Highlighted article: What blogging steals from travel

After checking out the article on the Matador website, it made me wonder a bit about traveling and our traveling routines (and habits).

Are we traveling just to take pictures, the “best pictures ever”? One friend told me one time, “I don’t take pictures when I travel. I would rather enjoy the moment instead.”

Are we traveling just to take a “cool” photo that I am going to post on Facebook to “show-off” all my friends?

And like the author of the Matador article, is he just traveling to write a blog entry?

What are the rules of traveling then?  What are the things you “must do” and what are the things you are doing that are not on that list and that possibly take away from the things on that list?

Some people say that one “must do” on the list is to eat the local food.  Others say that you “must” interact with the locals as much as you can (see the video highlight of Rick Steves on our blog).  I have friends who are over 40 and still make it a point to stay at hostels so that they can “rough” it and thus being more “in tune” to the host country more and being able to interact with the other travelers there that also want to be more “in tune.”  That is a “must do” for them.

Some people just travel to see and be on the beach.  Relaxing every day at the hotel possibly at an all inclusive resort.  Are those people getting out of traveling like they “should” or are their separate trips abroad that are just for relaxing and “getting away”?

And then there is the Amazing Race show.  Who doesn’t like the Amazing Race show?  It is like all our dreams coming true (with regards to traveling and exploring the world).  But time and time again I meet people who say that sure these teams are traveling the world, but they aren’t really interacting with the host country people and culture at all.  The teams are not in the cities long enough to really see what the culture is all about.  They are not able to be “present” to fully take in where they are and what they are experiencing.  I am not for sure I agree.  I really feel like there is definitely something the teams are getting out of their traveling.  It may not be the same experience as if you are traveling somewhere for 3 weeks and having a home stay at a local family’s house, but sure it is another form a traveling that could possibly be just as rewarding.

“I went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower. I wasn’t too impressed.”  If you are working at an international school in Europe, you might have said to your other international school teacher friends, “After traveling to many cities in Europe, they are all starting to look the same.”  Some times traveling naturally gets to this point.  Not that you stay at this point and never go back, but I think when you travel as much as international school teachers do, it is bound to happen at some point.  Because when you travel too much, sometimes the “routines” that you experience when traveling have a similar feeling to each other.  Check into the hotel.  Go into the famous church there.  Look at the Eiffel Tower.  Eat out at restaurants every night.  Go to the Starbucks!  It just might just start all appearing to be the same trip.

I used to have a blog.  It was about all my trips.  I started it originally about my experiences living abroad after moving to my first international school, but my interest in it soon waned as I found myself being less and less “excited” about my day to day experiences living in the host country.  The blog turned into a travel blog basically as I ended up posting entries about my travels. I remember thinking…well I have to edit all my photos.  And then after editing, I have to write insightful things about those photos and publish them (the best ones) on my blog.  My friends and family actually really liked my blog.  They loved reading my entries and looking at my photos.  My aunt even printed out all the blog entries that were on the blog and put them into an album.  She gave the album of my blog entries to my mother as a present!

BUT….I had to stop.  I really started to dread it.  Did I take it out on my traveling and stop enjoying my trips to the fullest?  Probably not that much, but it might have affected my travels.  I can’t image actually writing the blog every day of your trip (like how the Matador author might be doing) and then having the pressure to write insightful entries and publish an entry each day for a blog.  For sure that might take away a bit from his traveling experience and being “present” on his trip.

I think that every one travels for their own reasons.  Somebody’s reasons for traveling might not be exactly the same as the next person’s reasons.  Most people in the “real world” aren’t actually able to travel as much as we do (international school educators) and surely we shouldn’t take that fact for granted.  Maybe a good idea is to make one or two traveling goals before you embark on your trip.  “I’m going to try and interact more with the host country people.”  “I am going to travel more of the local cuisine when I choose which restaurants that I eat at.”

Comments and information about salaries on ISCommunity #3: Morrison Christian Academy, Jeddah Knowledge Int’l School & Colegio Granadino Manizales

Comments and information about salaries at international schools on International School Community

Every week members are leaving information and comments on the salaries that teachers are making at international schools around the world.  Which ones pay more?  Which ones do you have to pay very high taxes?  Which ones offer tax-free salaries?  All important questions to think about when job searching, but where to find the answers to those questions?

