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Traveling Around: Serbia (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

April 17, 2013

Traveling Around: Serbia

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Can you relate?

• Finding out that the local phrase for a cold, snowy March is called a grandma March.
• Eating a local dish again that you had 6 years ago, but in a different country, and being VERY pleased!
• Being accosted at all the local green markets with the vendors talking to you in their local language and you just smiling as you walk by…not knowing exactly how to look or respond to them.
• Searching and successfully finding some original, reasonably-priced artwork to purchase.
• Trying out many items from a relatively new brand of food products to the country.
• Learning many new words in the local language and finding a favorite one (Kikiriki = Peanuts).
• Wandering around the city and finding many couples making out in public everywhere (not such a common sight in other countries!).
• Reading about a cultural norm of the country beforehand and then, after talking to many locals, finding out that it is not necessarily their “norm”.
• Seeing huge buildings and structures and being in awe of the time, energy and money it must have taken to create them.
• Hearing from a person before meeting with them that it is culturally acceptable to be up to 15 minutes late!
• Listening to different perspectives about the history of this region of the world; most Serbians would like to go back to being one big country again (Yugoslavia).
• Choosing a person at a market to finally buy some produce with, but still thinking the person was upset with you while you were at their table, and then ending up getting a free loaf of bread as a thank you gift because you purchased a lot of items from them.
• Walking with a local and learning that another country (Azerbaijan) purchased the whole exercise/walking path that was along the river for the city of Novi Sad.
• Noticing the charm of smaller cities/towns in a country and possibly enjoying them even more than the bigger cities. (Note to self: get out of the big cities more when traveling!).
• Checking out the local graffiti artists’ work on the many walls and buildings in the city.
• Fumbling at the many check-out counters, not being able to figure out using the local currency fast enough before the cashier takes over and just grabs the correct amount from your hands.
• Arriving at the local airport at a very early hour in the morning and feeling very glad that you had pre-arranged for a driver to pick you up and bring you straight to your hotel.

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Currently we have 4 international schools listed in Serbia on International School Community. Here are a few that have had comments and information submitted on their profile pages:

• Britannica I.S. (Belgrade) (11 Comments)
• British International School (Serbia) (10 Comments)
• Chartwell International School (3 Comments)
• International School of Belgrade (26 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world, what you are seeing and how you are coping with any culture shock.  If we choose your “Can you relate?” experience, International School Community will give you a coupon code for 1 free month of premium membership!

Traveling Around: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

March 7, 2013

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Traveling Around: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Can you relate?

• Realizing that the expat life there can be very, very nice!
• Enjoying the Middle Eastern cuisine and wishing it was the cuisine where I live.
• Going to mall after mall after mall after mall.
• Feeling jealous about how big the grocery stores were there compared to my host country, so many products that I would buy if I lived there.
• Walking along the corniche.  Corniches in the Middle East are just cool places to walk around, especially during sunset.
• Stopping many times in a taxi as my taxi driver asks stranger after kind stranger if they know where to go to find my friend’s house.
• Checking out the new, modernized souk and conversing with a souvenir store manager about where I could find original artwork. (Fail)
• Pulling up to hotels and restaurants and there always being a valet person to park our car for us.
• Meeting expat after expat and asking them many questions about their lives living in Abu Dhabi.
• Thinking how interesting that all the restaurants have a mock-tail menu rather than a regular cocktail menu (alcohol is prohibited in this country).
• Getting accustomed to taking taxis around town or driving in my friend’s car around town.  Still a bit strange sometimes when many international school teachers live their lives abroad car-less.
• Hearing all about the different customs related to the clothing of the UAE man and woman.
• Being amazed at how diverse the city is. The majority of people here appear to be from India.
• Choosing almost not to go into the grand mosque because I wasn’t dressed appropriately. (I did end up going in and wearing the free robe on offer at the mosque entrance)
• Having a moment of surprise when finding out that the weekend here includes Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday.
• Taking a trip out to the desert and doing a dune bashing ride as our driver drove crazily around and on top of really high dune hills.
• Buying some excellent dates at the date market.  Felt happy about my purchase until somebody reminded me that I should have bargained down the price!

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Currently we have 14 international schools listed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on International School Community. Here are a few that have had comments and information submitted on their profile pages:

• Al Raha International School Abu Dhabi (5 Comments)
• American Community School Abu Dhabi (12 Comments)
• American International School (Abu Dhabi) (11 Comments)
• Sheikh Zayed Private Academy (7 Comments)
• Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi (10 Comments)
• Institute of Applied Technology (Abu Dhabi) (12 Comments)
• GEMS American Academy (Abu Dhabi) (37 Comments)
• Horizon Private School (10 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world and how you are coping with any culture shock.  If we choose your “Can you relate?” experience, International School Community will give you a coupon code for 1 free month of premium membership!

Traveling Around: Myanmar (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

October 21, 2012

Traveling Around: Myanmar

Can you relate?

