I also found a new job via skype! And that was also before the job fairs! I was barefoot, wearing pajama pants during the interview, and saved loads of money! = )

As for what countries will most easily issue a tourist visa to an American - I can't think of any that won't. However, tourist visas are usually only good for a certain number of days. In some countries it's 30 days and in others it's 90 days. So, she'll have to leave the country before it expires and come back to renew it.

Has anybody used liveteacherrecruiting.com? They've got a long list of schools, but it looks like you can't contact them like on TIE. It looks like only the schools can make contact with teachers. I was listening to the samples, and one says something like, "I'm not going to a job fair because this website should do it for me." I'm just wondering if anyone has found a job through them. The only place I've seen them advertised is on ISR.

Kim

I was interviewing with a school in Bahrain. The guy told me to close my eyes, and I did. Then he asked me to keep my eyes closed and describe the pattern on his tie. I couldn't. I hadn't been looking at his tie. I opened my eyes and he insisted that I should have been able to describe his tie because I had looked down at it multiple times. Um, no I hadn't. I had looked down a few times, as I was taking notes on things he said and checking my list of things I meant to ask him. If he didn't notice my pen and notepad, why should I have noticed his tie?

It really depends on the school, country, and culture. There was a "married" Lesbian couple at the school I taught at in Egypt. They had interviewed separately, knowing that the school required singles to share apartments, but only one was offered the job. She told us that she told the director that she could only accept the position if her "life partner" was hired as well. She was. And everyone knew they were a couple. Also, in Egypt (maybe in the Mid East in general?) It is the norm to see men holding hands with men and women holding hands with women in public, so noone would think that was unusual. On the other hand, straight couples can't touch each other in public there or that would be scandalous! I hope that helps. :D

What kind of parents annoy me?

The abusive kind. The ones that I can't have an honest conversation about thier child's progress with because I think they'll beat the kid if they find out he's struggling. Usually, we teachers learn who these parents are early in the year - when the child comes to school after an obvious beating the day after I've contacted the parent about a behavior or academic issue. It makes me feel helpless and sorry for the child. Unfortunately, three of the four countries I've taught in had no child protection laws, or I would have not have hesitated to report such parents.

On alighter note, the moms who don't have jobs or hobbies and just hang around the school all day long every day are supremely annoying. They press their faces to the window of my door or hand-feed their children at lunch or try to tell the teachers how to do things. If you are one of these parents, please beware that even though you have the good fortune to have a rich husband so you don't have to work and you can devote all your attention to your child, the teachers don't envy you, they feel sorry for you and think you're pathetic. If you have that much free time, go to the spa. Then we'll be envious.

I read that book last spring, after finding it in a used bookstore in Seoul. I picked it up because I liked the cover, bought it because from the back cover, it seemed to be a novel about international teaching, and it wasn't until I got it home that I noticed that the author had lived in Korea too. How cool is that? Anyway, I thought it was a great read, and I especially related to the chapters that were set in Korea and Egypt since I have taught in both of those places. Fortunately though, my experiences in Korea have been much better than the characters had in the book. But the school they were at in Egypt - that sounded ALOT like the school I was at! I wonder if it was.