@txcasey I lived in some political hotspots as a single parent and found that the hype was often worse than the reality. Crazy as it sounds I also found that even in some politically charged countries our quality of life was actually really good....Pakistan to name one. We were at a great school and had a fantastic lifestyle, go figure!

Psyguy is so off on this one. If he did indeed date a girl from Ulaanbatar then they wouldn't have been celebrating a lunar new year. That is China, Mongolians are not Chinese make this distinction very clear as there is a decided difference between China and Mongolia. There is Outer Mongolia which is China, not Mongolia! Mongolians hate the Chinese and will get very aggressive with you on that one! Mongolians celebrate Tsgaan Sar.

They have so many grocery stores with so many western products there wasn't much I missed, I was even able to get Dr. Pepper for my daughter. There was a shop that carried stuff directly shipped from the states, a lot of Western Family brand products. There is meat everywhere as the Mongolian are major carnivores...they believe that vegetables are for animals and meat is for men. Got some of the best pork products I have ever had in my life from the German butchers there. There was also a British bloke one could order all sorts of cuts of meat from and have them delivered as well as a heap of other readymade meal products.

I lived in two locations in Ulaanbaatar. It is so not a western oasis, ha! The people speak very little English, if any. I used German in a few businesses because of their former ties with East Germany some of the people spoke it. Other than that I had to learn enough Mongolian to get by....rough language to learn. I had a friend write the names of places on index cards and I had them laminated so when I traveled by taxi I could show people the place I wanted to go. This aspect of life there improved after I found a taxi driver who was lovely so I just used him all of the time. In Ulaanbaatar taxis are often random people who will pick you up in their own car and transport you for a fee. Negotiate your price before ever getting into the car. Learn the numbers because they will not speak English ----

People either love it or hate it, there are no in betweens. Young people found clubs and people to hang with and had had a good time. A lot of young teachers from different schools would get together on the weekends and play a variety of sports. Don’t be surprised if you see your students in the clubs. There is a place to ski, kind of rugged, located outside the city. Psyguy is right on one thing only, which to me is just a no brainer; it is COLD, but wear enough layers and one can manage most of the time. Every building there is centrally heated in the winter and they can get really warm. Pollution in the city in the winter is on par with Beijing and is dangerous in the winter due to all of the coal being burned. The brown clouds literally envelope the city and is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Mongolia can get expensive and your money won't go as far as they might tell you it will. There can be many things to do once the weather warms up but know that the River Tuul there freezes over about the end of October and thaws maybe in May.

The country is dreadfully expensive to travel in if you want trips to the Gobi and other locations. Although the trips I did take outside of the city were fantastic with wide open spaces and amazing scenery. They even have a military tourism camp that a group of us went to one time and drove a soviet tank. So cool!

Mongolians are not too keen on foreigners. I personally knew two women who were punched in the street and pulled to the ground by their hair.. Don’t expect the people to behave in a civilized manner. Be prepared to see vomit frozen in the snow and drunken people passed out in the roads when the weather is warm, You must protect your wallet and phone with your life as crime is rampant. They are equal opportunity thieves as they rob each other blind as well. Mongolians can be really wonderful people when you have personal relationships with them.

Anything else you want to know let me know new guy and as someone who has been around the world teaching know this…. Psyguy is good for the statistic of places, but any real working knowledge he professes to have about many places is suspect. I know, I have been there...he obviously has not! I have read so many erroneous reports he has written here and ignored, but I couldn’t on this one. That is why he does the heads in of so many of us.

I have a working knowledge of the schools there that would hire westerners since my daughter graduated high school there, I taught there, and my daughter had friends at every school that had English teachers. So if you would like me to write about a particular school let me know. I hope this has been helpful as I will never regret my time there…but it was hard!

Don't give up as everyone else has stated. I saw great jobs posted even up to the end of August into September last year. I have to admit that joy jobs carries some job listings that one doesn't see on TES or Tieonline. I got a great summer school teaching job that had been posted on their site. So....do not despair there are heaps of options/jobs still left!

All three of them are really wonderful cities in Eastern Germany. To live there you really need to be able to speak German. Dresden would be my first choice if you are going for IB experience and a fantastic city. A friend of mine lived and worked at the Dresden International School for a number of years and loved it. Don't know much about working in Leipzig, but in the spring the Pizza Hut at the hauptbanhof has some excellent white asparagus pizza, really cool train station too! Weimar is a small city with excellent cultural offerings and architecture. The school there has great students, but no one seems to stay for any great length of time due to, I think, power struggles that take place behind closed doors. Lots of hirings and firings in their history.
It is a great part of Germany to live in and travel from and once you make an effort to learn the language the people can be lovely. Let me know if this helps.
Perhaps I can give specifics if you let me know what you really are looking for. Psyguy can handle posting all of the stats that one can get from the schools' websites.

Eden contrary to what Mathman says, I taught in many Middle Eastern countries, and Pakistan to boot as a single mother. Never found it to be an issue.

MATwater if you want to really get off the beaten path and money is not really the most important part of your journey, how about the country of Bhutan? The Bhutan Canada Foundation is recruiting qualified teachers to work in public schools in small towns and villages in rural Bhutan.

I saw the advertisement and thought it would be an incredible experience. The country has the world's highest happiness index and looks like a truly unique experience.