The journey to work is indeed an important one. The journey though is not so clear for international school teachers, when looking for jobs at schools and cities/countries to which they have never been. So let’s share what we know!
One of our members, who works at the The Bermuda High School for Girls (Hamilton, Bermuda) described her way to work as follows:
Streams of cars full of parents and students + family pets roar by as I take the daily two-minute walk to school along the road. The majority of roads in Bermuda don’t have footpaths…therefore Bermudian drivers have become accustomed to avoiding pedestrians. I can feel the humidity levels are rising throughout the month of June, and my already dripping wet hair will take an hour-long usual to dry. A number of students call out to me from their car window, and they are calling out to me saying “Hi, Miss!” It is customary in Bermuda to always greet people no matter how many times you have seen and greeted them that day. I respond by reciprocating the gesture.
As I approach the school crossing, the space between the wall and the cars narrow to the point that the cars are brushing against my own hip. Mr. Smith, the school-crossing guard, holds out his hand to stop the already snail-paced traffic into the school, allowing me to cross and enter the school grounds. Of course, I exchange greetings with him as well and he normally teases me about what I’m wearing (like if I’m wearing pink). I have now entered the school ground and I am safe from the cars. I am now protected by a hand railing on the sidewalk that I am now using. At this point I can withdraw from the greeting ceremony and look up BBC news on my phone. A number of fathers are walking towards me in the other direction, having just dropped of their primary-aged children off at school. They are dressed in a manner that is typical of the finance industry here, which is the Bermuda shorts and long socks and a long-sleeved shirt tucked into their shorts.
There is another little crossing to make and I again hold up traffic to cross and get to the main building. As I am crossing the road I hear “Miss, Miss!” from a window two stories up. A number of year 7s are hanging out the window, arms waving madly as if they have not seen you for two weeks. I climb the steps and I’m officially in the building.
Currently, we have 36 international schools listed in Taiwan on our website. 18 of them have had comments submitted on them by our members. Check out which ones here by using our school search feature and ticking the box ‘schools with comments’.
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