It's gettin' real in the Whole Foods parking lot

I have to just think out loud here.

Last night, an English job was posted for one of the two schools we've been looking at in Thailand. (There was already a science job; see two posts down.) I should give a quick description of each school:

NIST is right in the middle of the city. Like, the busiest part. This sounds really exciting to me, there would be so much to do, and we'd probably live in a high-rise apartment. There just wouldn't be a lot of outdoor play areas for the kids (except for the pool), and it could be really noisy. The school itself looks great; it has awesome facilities. Living right downtown would make it a cinch to travel.

ISB is about 10 miles outside of Bangkok, inside a gated community of expat housing. Lots of options for the kids to have a life-- it looks like a military base with pools and tree-lined residential streets where they could ride bikes and play. Because we have kids, I think I'd rather teach and live there than right in the city. Also, I am a wee bit more impressed with the school. They have unbelievable programs, like Global Citizenship Week. The pay is also better than NIST. However, you live and work with the same people. What if they suck? (Not a huge con, since it will only be two years; we could deal.)

So... there are now English and science jobs available at School #1, NIST. It's not like we'd automatically get these jobs, even though I'm talking like we would. They're not thrilled about taking on teachers with kids since they're reaching their limit of spaces for them. The science job looks like I might be biting off more than I could chew; it seems to be curriculum development and support for gifted and talented kids (which is not my strong suit-- my area of expertise is getting the slower kids up to speed). However, it's Thailand. Land of All New Primary Colors that we want to experience. That's where we want to go. Right?

It's strange how all that fantasy suddenly becomes deer-in-headlights when the possibility becomes real. When I told Nick about the English posting (translation: it's time to actually apply), we both kind of went wide-eyed and still. We didn't talk about it a lot. It is really scary.

Right now we're debating about applying at all. Would we really want those jobs if we got them? Should we hold out for ISB? Both schools have great reputations. If this is the last opportunity we might get to go to Thailand, should we take it?