This is our fourth, nonconsecutive year overseas. (We did two years, then went home for a few years, and have been overseas these past two years.) We're moving on to a new school at the end of this year. If we love it, we hope to stay at least four years and then see what happens after that. Otherwise, we'll do our two years and then more than likely return home.

At first, we thought we'd stay overseas for our entire careers. There's a lot to recommend it, including better savings potential and incredible travel opportunities. But the pull of home is strong because that's where our family and truest friends are, and with a young child in the equation, we're just not sure if we want to stay away. Maybe. Maybe not.

But I can never really say I'll do *anything* for the rest of my life. So much can change in a year or so.

wrldtrvlr123: To be honest, the pollution hasn't kept us from living life here either. We've traveled all over China, eaten at a ton of interesting restaurants, did a lot of walking in every place that we visited, and our child was born here. Our eyes never burned either.

That being said, the pollution has gotten a lot worse than it was during our first stint in China. Noticeably worse. And our city, being considered the hot and developing new center of economy, is considered one of the worst for pollution and dust in China, sometimes even outpacing Beijing. So while my eyes have never burned, my throat frequently does and you can often taste the pollution on the air.

But I have no real regrets about coming here. I'm glad we got the opportunity, but it's time to leave. And while there are benefits to living in China, I feel that the very real drawbacks should be realistically assessed by anyone considering coming here.

QSI has a pretty lengthy maternity leave policy, irrespective of when you started working. If you give birth at any point during the school year, you have the rest of the year off. The next school year, you can either work part time (at 77% pay), super part time (not sure of the pay grade, but you'd only teach two periods), or take a full year off unpaid. Before you give birth, they generally give you the month of your due date off as well.

Because teachers should just shut up and be grateful that someone deigns to hire them, amirite?

Buzzkill, I wouldn't really say China is the 'hot' place to teach right now, just that there are many schools in China, so if someone really wants to work there, a job can be found. But if you're teaching Chinese students, you're likely not working at a real international school, so that wouldn't be part of the draw anyway.

For us, it's not worth it in the end, especially now that we have a young child, which is part of why we're leaving. At our first job fair, we were offered a job in Beijing and a job in our current city. We chose where we are over Beijing because of the pollution factor. But the pollution and filth is pretty bad here, too.

HoraceMann, think long and hard about taking a job in Beijing. An air purifier will help, but unless you're planning on never leaving your apartment except to go to work (and then what's the point of coming overseas?), you're not going to escape the pollution and filth and dust of Beijing or greater China.

And don't think you're going to escape the grime by getting out of Beijing for the weekend, because China is filthy. You can go to a smaller city for the weekend, and it will be filthy. You can go to a small town, but you'd have no real reason to go, and it's still going to be pretty dirty. All the areas of interest are generally pretty filthy, unless you're going way, way out in the countryside, which isn't easy to get to, especially not from Beijing.

@IAMBORG: Our experience at QSI certainly didn't seem to be viewed as unfavorable at the job fair. We had no problems securing interviews and no questions like "why in the world did you work there?" Mostly recruiters were interested in my husband's subject area and my MUN experience. We think we're moving onto a better school and it's in a region we've both been interested in for some time.

@btech: That's kind of an odd question. Why would you be *guaranteed* anything? You might get a transfer if there is an OPEN position available. Requesting a transfer doesn't automatically grant one and the administration is generally not in the habit of bumping someone out of their position so that someone else can come in and take it. That would engender some extreme resentment among the staff, with people constantly worrying about their jobs being taken from them.

ETA: As far as my current school is concerned, no one really cares if you're certified in art or not. Experience trumps certification in this case. One of our art teachers is not certified, but is AMAZING, has twenty years in the field, and several published books/pieces. So no, they wouldn't move this person for a certified art teacher. (They care about certification in many other subjects, but not art.)

PsyGuy, do stick to talking about what you know.

My experience echoes Overhere's in some respects. The administration at QSI tends to be religious. That being said, the mission and ethos of the school is not and I have never felt pressured or even subtly pushed toward any religious agenda. Some of the staff attend church and Bible studies on the weekends. Most don't. No one here feels censured. It's not even a topic that comes up in discussions.

Mastery Learning is fantastic in elementary school. I thought the kids really benefited from it and I was able to really push them to challenge themselves. However, the system falls apart in secondary school. The idea is good; the practice could be improved.

I work at one of the bigger schools. We have a lot of resources at our disposal and many families leave the other schools in town to come here. This particular school has a good reputation in the city. I would not work at any of the really small schools.

Housing tends to be good. Benefits are great, including the maternity leave policy. The pay, once you factor in all the bonuses, is decent for your first overseas job. We've been able to pay down our loans, travel, and save a good chunk of change.

Some people stay with QSI for years. Other people do a few years and move on. No one leaving this year is leaving because they hate the school (though many are leaving because the city is horribly polluted and filthy). QSI provided us with a great opportunity to get our foot in the door. That being said, I am glad to be moving on at the end of this year.

We've been in China now for four, non-consecutive years. At this point, I'm counting down the days until we leave (31 days!), but I can tell you what was originally alluring about coming here.

The first city we lived in, Yangzhou, was a lot smaller and a good deal cleaner, with consistent blue sky days. So we weren't hit with China's famed filth and pollution.

The allure of China was how <em>different</em> it seemed to be. There were so many incredible cuisines to try (Uigher and Lanzhou food still being amazing), so many fascinating places to see, and the culture was just very different from what we were used to. It seemed, in many ways, a lot more laid back, a lot more "live and let live." Tea house culture is still cool. I loved how polite and hard working (the majority) of my students were.

I was fascinated by the neon lights draped in trees and how the man-made rivers (for some reason, the first word I used was blocked...) lit up at night and how you could save a lot of money while traveling and eating really well and buying fruit from local vendors.

