Our big decision

So my better half (mbh) and I have decided to go on an adventure with Mr. Babyman and teach overseas. We have many reasons for wanting to do this. First, how fucking cool is an overseas adventure with the family. Global adventures are the spices of life for me. Second, we'd like to stack paper and be able to put ourselves and Mr. Babyman in a house with a yard, preferably in the Bay Area. Third, I want to learn Spanish fluently so that I can come back and talk to my Latino students' parents. Well that and yell at them in Spanish. OMG, am I gonna be Ken Jeong in Community? Fourth, I gots me the travel bug. I wanna get the fuck out! I'm tired of the BS here. I want to be tired of some International BS.

Mbh used to work at ISS (International School Services) and knew someone at COIS (council of international schools) so we decided to set up files with both to improve our chances.

First, we set up a COIS file. This was good because it got our butts in gear, and COIS was free. We quickly realized that it was all about the recruitment fair. These companies don't spend all their money paying people and setting up these fairs overseas to have you get hired online. At the end of the day, people still want to do the face-to-face-meet-and-greet. That and I'm sure human resources want to travel around the world too. COIS had fairs that we could go to but their first one was in London. Their fair in the US was in Chicago with ISS, but it was the week after the ISS San Francisco fair.

Since mbh, Mr. Babyman, and I live in the Bay Area, it made sense for us to set up a file and go to the ISS fair in San Francisco. That fair is from February 6-10, 2011. But before we could set up a file and attend the conference...we had to get beaten over the head by the setup and registration for ISS. $185 per person to set up a file and $290 a person to register for San Francisco. That's right. $950 for the both of us to set up files and attend the conference. Like I said, they ain't trying to get me hired via Skype interview. We figure that schools probably go to the files and online interviews if they don't get good bites at all the fairs or they have mid-year emergency hires. That's what they did to get mbh's friend when she set up a file too late and had missed all the fairs that year. Even though I feel violated by the setup and registration costs, it's still better than the cost of plane tickets, hotel, and the hassle of figuring out childcare for Mr. Babyman and catsitting. Plus, who wants to go to Chicago in February? The average lows are all below freezing. I'm not going skiing.

My top 6 choices for places to teach are The Netherlands, Spain, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru. The Netherlands. Great health care and it's the fucking Netherlands. Spain, where better to learn Spanish? Plus, I'll be able to easily make trips to Mondragon to study cooperatives. Also, I got a few good friends on the continent and the island. Venezuela, I have a good friend that lives in Caracas and I hear the country is just beautiful. Ecuador, I hear this is also beautiful and the Galapagos are here. Biodiversity baby! Chile, My friend that worked on the Canadian-French-Hawaiian telescope said that the two best places in the world to look at stars were the Big Island and Santiago, Chile. Peru, Mbh and I had a great time in this country and the Incan civilization is fascinating. Machu Picchu is amazing.