Thanks for your input Psyguy. I'll have to talk to my new director and the other staff members when I arrive.

I will be teaching in a IB school. The IB program is for 11th and 12th grade only. I will only teach 9th grade. Obviously, I want to gain IB experience. Will I be able to claim any IB experience on my resume?

See, thats what I love about forums like this. Thanks, hadn't thought about that. Of course, all this is rather new.

I'll be at American International School Egypt. I'll probably choose to live in Maadi. Hope things dont start kicking off, although I think that is wishful thinking.

Wow, thats good news! I never considered that she could work in a minor role at the school. She would enjoy that I think. After I finish my Masters then we could redirect the cash flow to get her additional training. All this is still years away, but good to know.

P.S. I'll be in Egypt too, come this August ;)

I should have clarified. I signed my contract and I'm good to go. We will have to do the long distance thing for a while until we get married, maybe next summer. I won't try to bring her until we are married. She is trained as a teacher (high school chemistry), but she's not from a Western country so I doubt her degree counts for much in the eyes of an international school. We might try to upgrade her degree at some point if possible.

My girlfriend is not a teacher, therefore she will count as one dependent. So, eventually I'll have a difficult time when we want to have kids. I guess we can wait to have kids until we get to our ideal country and location, then set up for the long term there. That's my plan at least.

I'm a single guy now, but I eventually want to have a wife and kid. Is it a good idea to find the ideal school first, get settled in, and start the family at that point? I'm not real interested in being forever alone. I don't want to go back to the states either.

That's also why members pay money to read the reviews. The forum, however, is open to anyone.

@Dunany- You're a veteran, so post when you think it is appropriate. I'm sure everyone will appreciate it.

I encourage anyone with information contrary to psyguy's perspective to type it up and post. When I get more years under my belt, I'll be able to contribute more. Right now, all I can speak on is Korea.

Criticize the message, not the messenger. Do we really need 2 "open letters to ISR about psyguy" posts?

Did anyone read psyguy's post on "what to bring...what not to bring?" It was long, detailed, and informative. I'm glad he took the time to write it.

What I don't want to see is a bunch of crybabies. If you got a problem, YOU stop posting, YOU stop reading. This is the internet- people are going to say things that you don't like. If some newbie makes a bad choice based on bad information and their lack of checking sources- too bad, so sad, love dad.

Gangnam is not far from Itaewon.

You can find almost any product you need here in Seoul.

There is a Costco. You can go to Itaewon. You can order from the internet. You can order from G-market. You can befriend someone in the military.

That about covers it.

If I had to list a few places:

Colombia
Thailand
Argentina
Malaysia

However, it looks like I'll be paying my dues and getting my hard knocks in Egypt for my first proper contract. It could be worse, it could be a lot better. While I'm there I'll get my Masters so I can qualify for these dream positions.
Gotta start somewhere I guess. At least I'll get to visit Europe finally!

Some people need to cool it with their preachy attitudes. Nobody said they were doing drugs. Some people actually get offended at the whole idea of drug testing. Call me over dramatic, but you are allowing a stranger access to your bodily fluids. It's quite strange. It's also degrading- they are ordering you to piss on command.

Have I complied with a drug test in the past? Yeah. Have I always passed? Yeah. Will I take the tests in the future? Yeah, probably, unless I'm independently wealthy.

It still doesn't mean I have to agree or be happy about it.

Is drug testing common? I'm a newbie, and have nothing to fear, but I am curious. I'm headed to egypt. Maybe schools test on an individual basis. I know the Korea ESL'ers get piss tested, cause I just did one unannounced a couple months ago.

Drop some knowledge on us veterans. Regardless, I'm not taking any chances. However, what if someone goes on vacation to Amsterdam, where it is legal (tolerated)? It brings up some issues as we seem to be a global bunch.

Approximately 50% of this thread is a pissing match about spelling.

I don't know about anyone else, but this is not the content that I want to read.