The journey to work is indeed an important one.  The journey though is not so clear for international school teachers when they are looking for jobs at schools in cities/countries to which they have never been.  So let’s share what we know!

One of our members, who works at the Xian Hi-Tech International School (Xian, China), described his way to work there as follows:

The road to XHIS…….

This is going to sound terribly stereotypical but one of the many reasons I love living in Shaanxi province is the potatoes! Now can you guess where I come from? I will tell you later. My journey to work each day is a very short one, but my journey to Xi’an has been a long one. I hope you enjoy reading about it.

My name is Brian Lalor and I am in my third year at Xi’an Hi-Tech International School, in Shaanxi province in China. We are a two programme IB world school and are working towards offering three of the four excellent IB programmes. Our school is small at present with only 270 students but we are at capacity and have an exciting move to a new purpose-built campus coming up in August 2017.

Each morning I get up and travel about four minutes to school! I know, the shortest ever commute, right? Our school is situated in residential area and all of our teachers’ apartments are located around the school. We are about 30 minutes from the city center in the southern suburbs. I ride my bicycle to school each day, that is why my journey is so short.

On my journey to school I pass through the morning market. Here local vendors sell fruit, vegetables, nuts and breads for very reasonable prices. One of the wonderful advantages to living in Xi’an is the potential to save money. It is much easier to live here when compared to other big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong. Our school pays for our apartment, flights, international health insurance and gives us a monthly allowance for living overseas. Before coming to Xi’an I worked in Ha Noi for nine years, and in Jakarta before that. Each city has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantages living in Xi’an are the standard of healthcare and the bad pollution in Winter.

Some of the wonders Xi’an has to offer are as follows. We are literally just a short 25-minute car ride to the beautiful Qin Ling Mountains which provides us with a great way to escape the heat in summer and some lovely snowy landscapes in winter. Another highly attractive feature unique to this city, is its amazing millenary history, with archaeological sites found literally in every part of town, with the city wall being one of its main attractions. And who hasn’t heard of the world-famous “Terra Cota Warriors”. Xi’an was once the ancient capital of China so as you can imagine there are lots to see in and around the community.

If you have not guessed it I am born and bread Irish. Oh those lovely potatoes! The food here is incredible and you could literally have a potato dish, every day of the week. Some noodles are even made out of potato here!

This Journey to School article was submitted to us by guest author and International School Community member.

What to know more what it is like to visit and live in China?  Out of a total of 165 international schools there are 110 that have had comments submitted on them. Here are just a few:

Beijing BISS International School (Beijing, China) – 36 Comments

Beijing City International School (Beijing, China) – 31 Comments

Beijing International Bilingual Academy (Beijing, China) – 35 Comments

International School of Beijing (Beijing, China) – 25 Comments

Tsinghua International School (Beijing) (Beijing, China) – 95 Comments

Western Academy Beijing (Beijing, China) – 43 Comments

Changchun American International School (Changchun, China) – 50 Comments

QSI International School of Dongguan (Dongguan, China) – 64 Comments

Guangdong Country Garden School (Foshan, China) – 48 Comments

Guangzhou Huamei International School (Guangzhou, China) – 48 Comments

Harbin No. 9 High School International Division (Songbei Campus) (Harbin, China) – 45 Comments

American International School (Hong Kong) (Hong Kong, China) – 24 Comments

Canadian International School (Hong Kong) (Hong Kong, China) – 69 Comments

Creative Secondary School (Hong Kong, China) – 39 Comments

Hong Kong Academy (Hong Kong, China) – 34 Comments

Hong Kong International School (Hong Kong, China) – 104 Comments

Canadian International School Kunshan (Kunshan, China) – 28 Comments

Kang Chiao International School (Kunshan, China) – 41 Comments

Access International Academy (Ningbo) (Ningbo, China) – 48 Comments

British International School Shanghai – Puxi (Shanghai, China) – 35 Comments

Concordia International School (Shanghai) (Shanghai, China) – 86 Comments

Shanghai American School – Puxi (Shanghai, China) – 39 Comments

Shanghai Community International School (Shanghai, China) – 33 Comments

Shanghai Rego International School (CLOSED) (Shanghai, China) – 74 Comments

Shanghai United International School (Shanghai, China) – 40 Comments

Western International School of Shanghai (Shanghai, China) – 204 Comments

Yew Chung International School (Shanghai) (Shanghai, China) – 27 Comments

Buena Vista Concordia International School (Shenzhen, China) – 39 Comments

International School of Nanshan Shenzhen (Shenzhen, China) – 26 Comments

QSI International School of Shekou (Shenzhen, China) – 20 Comments

Suzhou Singapore International School (Suzhou, China) – 47 Comments

Wellington College International Tianjin (Tianjin, China) – 54 Comments

EtonHouse International Schools, Wuxi (Wuxi, China) – 49 Comments

Xian Hi-Tech International School (Xian, China) – 54 Comments

Zhuhai International School (Zhuhai, China) – 59 Comments

So what is your journey to the international school you work at?  Earn one year free of premium membership to our website if you participate in this blog series – ‘The Journey to School’.  Email us here if you are interested.