My husband and I taught abroad for 15 years in great IB schools. We moved to the US in 2020 as an experiment, and originally had plans to do some other work besides teaching. That did not pan out so I am teaching in a public school. This year I am teaching all freshmen and it has been the hardest year of my entire career. I am unable to do anything "fun" or meaningful as all lesson plans have to be tightly controlled as to try to minimize behavior problems. I was shocked to find out that I cannot use groups of 4 for seating charts--I have my tables now separated as far apart as possible to minimize potential problems. In my other life (overseas) I could not have imagined being so "old school." Still, in May, I spend a lot of time asking students to sit down, turn around, not say the F word, stop yelling/whistling/making noises/burping, take out a notebook/pencil, please don't call me "bruh" or "dude" etc....with only some success. There are of course some wonderful students, but the disrespect and attitude from the loud and distracting students make it an enormous challenge on a daily basis. This also makes me so sad for the students who want to learn and do their best, as I cannot teach them the way they deserve. I have thought about quitting every day since I started, and now am counting down until the last day.

I have tried to figure out how teachers here make it through year after year. Most of them are just as tired as I am, and just as discouraged. The answer, as far as I can tell, is the pension and lack of other options.

Oh, and we are headed back overseas in the fall and can't wait.

We left Indonesia last year because of pollution. :( The air quality index is pretty accurate.

My husband and I were at a top tier school in Asia and tried to get jobs in Europe last year with no success. Of course, we were looking for 2 jobs instead of 1, with the baggage of 2 kids, so we think that made a huge difference. There are never any guarantees. The money in Asia is pretty fabulous, though! Good luck!