You may be offended, but that doesnt make me offensive. Im not responsible for your reactions. Im no more a liar then anyone else who is anonymous on this forum.

Disagree with me as vehemently as you want and feel is needed. Readers on this forum want the good, and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. This forum needs more not fewer opinions and experiences. Im glad you disagree with me, and my mind can be changed (I use to think bringing a pet abroad was a guaranteed nightmare waiting to happen).
Say PsyGuy is full of it BECAUSE.... and then tell us why. Whats so great about your time in the ME? Did you have a medical emergency and the community come together to help you? Did you fall in love with someone? What made your kids so great? Where they wealthy but without a sense of entitlement, where they respectful to you? What is it your friends that left the middle east find so hard about adjusting to asia?

At the end of the day no one on here cares about my opinion, and they dont care about yours either what they care about is information so they can form their own opinion.

No, this is one of those times. Your welcome to your opinion, and its needed on this forum.

Usually when others resort to personal attacks, its because they consider their position to weak to withstand debate.

Thats a trivial observation, you can make friends, and meet people just about everywhere as well. You could say the same thing about a Thai prison. It doesnt change any of the comparative factors of the ME region with everywhere else, and doesnt make it any less a hole.

Im pretty sure i can make assumptions about the whole region being a hole if i want. I also know of no impediment preventing me from basing my advice on other experiences. Aside from that, Im not assuming Cairo and Egypt are horrible thats a conclusion, your free to reject the premise of it if you wish but that doesnt make it an assumption.

I never claimed first hand knowledge of the entire ME region, i think ive been pretty focused on where ive been and what the limitations of those experiences were.

Highly desirable schools fill staff their schools early. They get first pick, and teachers will generally hold out for a top choice destination school. Schools in the ME region are always recruiting year round. Bahrain has been posting positions on Search since last year, its the same with Oman, Saudi, Kuwait. I have a friend that is very happy shes leaving Kuwait at the end of this year.

Im sorry your friends are having a difficult time adjusting, those are your experiences, mine are different, and our experiences dont appear to share anything in common. Neither of those experiences is wrong.

I dont have some internalistic need to suffer. 2 months is long enough to be miserable. I know plenty of people who it didnt get better for as well. Sorry your not convincing me. Yeah 2 months is more then long enough to make an informed decision. I know people that stayed 2 years and were miserable the whole time and didnt leave because they thought it would doom their career.

Ive never taught in Qatar, never will either. There are a lot of very unpleasant things in this word that i havent experienced and it makes me no less of an authority on how bad they are. The bad experiences and stories far out number the good (and the only good ones ive heard are on this forum).

Lastly, I dont need your permission, to form, have and express an opinion. Second, Im very open about what my experiences are and the contexts (and limitations) of those experiences. I leave the value of those experiences up to the reader to decide and if the result of that is they want to dismiss it thats fine, but thats their call, not yours. I welcome you to disagree with me and engage in whatever discussion, argument or debate you feel comfortable with.

'Many things are true, including that many people disagree on what is true".

That and Rhaegar wouldnt have the honor of having the most viewed post on ISR.

Just going to have to disagree with you. Id like to think there is room for a wide range of opinions and experiences. Aside from my own experiences, I've shared plenty with others who came out of the middle east, and in all their stories I have yet to hear a single one say "I cant wait to go back."

No offense, but those with bad experiences and negative views are unlikely to stay in a region or area for any extended length of time. Two months of suffering was quit enough. I dont owe a region, place, or school any particular length of time to prove its self. I know bad when im living it, and your not really in a position to evaluate my experiences (short as they were). Simply put, my life does not require or need to be validated.

Im sure I dont need to explain the vast differences between "visiting" a region as a tourist and "living" in a region as a resident. Visiting europe is not the same as living in europe.

Yes Egypt is in africa, but its a very middle east culture. No belly dancer experience, its the only place i wasnt there long enough (about 2 months).

That said, the experience really shaped my point of view.

Ive never heard of the school, but it doesnt sound like a very reputable one, I cant imagine they would be anything better then a tier 2 school.

Wrldtrvlr123 is on point here. Usually heads arent that familiar with any specific subject well enough to really ask content related questions. By the time your too the second interview its pretty much about what kind of fit you would be with the schools culture and environment. It will probably be a lot more like a casual conversation, then an "interview".

They will most likely introduce if not outright discuss contract specifics, such as salary, allowances, benefits, work hours, etc. Youd be better prepared going into it, knowing how much your worth, and what your deal breakers are.

Mainly, I fail to see the utility in differentiating between various shades of 'bad'...

If Qatar is "so great" why do they always seem to be recruiting? If its so wonderful why cant they staff their school in November like ISB (Brussels, Beijing, Bangkok, take your pick)? Why arent the lines at the fairs for them as long as the ones for ANY of the schools in say, Italy? Why dont people "brag" about working there? Why is it every time i hear something good about the region its always "the moneys great" or its about something the money can buy? Why is there turnover so high? Why dont people talk about wanting to retire there? Why have I NEVER met a teacher who said "You know the hubby and I just want to find a nice little place in Qatar and retire"? Ive never heard a candidate at a fair say "OH my god, I cant believe I got an offer for Qatar" OR "Gee I dont know should I take the position at ASIJ or Doha?".

Can we cut the hyperbole, Qutar is the bad situation/lack of options you try to make the best of. Its not on anyones "bucket list"

I wouldnt say the american kids are distracted the same as public school kids back in the states, but if theres a kid thats slacking, on their mobile phone, or has an excuse for a late assignment, etc its usually the american kids.

Postal Script:

The board admins disabled html and Bbcode, for security and spam prevention reasons (which is what the quote and other text functionality is based on).

I just dont have a best anything when in comes to Qatar.

See thats where I disagree, I think we really can generalize across cultural variables, such as nationality. I feel comfortable doing that because I see it, I can observe it and its there. Its not the politically correct position, but if its true and I strongly believe it is, then its the right position. The only real question in my mind is the relative difference between groups, not whether the differences are there.