In the UAE the main visa holder can sponsor pretty much anyone. Wives can sponsor husbands, husbands sponsor wives, and either can sponsor anyone you like for a visit visa. I understand that Kuwait is a bit odd for this kind of thing, but as I understand it, Qatar isn't much different to the UAE.

In East Asia and Middle East I've had very similar start times, usually being 7:45 or 8:00. Teachers required to be in before 7:30.

The tension has come from what time you can go home. 1 school I worked at said teachers could not go home before 4 no matter what. This often resulted in a rather embarrassing long line of people waiting to sign out like we were going out of a factory in the 80's. My current school says 3:30, but if you don't have after school activities yo can go when you like really. They know people work at home.

As for signing in and signing out, I hate it. I am always early. If I signed in for every hour of extra work I do in this job it would add up to a VERY long working week, especially at report writing time. We do it because it's part of the job, and I'm ok with that, but keeping tabs on what time people come and go screams a lack of trust. I do my 40 hours, believe me, and like many others, I do a lot in my lunch times and breaks too.

Proton are a Malaysian brand

I agree with it being a good idea to hire a car for a few months. I always hire a car for the first few months anywhere I go, especially when it's a place that has somewhat erratic driving. If you really do want to go for second hand then you could ask the school if any families leaving this year are looking to sell, but it will still be a lot of money.

Public transport (the skytrain) and taxi's are good if you're single or a couple, but you don't want that battle with 2 kids. Like I said, I would recommend anyone in Bangkok always to live close to your school.

Cars are rediculously expensive in Thailand (300% teax). You end up getting a Toyota Yaris 1.6 for about 700,000 baht. A Honda City is a similar price. Look straight at the Honda or Toyota dealership pages. The thing is, with 2 kids you'll most likely be looking for bigger than a Yaris, which, in Thailand leaves you looking for towards a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic, both of which are about 1.1 million baht. Ford often offer better finance deals as the resale value on Ford in Thailand isn't so good. You can get finance in Thailand but you will need 3 months of salary statements and foreigners pay a very high percentage deposit.

Second hand cars in Thailand are DODGY to say the least. There are no regulations that are enforced. It's risky even if you're single, but with a family I certainly would not risk a second hand car there. There are a lot of people who haven't had any bad expereinces, but there are also a lot that have.

That's VERY good money. Even after tax, you can easily save money off that and have a good quality of life, even for a family of 4. No problem at all. There are a lot of ESL teachers in Bangkok making 40,000 per month, paying tax, and paying for their own apartments. You'll be having the same amount each.

50,000 is also great for an apartment. You can get a very nice serviced/hotel apartment on the river for that, though for anyone moving to Bangkok I would always advise living close to the school. You do not want to be far away and battling Bangkok traffic every day. For some ideas for apatments, check out www.thaiapartment.com

You can get a house for that money too but make sure you do A LOT of homework on the area before you move in. You'd want to be in a nice gated community which is not at risk of flooding. The flooding part is particularly important considering what has happened over the last couple of years.

Can't believe I forgot about Nanjing. Nanjing International School has a fantastic reputation within the IB community, and it's not without good reason. Very good package, progressive, well run and very well established. I'm not bothered about Nanjing as a place, but I'd love tot work at the school.

I agree with the above comments about Suzhou Singapore. I got the impression that they were about on a par with Tianjin international school. The good thing about both of these is that Suzhou is only 30 mins train ride away from Shanghai, and Tianjin is only a couple of hours away from Beijing, though Suzhou is much more touristy and probably nicer to live in. For either, although you are somewhere away from the biggest cities, you are never too far away from somewhere to stock up on western groceries or do something different.

Another very good update following on from those from Bangkok and London. I really do home ISR powers that be can put these in one easily accessible link.

Best of luck to you Eden

I agree with Psyguy there, the American International Shcool of Guangzhou is the first one that jumps out. Maybe also take a look at Suzhou Singapore International School too. I don't think you'll find more than that really, and even the Suzhou school maybe wouldn't be considered top tier.

Take a look at some of the posts about ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council). They basically put teachers in public schools, and pay good money for it too (they have to or no-one would do it). They also require a very high standard of qualifications and experience, though quite why is beyond my understanding because from everything I've heard (and I've heard a lot from people that have done these jobs) so, so much of the job is about classroom management that they might as well just hire behaviour management specialists. If I remember rightly, the Times Education Supplement (www.tesjobs.co.uk) had a few ADEC jobs posted not too long ago.

Whether working at these schools would count as international school experience or not, I really don't know, but one thing is for sure; if you stick out your contract then you are a person with resolve, and I think employers in the region know it.

When you're living overseas there will always be some things that you don't want to part with, which is when you send stuff "home", but when moving from one international placement to another I always try to arrive somewhere new with just 2 bags. I also try to get away with a deceivingly small hand luggage bag that actually weights about 15KG, but they've started getting on to that over the last couple of years. My bags would usually include my decent work clothes, some casual clothes, my lap top, and a couple of books. There are a few other essentials too, or maybe things you've heard you can't get in the place you're moving to, but I've never found that I've really needed more. A big factor in that, however, is that I've worked in places that have given decent settling in allowances. That has made it so much nicer to go into somewhere with such little stuff, because I've always known that I've got a bit of money to splurge on new stuff. If you're getting a decent settling in allowance then I take it as your schools way of saying "We want you to be happy here, so buy some stuff to make yourself happy". If the school are reimbursing you for anything you send over then you might as well use it. I think it's fair to say that most decent international schools now will give you some money to either bring stuff in and probably some money to send your stuff out at the end of the contract.

I'm sad to read that pollution in Beijing is so bad now. When I was there it wasn't that bad at all, but that before the Beijing (2008) Olympics. The place had a shocking reputation for a long time, but was really starting to clean itself up in the years leading up to the games. It seems though, that as soon as the games were over all the pollution started getting pumped out again. I thought they'd done so well to get the place as clean as they did. It's a pity it didn't last.

Is Shanghai better or worse than Beijing then?

I don't know anything about the school, but for Xi'an itself I really liked it. Yes, it's polluted, but there's a lot going on there. Like most people going to Xi'an, I only went there for a few days to see the Terracotta Warriors and a few other sites, but I thought the place had a good feel. There's plenty of bars and restaurants to cater to tourism, and there is some great market food. If you're really into China, are fascinated by the culture and really want to learn Chinese then Xi'an would be great. If not, then it's great for a trip but I'm not sure I'd want to live there long term, and I personally would not be keen on bringing kids up there at all, especially with a lack of English and the questionable health care that will be available. Outside of Beijing and Shanghai, China's hospitals don't have the greatest reputation for cleanliness and English ability. Also, there doesn't seem to be a big expat population there so I'd imagine that the majority of students will be Chinese, but I could be wrong.

China is changing very quickly. My information and perceptions of China are a few years old, but look into it anyway. I'd go as a single, or as a couple who loves the adventure, but with kids it's a different story. Best of luck with whatever you decide anyway.

Sending money from the UAE and Qatar is VERY easy. There are loads of money transfer places and the rates are good.

Sending money from China was hard when I was there. It's quite a long time ago since I was there and it sounds easier now, but the way I used to do it for sending about 500 USD every month for the sake of paying my credit card bills, was that I just sent one of my ATM cards to my mum. She would take money out and pay my bills at the bank. I got a very good exchange rate and paid relatively little in bank charges.

Great school. If they were interested in me I'd be over the moon.