Tokyo, Japan – Endless Skyscrapers – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
(What if I said you could get a ticket to virtually ANY OF THE 195 COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD by becoming a CPO … – … And it is relatively easy … ??? Well that is what this web site endeavors to help you to do.)
You Say … Thousands of International School Positions … ?
Onward and outward … the opportunities are virtually endless.
Wouldn’t it be great if most of the several hundred thousand international school positions for teachers and administrative staff were taken up by evangelical minded Christian Professionals Overseas?
Churches – Double Your Investment Output for Free?
Basically in our churches we could double or more the number of overseas missionaries for free seeing they would be self-supporting career makers.
Somewhere on Lake Annecy, France – You never know where your travels for outreach may take you! 🙂 CPO, From the Far Side of the Planet 🙂
South African Embassy Friends – Over here we live like kings! …
We were based among the rolling lush green hills and mountains of South Korea. My friend from church was from South Africa and taught at a local village Hogwon English school while I was teaching at the local university in a nearby city. She said, “Well let’s get on with it … how about skip down with us to Seoul for a visit. We can stay at my friend’s house from the South African Embassy. So my wife and I said sure and off we went. Seoul is a large metropolis of 10 or so million folks. It is an ultra modern city covered with towering glassy apartments that are quite expensive. But our embassy friend, one of zillions we would meet overseas, lived in a sprawling small mansion with a zillion rooms to spare. It was a fun visit. And she said to us, “Over here we live like kings, but back home we live just like everyone else!” I marvelled at the remark, but it pretty much sums up my life over here overseas.
I live in Asia and travel around the world or locally or back to North America as I get 3 months holidays each year. In the past 3 years we have been to Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and China and the like. My homebase is here in Asia and so I have a green card too.
Thus I am kind of like a dual citizen. I don’t need a Visa …
Where are my colleagues and classmates now or have worked?
International schools are cool! Heck living overseas as an international expat is cool! Who wouldn’t want to travel the world and get paid to do it.
Somewhere in Semi-Tropical Hong Kong – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
Local Overseas Schools? … By CPO, from the far side of the planet!
One of the choices international expat families choose for their children is local schools. These schools usually come in 2 or 3 different flavours – pure local schools, local schools that cater to foreign expatriate families and variations of the above in the private school sector but are not international schools with a foreign curriculum.
Advantages
The advantages to such local schools is many fold, but namely they boil down to flexibility, culture, languages and saving money.
Flexibility
So why do you say flexibility? The reasons are perhaps obvious and not so obvious. First of all is location, location, location. When it comes to local schools they are everywhere and usually in close proximity to your home. Near our home are a zillion kindergartens, Primary Schools, Middle Schools and High Schools. So if you add local schools to your mix of choices, your options multiply exceedingly. Depending on where you live there will usually be a large range of school options near to your doorstep.
Around Hong Kong Bay – – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
Hudson Taylor In Early Years – You never know where God may lead you for outreach! CPO, From the Far Side of the Planet! 🙂
Hudson Taylor
If anyone were to ask me, “What are you top favourite inspirational books?” I would have to mention “Hudson Taylor – In Early Years” and “Hudson Taylor – And The China Inland Mission” by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. There are many other versions or the same as mentioned above … of Hudson Taylor’s life through various biographies found at OMF or Amazon.
The twin set of books cover the early life of Hudson Taylor in England through the 1800’s to the creation of the China Inland Mission and its continued work up to the early 1900’s. CIM is now called OMF or Overseas Missionary Fellowship that does work throughout the world but mainly in Asia.
To a great extent his mission either directly or indirectly has inspired millions. Not only that but many of the, up to 100 million by some estimates, Christians in China can trace their roots back to the China Inland Missions message and work.
It is interesting how Hudson Taylor’s outreach efforts continued from one to another he had minister to and taught. Below is a portion from one of the books that illustrate this …
Excerpt from Hudson Taylor – In Early Years – Growth of a Soul “Far away from Ningpo, in a beautiful valley
Excerpt from Hudson Taylor – In Early Years – Growth of a Soul “Far away from Ningpo, in a beautiful valley, lay the farming district … but
Somewhere on the roads in Germany not far from Switzerland – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
Couple Tag Teams?
So you have decided to let you light shine across the great divide in some far off distant land? Perhaps you are interested in humanitarian efforts, or perhaps some outreach efforts or a bit of both. So what exactly could that look like? Being on the scene for 20 years has given me some insights and I will share 4 stories of just that. Off course I will use fictitious mystery? names and so those folks can remain anonymous – though the light of their work still shines … over on the far side of the planet.
Climbing Mountains Somewhere In Switzerland – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
I thought of entitling this blog, “How I became a multi-millionaire?” But … :), By CPO, From the Far Side of the Planet
I thought of entitling this blog, “How I became a multi-millionaire?” But thought that maybe too precocious? Then thought of a more pragmatic title, “Financial Independence? How to build a nest egg as an international expat living overseas? Frugal necessity helps!” Hmm perhaps both titles are okay seeing there is an element of truth in both headings.
Student Debt – Climbing Out of the Pit
When I first came overseas, I had just finished a Master Degree and had a mountainous student loan. My parents had helped me out with student living costs and I did a lot of side jobs along the way from camp counselor for youths with disabilities to tutoring foreign students learning English, but I still had a sizable debt of around $20,000. I didn’t even have a song to my name …
Somewhere in Switzerland – Mountains – No international school here! 🙂 – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
So you have decided to travel the world?
