's for visa reasons, or school policy.

QSI will ask you about your initial thoughts about returning or transferring in Oct. Then you need to decide by Dec. They do the transfers of the current qsi teachers first before starting to recruit. They do most of the recruiting when everyone else does...Jan-March.

First overseas job, in my 40's after 20+ years in states. Wish I had done it earlier, but I will have full teacher retirement package when I eventually stop working.

3rd intl school, 3rd country (2in Asia, 1 in Central Europe). All three places I had a local debit card pretty much right away.

justpassports.com has a lot of information about apostille process. They can help you if you need assistance. We used them a few years back and they were really helpful.

4 years in Thailand, never been drug tested.

Salaries in Phuket are absolutely not as much as the schools in Bangkok. Only the British School in Phuket pays anywhere close to the schools in BKK. There are quite a few "international" schools on Phuket these days and most pay poorly, and it is a lot more expensive than BKK. A few of the schools on the island won't hire anyone on an overseas contract, so besides a lower salary there might not be housing. Probably BIS,PIA and QSI are the only ones that would cover housing. I don't think Head Start does, nor does Kajonkiet, Montesouri, Phuket Intl Kinder. There's another new school on the southern end of the island, I am not sure about that one.

About half the teachers at our QSI school are single. They hire both married and single teachers. Also, most of the employees are not religious, nor is religion part of the curriculum. I think they are changing in this regard.

QSI schools are not affiliated with any religious organization. Some of the QSI schools are in locations where the US embassy asks them to open a school. Some of the schools are affiliated with the Office of Overseas Schools through the State Dept. They are not DOD schools, and do not serve the military community (usually). QSI uses an American curriculum and American textbooks. Religion is not part of the curriculum.