Why do some international schools keep their specific salary information so secret?  Even at international school job fairs, you don’t really get to see the exact amount of your yearly and monthly salary until you see the contract paperwork.  Even then sometimes you don’t know what will be your exact take-home pay each month.  At International School Community, we want to make the search for salaries easier for international school teachers. In the benefits section of the school profile page, there is a section specifically for salaries.  The topic is: “Average monthly salary after taxes and in what currency (explain taxation situation). How often do you get paid throughout the year?”

Here are 3 out of the many comments and information related to salaries that have been posted on our website:


Morrison Christian Academy (3 campuses)
“Staff receive salaries from July to June. New staff’s July payroll will be paid in NT$ cash and can be picked up from the campus cashier when they arrive in Taiwan after July 20. In light of summer travel, May and June payrolls are both paid in May. Normally, the salary is deposited into a NT$ Post Office (which functions somewhat like a bank) account, unless staff specify otherwise. Staff can choose to have all or portion of the salary paid in form of a US$ check or direct deposit into a US checking account.”


Jeddah Knowledge International School
“Teachers can expect to get around 3600 USD a month, net, because there are 0 taxes on their salaries. It is important to know that salaries are paid in Saudi Riyal.”


Colegio Granadino Manizales
“Deductions on your salary is social security which is 8% of your pesos salary (50% of your salary is paid in local peseo, the other 50% is paid in USD.). Manizales has a low monthly cost of living. Staff members typically live on their pesos monthly salary and save their US payment.”

Check out the other comments and information about these schools on our website: www.internationalschoolcommunity.com

Hightlighted article: The 10 Fastest-Growing (and Declining) Cities in the World


Shanghai, China

Are you considering whether the city you might work in is a city decline?  Are you specifically looking for international schools in cities that are considered to be the fastest growing in the world?

It might be something to consider as it might directly effect your experience at a school in one of those cites.  If in a declining city, the international schools there might have declines in student numbers as a result, cash-flow might be a problem in the business department, your benefits might not increase each year or even worse might disappear altogether, etc…  If you are placed at an international school that is considered to be in one of the fastest growing cities, the international schools there might have increasing students as a result, the city you are living in might be improving themselves left and right, the expat life there might been a booming one, etc…

So, which cities are the ones in decline and which cities are the ones that are the fastest-growing?

A new survey from the Brookings Institution ranks the world’s 200 largest metropolitan economies — which account for half of global GDP — from 1-200. And the winners are …

From the report: Shanghai won gold in the Brookings report by winning a double silver in income and employment growth. “Only Shenyang achieved faster income growth, and only Riyadh achieved faster employment growth, than Shanghai last year.”

It is sometimes said that geography is destiny. But a tour of the cities dotting the Mediterranean Sea suggests that nearby metros can have wildly divergent fortunes. Turkey is home to three of the most dynamic metros in the world, according to Brookings, including the surprising Izmir. Meanwhile across the Aegean Sea, Athens had by far the worst 2011 of any major city, with the world’s largest drops in income and employment. A little further west, three Spanish cities along the Mediterranean coast — Valencia, Barcelona, and Seville — were also among the 10 least dynamic cities in the world last year.

“The metro areas at the bottom of the rankings are overwhelmingly affected by the euro zone crisis,” said Emilia Istrate, a senior research analyst with Brookings. “This cities are facing national and international crises.” Richmond and Sacramento are the only American cities in the bottom ten. “These state capitals are still in decline, not because of international crises, but because of local circumstances,” Istrate said. “Government cuts and real estate over-investment from the better years are dragging down growth.”

The most important lesson from this survey is a lesson you already know. The fastest-growing cities and countries are almost always in the developing world. As poorer countries join the vibrant global economy and gain access to consumers and investors with considerable means, there is more low-hanging fruit for them to build on a smaller base of wealth. A city like Hangzhou, China, can triple its GDP in eight years. In fact, it did. If a city like San Jose (CA) tripled its GDP in eight years, the median wage would be nearly $200,000.

Izmir, Turkey, and Santiago, Chile, two of the fastest growing cities in the world, are also among the 20 poorest cities in Brookings’ survey. In the full list of the richest and poorest metropolitan economies, only Houston finished in the top 20 among both the richest and the fastest-growing metros. That’s a remarkable accomplishment for the Texas energy hub, but it’s also an indication that “fastest-growing” and “richest” are barely overlapping Venn diagrams.

Check out all the international schools in these cities on our Schools List page on International School Community.

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