Tell them to make sure they wear their breathing masks.

Sew them to their clothes.

That advice is not meant as sarcasm.

Anyone have any firsthand, recent knowledge about making a crossing from Laos near the Plain of Jars into Vietnam? I want to see the Plain of Jars and Dien Bien Phu. I've been to both countries several times but never to either place.

Thanks for any help.

In Asia you never get homesick in November. The warm weather makes you forget that it is Holiday Season at home.

I can't tell you how many times I woke up in some country during vacation and said, "Hey, you know what, I think today is Christmas!"

Wow. Is this thread still alive?

Yes, it is normal, especially if it is your first overseas job. It always seems that the summer before you leave to go overseas, something happens that makes you question your decision - sickness in the family, you meet a new boyfriend/girlfriend, you realize that you do, in fact, like your present job and/or location.

Try convincing yourself that you called the new school head and told him/her that you have changed your mind and will not be going. Then gauge how you feel. If you feel relieved or joyful and start thinking of all you will do in your present location now that you are "free" from the responsibility of moving, then maybe you should not go overseas. If, on the other hand, you feel disappointed to not be going to your new place, then, more than likely, your present sadness is only temporary and will pass.

I have done this a few times and there were years when I did feel sad about leaving my family/friends. However, once I packed and got all of my stuff checked in at the airport and had the boarding passes in my hand, it felt like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders and I was ready for a new adventure.

When do you plan to reach the point where you just have to say to your kids: this is a great opportunity for all of us, we are the parents, you are the children, and, in the end, we are making this decision?

Let's be honest, you are not going to pass up this opportunity if your kids just keep resisting. Are you?

So in the end, the kids need to know the chain of command.

I've found that, in my schools over a few years, the happiest and most successful and adjusted families are those that don't negotiate too many issues with their kids.

Thames Pirate is right when she says schools are finding people to work for lower salary and benefit packages - she is living proof of that, since she only teaches for the love of it, unlike the rest of us bloodless mercenaries.

Then she has the absolute gall to mention her financial planner husband - which, by the way, could mean someone with the education and training of a real estate salesman.

So, what came first, the chicken or the egg. Did school enrollments drop because of the world economy, forcing them to lower the value of packages or did schools finally realize that there are plenty of pseudo-teachers who can fake it and are willing to work for peanuts - like Thames Pirate (the willing to work for peanuts part, I have no idea whether or not she can teach her way out of a paper bag - though I'm sure she will soon tell us how amazing she is in that respect). I do know anecdotally that the quality and experience of teachers looking to work in IE has dropped over even the last 10 - 15 years. Too many dudes and dudettes with tatoos and dreadlocks coming to work in shorts and flip flops.

Remember that during the depression when there was a glut of workers and not many jobs, jobs went to the guy who would be willing to work for less - actually, this happened throughout world history. And now it's just happening in our world of teaching.

Truthfully, I now advise any of my students who are interested in teaching to think long and hard - about 20 seconds - then choose another career path that will at the very least afford them a good lifestyle.

Bloodless mercenary that I am.

Sorry, Pollyanna Pirate:

Money IS unfortunately extremely important. I hope you don't have to find that out the hard way. For example, you having to eat dog food in "retirement" while your school heads all are living like Kings and Queens.

Just talk to someone who has the misfortune to get sick and racks up crazy medical bills that their school's shitty health insurance won't cover or will only reimburse AFTER a stack of paperwork and months of waiting. If it should happen to you, you'll soon be singing a different tune.

People like you like to set themselves up as so very moral and so very "above it all", so much better than the rest of us. You do it because you like teaching TCK's?! You mean sons and daughters of Fortune 500 businessmen and billionaire criminals who can send their kids to private school? These kids have ZERO knowledge or experience with any culture except the culture of affluence.
Grow up.

You can be a great and passionate teacher AND be smart and responsible enough to make money. So stop preaching foolish and irresponsible advice to others who may actually be naive or inexperienced enough to believe your silliness.

You proved my argument. Namely that horrible and low paying schools survive and thrive because of people like you who are pawns for the system, willing to be used and abused for people who become wealthy on your sweat - and foolishness.

