other job opportunities

in the last couple of days i have heard from two schools that are interested in interviewing us.

the international school ho chi minh city in vietnam and the la paz community school in costa rica. the school in vietnam is hiring an athletic director/head of physical education while the school in costa rica is looking for a middle school math/science teacher. both of them seem like pretty amazing opportunities and incredible places to live. costa rica would be a better option as it would be so much easier and less expensive to travel back and forth to houston/california. but we hear that vietnam is a great place to live and i would love being an athletic director.

the down side of taking another position (as much as an "upgrade" that costa rica or vietnam would be over kyrgyzstan) is that we would lose our health care for the summer... which isn't something we can afford to do while having a baby. also... qsi is really flexible in regards to jen's work schedule. she can take an extended leave... come back part time or come back full time. a new school isn't going to provide us with that flexibility and jen would have to wait until year two to get a position at the new school and that is assuming that a position opens up.

so in many ways... we are just going through the motions with the other schools and not seriously considering leaving here. we like bishkek. it feels like home and we have a good routine. the big downside is that it is SO FAR away from the states and if our "connected" friends are right... the country is becoming less stable day by day... although we don't see it our feel it. if there is a "revolution"... our contract says that qsi evacuates us back to our homes in the states and pays for the rest of the school year regardless if we come back to work. go revolution!

in the end... sticking with qsi is our best best. because of the pay... the insurance... and the fact that after next year we have the option of going to one of the qsi schools in eastern europe which would be ideal.

until then... we will keep you updated on the job opportunities in nablus, costa rica and vietnam.