Voice of Will: A Year Difference

2007-04-07 - 3:16 a.m.
What a difference a year makes.
So where to begin....
lets see.
Last year when we were working at SIAS, at this time were under the impression that we'd be invited back, so we had made several large purchases for our third year in china. We had not been looking for work, and so when we were not invited back, it was a shock.

This year, there have been rumbles about criss having a family, and not living where the other teachers live. This is an issue in Japan, because like in China appearance is about 75% of what people base their decisions on. So since we dont' live with the others, we are different. Because we used the office staff to help get our kids enrolled in public school, we are trouble makers (it doesn't matter that the office staff asked to help us, volunteered to help us, this LOOKS like we are using them outside their job duties). This led to criss being told in the middle of february to "cross your fingers about coming back, but explore your options."
So criss went to Seattle's TESOL Conference to get some needed perspective, and to "explore her options."
So we have started to get back job offers, and notifications of being on short lists for interviews.
Now the quandry. Which schools should we pick?

Offer 1. Working at an college for excellence in education. Ie criss will teach teachers. She will have about 20 contact hours, 7 hours of office hours, and probably needed to work another 20 to 25 hours a week lesson planning and grading. She is offered $52k a year, roundtrip airfare for all 5 of us, a set of roundtrip vacation airfare for 5 to return to the US for vacations, housing (three or four bedroom), medical insurance, and the kids go to a british expat school for free. And there is a standing job offer for me at the same school if I can finish my MA in Ed tech by january. This school is in the UAE (abu dhabi) 3 year contract
offer 2. almost exactly the same as above, but the salary is 55k, and they pay a housing and schooling supplement (but it should let us rent a 3 bedroom flat, and pay for the kids to go to british expat school.) No job offer for me, but I could find a job pretty easy. Also in the UAE. 3 year contract
Offer 4. Turkey. Istanbul. 30k a year, a 2 bedroom apartment, airfare for 5 there. Criss would teach 16 hours a week, and have lots of well done and very thorougher support material. No job offer for me, and no the kids schooling is not included. year to year contract

Offer 5. marshall Islands. 20 to 30k a year. 2 year contract. 12 to 15 contact hours of teaching. 5 hours office hours. and about 10 hours of lesson planning. (this position is what she taught in china for 2 years.. lesson plans are done dude). Kids schooling is not paid, but the private school there is very affordable. They pay for airfare for 5, they provide a housing supplement that should let us rent a 3 bedroom flat. But dont' know about a job for me. And a developing country (brown outs/ blackouts/ drought/limited running water)
And these are just the most interesting offers.

Some of you may ask, what about returning to the states... Sorry to say, that is not in the cards for at least 2 to 3 more years. We cant' afford it.

The question is... which one should we take?

I wish I knew a cut and dried answer, but I see benefits with all 5 positions, and drawbacks for all of them too. Any suggestions?