So tell your surfer boyfriend that if he gets his leg bitten off by a shark, he can't go to a hospital because you teach for the love of it, not the money.

Salaries and benefits at many schools have been dropping. This has taken the form of lower retirement or no retirement allowance, lower housing allowance, lower quality of health insurance or only offering local insurance (or offering insurance not valid in some countries, like the U.S or Canada), and , well, lower everything.

I believe that the reason is that the internet has opened up the world of IE to so many teachers. Read some of the posts from people who want to teach overseas, so many with zero experience, zero certifications,etc:

"I am a just graduated teacher with a trailing boyfriend who wants to surf while working part-time selling his homemade, crocheted Mahalo bracelets. We have a dog, a big friendly golden retriever named Passion who we simply must bring with us. Oh, yes, and I am 6 months pregnant. Do you think I can get a job?"

The answer is, unfortunately, yes. So many schools only want to fill their positions with warm bodies - and know that they can do it - that they feel free to offer, basically, sh_t.

So, schools offer sh_t, get "teachers" who can't teach, and make a profit. So more people see this and they start schools that offer sh_t, and so on and so on. And in a lot of countries, workers don't have a lot of options if the school says: Sorry, no paychecks this month. Maybe not next month, either. If you want to leave we'll just find another guy named Bodi to teach science (Bodi, after all, did minor in biology at the junior college he attended).

This is why I left IE and returned to the U.S. I admit that I have been thinking about returning overseas, but ONLY because money is no longer an issue and I can do the lifestyle gig - though I have a lot of experience and teach IB math.

In a few years, only top notch schools will offer packages that will allow a comfortable lifestyle. But there will still be many horrible international schools and people willing to work for them...and peanuts.

Now let's see how many people with trailing surfers and golden retrievers reply.

Thanks Psyguy.

They advertise on Schoolspring for math teachers at an Abu Dhabi vocational school. At this stage of my career I am just looking to work a few years and save one last bundle before either retiring or working part-time overseas.

They list salary as 5500-6000 USD a month. I would have ZERO problem of leaving the school if it turned out to be sketchy.

So, the question becomes: Does Teach Away pay well and do they always pay salaries on time? The school will be what it will be.

Thanks again for any help.

Thank you, Nomads.

Anyone ever hear of this company? Their salaries - as stated - for Abu Dhabi are 5500 -6000 USD/month. Not bad.

Thanks for any information.

The answer is always: YES and I had great interviews and wouldn't be surprised to find out that I already have a few job offers waiting for me in my email.

Worldtraveler,
You ask :
"As for low paying schools in the ME, I can't imagine how they get their teachers."

Then you answer your own question:

"Although saying that, it works out for some people, in some situations. Our first gigs were in Egypt and although we took major pay cuts in base salary to move overseas"

Shitty, low paying schools ALWAYS get teachers because too many people like you will settle for anything just to get overseas - so they can be "Worldtravelers".

Hell, you're one of the few dummies who still argue against staying away from a country as polluted as China.

Which makes your opinion suspect. You're just another teacher who defends IE with the same tired line: "it's still better than the U.S."

Worldtraveler

Are you a doctor now? How the hell can anyone argue with the statement: Breathing polluted air is bad for your health?!

Do a little research. Just like only a few years of smoking can produce molecular changes in your body that lead to disease, so too can poison in the air.

Now, if you are saying that nobody knows whether they will be in that unfortunate category, then you are correct. And will you die or become ill within a short period? Probably not. But that is not important as I hope we all strive to live long HEALTHY lives.

But just like a lot of people can, for example, use cocaine or smoke for years with no negative affects, there are plenty of people who have fatal heart attacks the first time they do a line of coke or who develop emphysema from smoking for a relatively short time.

AND in China, you DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT KIND OF SHIT you are breathing, drinking, or eating.

So stop making foolish statements when people's health is at stake, because there are a lot of people on this site who so badly want to work that they will grasp at anyone's validation - even incorrect and uninformed ones - in order to support their desires.