So you have decided to travel the world doing outreach with kids and now what? Education?
Okay you are sent off as an international expat to some far hidden corner of the planet, and so where do you park the kids in school now?
Wife!!!: “Well dear, if we go overseas, where should we educate our kids? “
Impish looking husband: “Um good question honey …” 🙂
It is perennial question for newbie expats with kids or newbie newlyweds with babies? … on the horizon. The usual avenues are international schools, local schools or homeschool.
This article will focus on homeschooling seeing the other avenues for your child’s education will be explored in other posts.
A new environment
Wife: “But what were you expecting? What is wrong with pizza with squid on it? It is perfectly normal here!”
Husband: “Hmmm well at least they have pizza, ummmm that is pizza? Isn’t it?”
The smiling local says 🙂 “Well we call it … विद्रूप पिज्जा vidroop pijja (Hindi)”
Usually newbie expats or parents have no idea of what they are getting themselves into when going overseas. You hop on the plane zipping around the world, jump off the plane with your luggage and kids in tow or expecting wife and expect America? Canada? Australia, Britain?
Freiburg, Germany – Near the Black Forest – Retirement Directions? – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
Sorry Sir! – No Safety Net Here?
Often there is no safety net provided by companies, or not much, when it comes to early retirement overseas … and expats are left to fend for themselves. It is a sink or swim environment.
Walk the Plank Laddie – to the Sharks I Say 🙂
Lost at sea with the sharks slamming the boat and they thought the end was near …. That was the headline that caught my attention when the story of 2 lady sailors who had been lost at sea for several months were rescued … they were safe but just barely survived on their diverted route to Fiji – they never got there.
Financial planning is often like that especially nowadays when it comes to retirement planning and investment – even while at home, not to mention the shark infested waters of retirement planning while overseas.
But what if you could circumnavigate the sharks … there is a fellow who had done just that, survived cancer and retired in his 40’s and can usually be found basking around the world in some tropical place like Mexico or beyond.
Millionaire Teacher? Stop Pulling My Wooden Leg! Aye, Aye Sir!
Around Lake Geneva, Switzerland – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
A CPO Diplomat’s life for me? Life as a diplomat ….?
Yo ho, ho – and a bottle of orange juice? …. Oops I mean, a CPO Diplomat’s life for me? Hmmm maybe or maybe not? But there are different options… but before we go exploring plan B options let’s also look at how difficult it is to get into the diplomatic core.
I remember my first awakening to this world. We were at a university bible study meeting for the Navigators and a fellow named Scott started chatting with me … I come from a fairly small town along the beaches of the Great Lakes … which I mentioned to him and he said, “Oh I will be swimming in the Indian Ocean for Christmas.” I said what? In confusion … looking out at the snow ( … and dreaming of tropical beaches far away) … seeing my small town mind had never come against such a being …. India???? I said??? Ocean??? I said. And he said, “Yes my parents work for the embassy as diplomats and we have lived all over the world” … He said matter of factly, “We were in Russia on our last posting!” Well it was a world I didn’t even know existed except distantly as the background of some adventure movie.
Black Forest, Germany – Apples Free to Pick – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO
(What if I said you could get a ticket to virtually ANY OF THE 195 COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD by becoming a CPO … – … And it is relatively easy … ??? Well that is what this website endeavors to help you to do.)
I remember it well …. getting off the plane in a run-down airport, masses of bicycles swarming the streets, meandering dark ally-ed village like ancient streets and housing, maze like labyrinths of convoluted byways with wafting smells and odours from refuse, cooking or outhouses, coal burning heaters and cookers with smokey haze rising … scenting and coating everything with coal dust … strange foods that surprised with delight and street food with food poisoning … it was a different world for me …
Tokyo, Japan – You never know where your travels may take you and what opportunities there are for outreach … :), By CPO.
(What if I said you could get a ticket to virtually ANY OF THE 195 COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD by becoming a CPO … – … And it is relatively easy … ??? Well that is what this web site endeavors to help you to do.)
Virtual Tourism? 🙂 … Ooops I mean Job Search – There are many ways to search …..
There are many ways to search the international school job scene. The experienced teacher to the expat world will find this obvious, but for newbies you may find this article useful.
Having said that … maybe some of you old hands may find a few variations here that you have forgotten about too.
A lot of teachers take the shotgun approach, and we will explain more on that in following posts …. but lets look at the question ….
“But what if don’t wanna teach just anywhere?!!!” I have a dream….!!!
By CPO – From the the Far Side of the Planet – Live the Dream, Live the Adventure – Live and Work Internationally – Retire Early, Become Financially Independent and/or Buy an International Holiday House – Be a Light All Over the World
My story – A little
I work as an international school teacher … so I am able to live, work and stay anywhere in the world that I can get a job. I am F.I. (Financially Independent), but not R.E. (Retired Early). In fact I have become a multi-millionaire by living and investing overseas. So I am free to do outreach work as an international expat until I die.
I live in Asia and travel around the world or locally or back to North America as I get 3 months holidays each year. In the past 3 years we have been to Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and China and the like. My homebase is here in Asia and so I have a green card too.
Thus I am kind of like a dual citizen. I don’t need a Visa …
Where are my colleagues and classmates now or have worked?
International schools are cool! Heck living overseas as an international expat is cool! Who wouldn’t want to travel the world and get paid to do it.