Shanghai is still a great city.

Fast forward to now, two years on in a city that embodies all the dust and pollution and filth of China, and the allure is very much gone. China can really wear on you. These days, I have to really squint to see all the things that originally drew me to China. Now I mostly see (and hear) the disgusting spitting, the defecating and urinating in streets, the cruelty to animals, the total disregard for food safety and environmental safety and on and on and on.

I don't regret coming here, but I'm happy to be leaving. And now that we have a child, we certainly don't intend to do a third tour here.

Yeah, it's in Anren. When the best they can say about Anren is that it's "45 minutes from Chengdu," then be prepared for a dirty, dusty place with little to do and nothing to recommend it. It's considered an "ancient town," which is to say they rebuilt everything in the old style to attract Chinese tourists.

Some of my co-workers visited Anren. They said one night was enough. They didn't like being followed around and photographed, charged double for the one museum in town, and charged triple for any food they tried to buy. If you have to work in Sichuan Province, at least try to work in the much more tolerable Chengdu.

Also, since it's a Chinese run school, don't expect consistency. Expect last minute schedule changes. Expect your grades not to count for too terribly much. And, most importantly, don't expect anything more than local health benefits, which... no. Just no.

I know nothing about the school, but it sounds like a typical Chinese school with an international department. And since you're working for one now, you know exactly what it's like.

I do know a little something about Xi'an though. There is no teacher's salary high enough that would get me to live there. Xi'an's great for two nights, which is all it takes to see the sights. It has a small area near the Big Goose Pagoda that is clean, with a lovely park. And that's it.

The rest of Xi'an is filthy, dusty, dirty, worse so than several other Chinese cities I can think of. There's nothing to do once you've seen the sites and, unless you fancy hanging out with backpacker English teachers in their early twenties, there's not much of an expat community. And you're surrounded by nothing to top it all off, so it's hard to leave.

I wouldn't feel great about doing that. It would make me wonder about the kind of school that was hiring me.

Our school arranged Z visas (work visas) for us. They sent us letters employment, which we took to the consulate. Within a week of arriving, we got our residence permits, which is what allows you to leave and enter the country easily.

@txteach: What do you mean, a temporary work visa? There is no temporary work visa. The Z visa is the only work visa. Do you mean they're bringing you over on a 6 month business visa?

@jstwatching: By Chinese schools, do you mean real international schools in China or local Chinese schools calling themselves international? There is a world of difference, especially in how business matters are handles. If it's a local Chinese school, many of them bring people over on tourist visas and your contract won't be worth the paper it's printed on. If it's an actual international school, I would question why they can't arrange a Z visa for you.

Best airlines I've ever flown are Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways. Good food, personal TVs with tons of movies, friendly flight attendants.

I've done a lot of flying on Air China. I prefer them to China Eastern Airlines, who will serve you bread, water, and pickles on a six hour flight. I've had that happen more than once, so it's not an isolated incident. The food on Air China isn't fantastic, but at least it's a hot meal. However, if you're flying from New York to Shanghai, you can go direct on China Eastern. Just bring food.

Best airport to have a layover in? Hands down, Changi in Singapore.

I mainly use Expedia for booking airline tickets, though I'll also check certain airline sites directly. If you're booking tickets from within China, either for international or domestic flights, I've had a lot of luck with Elong.

I have some friends who worked at YC Qingdao for a bit. They hated it and didn't renew their contracts, but at the same time, everything they said about it corroborates with everything tdaley26 has said.

And while these weren't teachers, some of my students attended YC Beijing for a while. Their parents seemed very happy with the school.

I think it's a bit... dodgy that the school doesn't pay for dependent health insurance or flights, and for that reason, I'd be hesitant to take a job there. But it hardly sounds like the nightmare some have painted it to be. For what it's worth, YC Shanghai really does sound like the best of the bunch.

As someone who is living in China right now, I can tell you that the cost of living is rising all the time.

Vegetables are pretty cheap. Fruit, not so much. Milk and bread keep going up. Imports are more expensive than they are at home. The few times I've seen cranberry juice, it's been close to $15 a bottle. Meat is pretty reasonable.

As for health care, the Chinese system is awful. Chinese hospitals, with a few exceptions, are dirty, crowded, and unhygienic. That being said, no decent international school would expect you to go to a Chinese hospital. We have very good health insurance (that is accepted in the US) and we don't wait for reimbursement. Instead we have low co-pays and access to Western clinics with Western trained doctors. Do not take a job at a school that only gives you worthless, local health insurance.

A meal in a Chinese restaurant could be as low as 15 RMB (some dumplings), but expect to pay between 15-30 per dish at most restaurants. Western restaurants will set you back. Our average bill at one is about 150-200 RMB. For delivery, it's usually between 200-250 RMB.

Airfare around China is usually between $150-300 after tax, depending on where you're going and when you're flying. Trains and buses are significantly cheaper, but we no longer use them. Airfare to SE Asia can run anywhere from $200-800, again for the same reasons. Airfare to the US is generally $1200-1500 roundtrip.

At our school, rent is covered. Utilities don't come to much and we paid upfront for internet for the entire year, which was something like $100.

Budget in extra-curriculars for your children. Many schools often Saturday sports programs (swimming, soccer) and other activities that you'll want to pay for.

You can live super frugally if you only eat at Chinese restaurants, never buy Western imports, never buy clothing or electronics, and never do... well, much. We're saving money, sure, but we're hardly "living like a king," as people love to say. And yes, we have a child. If you have any other questions, ask away.

ETA: I take back what I said about Qingdao in other posts. I was just there recently (was there last year previously) to chaperon a school trip. The city is dirty, dusty and horribly, horribly polluted.