[quote="gr8teach"]I know US citizens who work at YIS, in Myanmar, need to get official passports.[/quote]

I don't think they do at YIS, which is just an ISS-managed school and not associated with the US Embassy in any way.

ISY, however, is associated with the embassy and the teachers there do qualify for some sort of official or diplomatic passport, I'm not sure of the details exactly but do know it is different and they can get a special visa as well. The ISY teachers also get "special privileges" to purchase cars (special price and cuts through some of the red tape).

However all teachers, at all (or most?) of the international schools in Yangon can have commissary privileges if they are American or Canadian citizens. It is a nice perk.

I agree with the suggestion to leave the clothes you won't need immediately at home. You may not need them at all in the next two or more years, and they will just be sitting around taking up space in your house/apartment.

It is quite humid in Thailand and stuff can mold/mildew fast and easily. When I lived in SE Asia, we'd always come back after the summer holiday to find that a bunch of stuff had gotten moldy and mildewy from sitting around with no air-con for a month.

You may also decide you love it there and stay for years, or your next post may be another one in a hot climate. After a certain point, you'd probably find you'd want to replace most of your old stuff anyway.

ah yes, now that makes sense. I feel exactly the same way about chocolate.

seriously, PsyGuy, coffee? No one could possibly have anything against coffee. Now you have taken things way too far. I may just have to start a new thread explaining all the ways that really pisses me off.

Yes, PMs please.

But how long has this site been up? Since 2003? And in all that time, PMs have never been enabled? Seems unlikely that they'd change that now, after all this time.

[quote="psychris"]Alright, my blog is up and running:

----://chrischowfun.wordpress.com/

It's more about me than anything else, but I try really, really hard to make it a worthwhile read.[/quote]

I reall loved reading your blog, psychris. Very funny and well written. I hope you'll keep writing when you get to Beijing!

I'm more of a reader than a poster, but geez, what's with all the hating on psyguy? Maybe he is who he says he is. Maybe he isn't. So what? People who read any of the posts on here should take them with a grain of salt, since everyone is posting anonymously and you can't really be sure any of it is entirely accurate (I knows this certainly applies to the school reviews section. I believe maybe 1/4 of what I read on there).

I actually like reading psyguys posts and appreciate his perspective, and that of many other posters as well. I think it is clear that he is knowledgable about the world of international schools. If you don't agree, well, you don't have to read his posts. I have to say, from my perspective, the posters who keep bullying psyguy are coming across worse than psyguy, who at least keeps trying to steer this thread back to the original topic.