• Carrying all of your spending money around with you, including money for hotels and inner country flights, in US dollars, because there are no ATMs, and credit cards are not excepted.
• Making sure that this cash is only brand new, crisp bills, because otherwise, they will not be excepted.
• Feeling like you are in India or Bangladesh, because Myanmar borders both of these countries.
• Seeing Burmese people wearing a white powder on their face, and discovering it is actually their traditional sun screen and moisturizer.
• Realizing that this is such an exciting moment to be in Myanmar due to their fledgling democracy and the recent release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
• Talking to amazing locals, who are so happy that you have chosen to visit their country, especially after years of tourists bans.
• Traveling by horse and cart……because this is an actual mode of transportation in Bagan, Myanmar!
• Using a paper ticket! No e-tickets in this country.
• Actually going to the airline company to buy this paper ticket, and then waiting as the agent hand writes each ticket!
• Visiting Bagan, where there are more than 1,200 temples which sounds amazing until you realize that this country used to have more than 13,000!
• Being super impressed by the service at the airports, considering that tourism is just starting up again.
• Trying the traditional food, which is shared style, and the food keeps coming until you are full!
• Sadly, seeing a neighborhood slum right next to a brand new high end grocery store. Seems very wrong.
• Arriving in Heho, traveling one hour by car, and then one hour by boat, to Inle lake, and realizing it was worth every minute of travel.
• Staying in cottages on stilts which are right in the middle of the lake.
• Seeing the milky way at night.
• Hanging out at the Strand Hotel

Currently we have 6 international schools listed in Myanmar on International School Community:

• Yangon International School (10 Comments)
• International School of Myanmar (10 Comments)
• International School Yangon (6 Comments)
• Total Learning Academy (9 Comments)
• Myanmar International School Yangon (8 Comments)
• Yangon Academy (0 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world and how you are coping with any culture shock.  If we choose your “Can you relate?” experience, International School Community will give you a coupon code for 1 free month of premium membership!

Traveling Around: Iceland (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

July 3, 2012

Traveling Around: Iceland

Can you relate?

• Being amazed at how many tours were on offer for tourists to go on.
• Realizing I was there a too short of time to see everything I wanted to see.
• Having the feeling of actually wanted to return to this country, which doesn’t happen in every country I visit.
• Relaxing in the Blue Lagoon and enjoying the beautiful ‘moon-like’ scenery that surrounded it.
• Not really understanding what it is like to try and sleep during the ‘midnight’ sun of countries this part of the hemisphere…not easy.
• Meeting some interesting people on my day trips, and then seeing them again on the bus that goes to the airport.
• Taking a risk with a short time constraint to find a recommended restaurant, finding it, very much enjoyed the food, and then making it successfully to my destination on time.
• Checking out the beautiful sky and clouds patterns each day and trying to figure out if it is true the sky truly looks different in different parts of the world.
• Getting the chance to see the tectonic plate divide and where the North American plate and Eurasian plate meet each other.
• Having a good time listening to all the old stories and myths of Icelandic culture and history.
• Realizing that Iceland is indeed the land of TROLLS!
• Seeing a bunch of geysers, one that could blast upwards of 2-3 stories.
• Sneaking up to some wild common seals and just being in awe of being that close to wild animals (being that I normally live in a big city).
• Eating a picnic on a beautiful coast just listening to the sounds of the birds nearby, the relaxing sound of the ocean waves, and nothing else!
• Finding the Iceland horses (basically found everywhere on the SW side of the Iceland) quite unique and beautiful to watch.
• Walking over a side of a cliff on the coast and not realizing that I was walking over a bridge of rock with nothing but water underneath all of us!
• Learning about the Arctic Tern bird and how protective they are of their space/area; a few of the people in our tour (including myself) were actually attacked by this bird.

Currently we have 1 international school listed in Iceland on International School Community:

• International School of Iceland (12 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world and how you are coping with any culture shock.  If we choose your “Can you relate?” experience, International School Community will give you a coupon code for 1 free month of premium membership!

Traveling Around: Almaty, Kazakhstan (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

June 4, 2012

Traveling Around: Almaty, Kazakhstan

Can you relate?

• Seeing locations in a city that the Amazing Race teams did a challenge at.
• Noticing how amazing it would be to live next to a majestic range.
• Buying souvenirs that you normally wouldn’t buy because you are trying to make your current international apartment your “home”
• Being happy that the location that you are currently living in has much, much less pollution.
• Interrupting (in a respectful way) a important culture event that the locals were participating in.
• Talking with the local dried-fruit and nuts man at the green market in the center of town and buying some amazing dates from him.
• Meeting a lot of the expat international school teachers that live in the city and realizing how much fun they are having living abroad in a (very) foreign country.
• Laughing a bit as you walk through a mall and watching people skate around the indoor ice rink in the atrium.
• Passing by much of the produce at the local grocery stores because of its poor quality.
• Feeling grateful to have old work-friends in cool and unusual places around the world.
• Waiting for minutes, hours, and even days for the government to turn on the heat so you can take a hot shower.
• Eating at the main expat restaurant for some good-ole western food.
• Sitting in a cool section of a local restaurant and having some excellent, moreish local food.
• Checking out the very important opera house, but unfortunately not being able to buy a ticket to see a show.

Currently we have 10 international schools listed in Kazakstan on International School Community. They are:

• QSI Almaty International School (4 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world and how you are coping with any culture shock.  If we choose your “Can you relate?” experience, International School Community will give you a coupon code for 1 free month of premium membership!

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