So the first day of interviews starts with 2 hours of signups for interviews. This is another vetting process. We ordered our signup plan of attack by schools that had positions for both of us, then positions for me, and then positions for mbh. We got interviews set up for all the schools that had positions for both of us. Then we tried to get interviews with schools that had positions for just me and found that it was just too hard to make happen. So we dropped it and just went to get ready for our first interview.
Our first interview was for a school in Vietnam. The recruiter was really cool and sounded very interested in us. This school was at the top of our list. We could bank a lot of money it wouldn't be so bad for me to be a vegetarian in Vietnam. The interview could have gone on longer but we had our next interview to go to. Our second interview was for a school in Senegal. That recruiter was really cool and also seemed interested in us. He mentioned that he was going to call our references and asked us how serious we were. An excellent sign. Our third interview was with a school in Oman. This school seemed very interesting and the structure of it sounded wonderful. The superintendent that interviewed us was brilliant and had a very clear vision of what she wanted for the school. She seemed like a great person to work for, not a micromanager. She really sold mbh on Oman, which surprised me.
The more and more that I learn about IB, the more and more I wish I could have had an IB education. It really seems like a top rate education that teaches you how to be a critical thinker and really analyze. And of course, mbh and I really wanted it for Mr. Babyman. We could never afford such a great education in the States for Mr. Babyman, but at most of the schools we looked at, he would get taken care of because we would be teaching there.
Our 4th interview was for Bogota. This was a very different interview. The interviewers were a funny pair that asked us to ask them questions for 30 minutes. Then if they liked us they would ask us back for a 2nd interview the following day. This kind of threw us off our game but we got a good vibe off of them too. This school seemed like the most comprehensive school teaching to all levels of all the schools that we had interviewed with thus far. Our 5th interview was for a school in Lebanon. We had 2 separate interviews with 2 different people for our respective positions. The headmaster seemed very interested in us and at the end set us up for a second interview the following day. Our 6th and final interview for the day was with a school in Casablanca. The interviewer wanted to set up a followup interview but we could tell that he was dead tired. He had a lot of positions to fill and was doing back to back to back interviews.
Throughout the day as we finished our interviews, we would drop thank you cards into the boxes of the people that we interviewed with. At the end of the day, mbh and I felt pretty confident. Recruiters seemed really interested in us. It was really kind of flattering and a major ego boost. I was actually surprised how interested some of them seemed by me. Mbh is a much better teacher in actuality and on paper, but I guess I interviewed well.
So tomorrow morning we head into the IRC again and check our mailbox for any followup interviews. There, schools will offer us positions and we will basically decide where we will be living. I've made the spreadsheet of all the schools based on the ISS website and used numbeo.com to do cost of living comparisons for the SF and the various cities. I figure this time tomorrow, we'll know where we'll be living for the next 2 years.
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