I'm just going to jump right in with this.

This is our fifth year overseas, so this is not coming from the perspective of someone who hasn't done this for a while.

I really don't want to be overseas anymore. The country we're in is lovely. I like it here quite a bit. But I'm constantly stressed out, the work keeps piling on. I always feel stressed and tense.

I'm worried about my grandparents. I want to be around for however long they have left. And I want my child to have a closer relationship with family. I miss my family and friends. I have friends here, but I miss people who really, truly know me.

I wouldn't just quit mid-year and leave. That would be stupid. But there's a clause in our contract that allows for termination of employment with reasonable notice. And what I really want to do is sit down and negotiate out of the contract. Finish up the school year, but go home after that.

And I don't know what to do. I don't know how bad that would be career-wise. I love the idea of free preschool and a nanny for our child, but I don't know if that's worth being forever separated from the people we care about. I just don't know what to do.

Advice, please.

There are no other IB candidates that I know of, but that doesn't mean there won't be. Check the schools in the 'stans and see what they're up to.

I've never heard of a CSA in Chengdu, but so-called organic food is available in a few of the supermarkets. This being China, I'm not sure how organic the food actually is.

QSI is the fastest growing school in Chengdu. Next year, they're beginning the process to offer IBDP. The school is well resourced, with smart boards in every classroom and budgets for every teacher and department. Housing is good, but it's next to nothing, though supposedly a large mall is being built next to the housing.

Chengdu is... gross. The pollution is god awful and getting worse. In the past several months, there have been several hazardous air days. The whole city is horribly dusty and dirty from the constant, massive construction projects; you can expect the sidewalks, the plants, and everything else to be covered in layers of brown grime. And the traffic, due to the construction, is insane.

That being said, there are good Western restaurants and Western imports are in the supermarket, so you can have tastes of home, and there is a decently sized expat community, many of whom converge at the same few Western restaurants and pubs.

Ahem. I was feeling very raw and emotional at the time I wrote that last post. It came off a tad histrionic, I'll admit that. At the same time, I really appreciate the feedback (except for the strange troll bit) given. It's something to think about.

Regardless, we did have a meeting with the administration to clear things up. We're not returning next year, obviously, but we will finish out the contract. Hopefully there will be a school out there that is a better fit for us.

...

I've posted once or twice here. Suffice to say, my husband and I are in our second year of teaching, me in the sciences and he in history (though he is teaching elementary this year). I said we were in Beijing, but that's because I was paranoid about revealing our location. We're not in Beijing. We're at one of those schools that begins with a Q and ends with an I and gets a lot of flak on this site.

I'm feeling incredibly demoralized right now. Like throw in the towel demoralized. We thought we were doing so well at this school, but then they put my husband on an "assistance plan," because he doesn't grade papers fast enough and one parent complained. Fair enough, even though up until that point, he had gotten nothing but stellar reviews from admin and parents alike. But now we've been told that we're denied any transfer for next year because of that.

I feel like we should just throw in the towel and go home, I feel so low. I honestly don't know what to do. We can't stand the idea of doing a third year here, but now we're afraid that if we go to the job fair we signed up for, we'll just be sabotaged by the director giving us bad references because of the assistance plan.

Advice, please. I'm sitting here crying. I don't know what to do. I honestly don't know what to do anymore.

I know some people who work in Chengdu, so here's what information I can pass on:

Chengdu is rapidly developing. A lot of foreign companies are moving their factories there, so there's a lot of expats around these days, which means a lot of expat amenities (Western restaurants, imports in supermarkets, etc).

Chengdu Meishi is the only IB school in Chengdu, but it's mostly a local school and it's not taken very seriously.

Chengdu International School is a very Christian school with a large Korean population. This is neither good nor bad, just something to keep in mind.

Leman is a newer school and is for-profit. What this means for the school and its students, I have no idea.

No information on Eton House, but I hear they only cover primary grades. I'm not sure about that.

QSI Chengdu is the fastest growing school in the city, but the campus leaves something to be desired. Well resourced though, with interactive white boards in the classrooms, etc.

I hope that helps.

Very quick rundown. As per my last post, I'm part of a teaching couple. I teach AP Chemistry, my husband teachers history/social studies and elementary, we have a young son, and at the end of this year, we'll have two years of experience at an international school in China. We would like to try to break into an IB school.

Which schools do we aim for? Obviously schools like IS Bangkok and IS Beijing are out. But there must be smaller, less popular, but still decent schools that will train teachers for IB. Or maybe good schools in less popular countries?

So where are those schools/countries? Mongolia? Bangladesh? India? I'm making myself sick with worry about next year. Staying at our current school is not an option. Neither is going to a place like Saudi Arabia. We are willing to go to countries like Bangladesh, Mongolia or India. Advice and suggestions would be much appreciated.

I teach AP Chemistry. My husband teaches middle/high school history/social studies, though he's teaching fourth grade this year (it's a small school). We have two years of experience, none of it IB, but we would love to teach in an IB school. We have a son who will be two by the end of the school year. We're currently in China, but we're looking to leave our school at the end of the school year (we don't necessarily have to leave China, but we would like to if possible, and we definitely want to leave Beijing, as the pollution is awful).

We've been given invitations to Search Bangkok in January, which we've accepted, but I'm freaking out about this. We can't afford to fly to the Cambridge fair, as that would cost us at least 4k for the tickets alone. I guess we could fly to San Francisco, but that seems too late in the recruiting cycle. But everyone keeps telling us how insanely competitive Bangkok is, so I feel like we don't stand a chance. I'm afraid we'll spend the time/money to get to Bangkok, only to not get a single interview. We'd really love to get IB jobs, but at this point, I'm so freaked out about next year, that I'll happily accept another AP job if it means we stay employed.

Advice? Thoughts? What should we do?!