The pay that Search Assoc. lists for this school seems ludicrously low ($23K for an MA + 8 years??). Is this doable? Am I missing something? Even if it is cheap to live in Vilnius, 23,000 doesn't seem like it would pay for much of anything. Thoughts?

Psy Guy, no offence, but why do you answer questions all over the forum when you don't have correct information? I worked at Lincoln until last year. Teacher salaries are roughly 35-45K depending on your number of years and level of ed. That said, inflation is INSANE (about 25% or MORE a year), so every year I made less $. Buenos Aires is expensive. If you are frugal you might save 5,000 a year. Hope that helps.

Hi heyteach,

Yes, 2:30 is certainly a nice time to wrap up teaching. I guess as far as personal days I was thinking more about how one might need to attend a job fair in the future, but from what you've said that wouldn't be a problem.

Wow, that's great that you haven't missed a single day! I am not sick much myself (knock on wood), but it's nice to know the days are there should one need them. Cheap organic produce sounds great to me, as I spend quite a lot for it here.

Regarding the buses, okay, so you understand why I thought that sounded unappealing! Riding a bus with the students at the public school where I worked here in the States would be enough to drive a teacher over the edge: probably 40 kids, screaming, throwing stuff... ugh. What you are describing sounds totally doable, and actually rather convenient.

As I was saying in my post to Cricket, I do need to save money for my retirement (I don't have much of a fund built up), so the low potential for savings is the only thing about your school that sounds less than ideal--otherwise, it sounds like a great school where teachers are happy and have a opportunities for PD, and Quito sounds like a wonderful city--and all of that is honestly more important to me than money, but I do have to be realistic... so I hope to get an interview to learn more. Like I said already, there is no place that is perfect!

Thanks again for the info, and I hope to meet you at the fair.

Thanks for the info, Cricket. I may need to look elsewhere, as I would like to save a bit more money than that (I don't have tons of bills, but I need to save for retirement...). Hmmm... I've been reading up about Quito, but nothing much came up about an increased crime rate--well, that doesn't sound very appealing either. But then, I currently work in Philadelphia and I bet Quito is safer! From what I have read about this school, it sounds like it would be an excellent place and a great opportunity to learn, so there is much to consider... No perfect situation exists! And the culture in Ecuador is also very appealing to me, and I would love to learn Spanish... I guess we'll see what happens: I may end up nowhere near S. America, as I am pretty open-minded about locations. Thanks again.

The first part of this is a reposting of a previous question that I am afraid will get lost, so I am asking again...
@heyteach or anyone else who works at this school:
I am looking at the Search information for your school, and of the schools I am interested in it is the only one that says "no" for sick and personal days--most of the other schools say something in the neighborhood of 12 sick and 2 personal--some more.
Does this really mean that if a teacher is sick they do not get paid for a day off?! Please let me know. That seems very odd to me, as we all get the occasional cold or flu...

2. Also, I already got a response from heyteach on this, but does the $3,000 a year that Search says one can save at this school sound accurate to you? This is much lower than what other schools in S. Amer. are estimating. I wonder if some of these other schools are estimating very high, and the AS of Quito is being more rational? Please let me know what you think. I do wonder about the accuracy of these savings estimates...

3. Oh, and lastly, I read on the site that the teachers ride in a bus to school with the students... is this alright or is it awful?! I cannot, for example, imagine riding the bus with my students in an American high school--it would be a nightmare!

Please post a response when you have a chance, as Cambridge is around the corner! Thanks very much.

@heyteach or anyone else who works at this school:
I am looking at the Search information for your school, and of the schools I am interested in it is the only one that says "no" for sick and personal days--most of the other schools say something in the neighborhood of 12 sick and 2 personal--some more.
Does this really mean that if a teacher is sick they do not get paid for a day off?! Please let me know. That seems very odd to me, as we all get the occasional cold or flu...

I actually considered the Peace Corps. I volunteered with an organization when I was in my twenties, and yes, it was wonderful and formative. There is a part of me that still wants to somehow help regular folks who can't afford fancy international schools... but I decided against the PC because at this stage in my life I need some control over where I go and I also, frankly, don't want to be poor anymore! I just don't want to have to worry about money, and I want my summers off to travel and visit family. So that's why I decided against the PC. I know I am missing something really cool though... maybe in the future... thanks for your comments--very interesting... I volunteer here at home and think that wherever I end up I want to seek out some kind of local volunteer project so I can give back to the community that will be supporting me.

@mbynum: Wow, that is great news. This has been helpful--I am getting the sense now that there are a number of schools out there who won't care about my lack of IB/MYP experience.

I totally hear what you are saying about knowing what you want and sticking to it: I have been doing a lot of research on the schools that will be in Cambridge and have a sense now of what would be for me and what wouldn't, what are my personal must-haves and what I can let go of if needed.

Thanks for your input and congratulations on your job!

@Overhere: Aawww! That is wonderful. What an amazing 26 years you must have had together--and more adventures to come. It is nice to know that people do find love overseas. Thanks for sharing.

See, that's what I love about men: you speak in a straightforward way. I really appreciate your candor here, Danda. Doesn't make it any easier to be on the "wrong" side of this equation, but I do understand it more clearly! Thanks.

I'd still love to hear from more folks around the world on what your experiences have been--if you'd mention your age bracket and country, perhaps that would be more elucidating...

@ Danda: Thanks for the reply. Ugh. Color me depressed! Though to be fair, finding a thoughtful, intelligent, single man over 40 to date isn't a picnic here on the east coast of the States either! They say in NYC there are five women for every single man... It does make me wonder why those expat men exploring the womanly delights of locals don't get that they are being used for their passports/bank accounts... One of the guys I knew in Eastern Europe married a beautiful local and brought her back to the US--where she unceremoniously dumped him and stayed on in the country! Oh, dear, it's all very strange...

Oh, btw, What is the location where you have seen this?

@ heyteach: Oh, and of course I would not mention the site. ; )

@ heyteach: Excellent! I look forward to meeting you there!

I am not going overseas to find a husband (been there, done that, no plans of doing it again!), but yikes, while I am working overseas I don't want to live the life of a nun either! I am getting the sense that the dating scene in many countries (particularly for those of us in the over-35 crowd...) is pretty, um, non-existent? I've lived in a former Eastern bloc Euro country and saw a lot of, sorry, extremely ordinary looking expat men dating gorgeous women the likes of which would not have given them a glance at home... and it sounds like most Asian countries are even worse. What's a single female expat to do?! Please chime in with what you have experienced and seen where you are. Thanks!

Hi heyteach, thank you for your comments. Yes, I am reading about the proprietary schools and many sound like a nightmare (though of course I understand that the folks who review here tend to be those with an ax to grind, but still...). I've just been noticing with many of these schools that say MYP/IB preferred, it sounds more like MYP/IB is mandatory, so this has been a concern for me. Thanks again, that is comforting!