Good to see your post, Overhere. We are moving back overseas in July and are going to keep our house this time for the very same reasons as you. Last time we went overseas we sold our house. Spending the summers hopping from place to place was stressful to us. We do not want to rent out our house as we want to enjoy it when we return in the summers (and would worry about renters taking the same level of care with the place as we do). It's the perfect house in the perfect location and very hard to come by, so selling it is not an option anyway.

Wow, so you are saying my new school wanted to do this deal through Search even though they, in this case, didn't need to. In effect, they just took out a $3000 insurance policy on us. Very interesting, I didn't know that side of it at all. Thanks for the insight.

Thank you both. In our initial email exchanges, they asked me to attach the customary documents (cv's, references), but when we interviewed they made reference to the Search database, so they obviously used it. My thinking is that we could have easily gotten this deal done without the database and saved them the placement fee. I wasn't sure what to tell my associate, ("Well we got jobs, but sorry we did it on our own, so you are out of luck."), because from my end I did not need him and what they did on their end is their business and not for me to share with the associate. Bottom line must be, and I think psyguy you have said this somewhere else, that the large schools don't worry about the placement fees, any extra tidbits they can glean from the database are worth it.

Suppose a candidate contacts a school on his own accord (as in, not through the Search site) and then the school uses the Search data base to peruse the candidate's documents. Is the school on the hook for a placement fee in this scenario because they accessed the data base or since Search didn't actually broker the association are they even eligible to collect the placement fee? I'm not sure how Search knows when they are eligible for placement fees for contracts issued outside of a fair.

I haven't been or worked there. I was pretty much like you a few years ago, trying to gather as much information as possible for some tentative openings. Here is a good site to get a lay of the land. If you use the dated index to the right and scroll through beginning in January 2009 you will see lots of pictures and get a sense of what life is like on the camp and what you can do with vacation time. Good luck. http://welcome2ourjungle.blogspot.ca/20 ... chive.html

I do know there are lots of families in camp, so lots of family-related activities are always going on for young children. Teenagers will not find it nearly as exciting. And on long weekends many go to Kuala Lumpur.

Well the drive from Pekanbaru maybe kind of rural, but the Chevron-built camp is a little town that is clean, safe and full of expats.

Fascinating culture, Winter weather cannot be beat---dry and perfect temps. Great diving. Great springboard for European vacations.

Thanks Figure8. Just one more question......did your interviews occur earlier in the recruiting season or later?

If you would be ok seeing how things play out this year and committing to a fair next year, if nothing turns up on its own, then you could go that route as the payment gives you three years. If you feel like you really want to go for the 2013-14 school year then you may as well got to San Francisco. If even half the schools show from that preliminary list of attendees, it will be worth it as there are great schools on that list.

Question for Figure 8.......were those 3 offers you got before the fair due to your profile being posted on the Search database or was that due to your own individual efforts?

I previously taught IB Math overseas, but have since been teaching back in NA for the past 6 years. Is there a point where the length of time away from IB costs me the competitive advantage I may have had when I was fresh off the IB experience?

When we interviewed for jobs at schools in the Middle East, my wife was warned by the superintendent that boys, at times, can be handful for some female teachers. He wanted to know if she could handle herself in that scenario. The classroom management skills she honed in public schools came in handy with that answer.

I had the same problem with my car. I really debated what to do. I decided to continue running the ad online and parked it at my parents house when I left. I continued to answer any inquiries online and sent any serious ones to my parents. They were kind enough to entertain those calls. It sold I think the second week--to a guy who had looked at it when I was still home, but took a while to decide. If you don't have family close by you could do the same with a near-by friend. Even offer to give them 5% of the selling price so you don't feel guilty about any inconvenience to them and you will still be ahead way ahead of the dealer's price.

Coming home is a brand new adventure. It is amazing how, even though, family will tell you how much they want you back, they will have moved on with their own, busy routines that don't include you. Even our own parents! It is a great ego check. It took for sure two years to work our way back into lives of both friends and family. My wife has couple of close friends that moved on without her and they still are not close, despite her trying. We'd find out about gatherings and outings that we used to be included in after the fact. We both felt like outcasts. It was a weird time. My wife took it hard. I didn't take it personally, but my wife did. She wanted to turn around and go back after our first year. I focused on all of the good----blue sky, green space and parks for the kids, bike rides and running on the nature trails near our house, a modern vehicle, clean, fresh produce, etc---and felt the rest would return in due time.

The classroom back here was rough, much harder than I thought it would be. It was difficult to relate to students who didn't care about school again. We both had awful classes our first year. Classroom management began to trump content. And now, after six years back here the students are still very challenging, but we have a presence in the school now and that makes a difference. Our first year, none of our students knew us from a hole in the ground and with no personal connection coming in, they had no reservations about pushing the boundaries at every turn. I went from regular and frequent contact with keen parents to a parent teacher interview evening where not a single parent turned out! Having said all of that, I have been pretty happy teaching here overall, there are a few good aspects and hang your hat on those. I will say this about the kids, they are real and when they are nice to you it isn't because they are looking for something in return.

Your point about football is spot on. I also really missed the hype surrounding college and even high school sports. Tailgating and going to games again has been awesome. You can't really be on top of the football, bball, baseball sports scene without actually being here and I've enjoyed that again thoroughly.

Good luck!

Cairo is an unrivaled travel springboard---African and European possibilities are limitless. Red Sea vacations are outstanding, easy and inexpensive. The weather is a major highlight. August and September are hot, but there is always a nice breeze. November-April is the most comfortable weather you will ever experience---sunny, slight breeze and low humidity. The cost of living is very low in Egypt. Restaurants are inexpensive and of pretty good quality. You will do fine. American cereals, potato chips, etc are expensive, but you will make do with alternatives. House help and taxis are cheap. Nice little running community in Maadi. Great running in near-by Waadi Digla. I wear size 11 shoes and had no trouble finding shoes. My lap top held up just fine. You will have a great time.