Travelling Arrangements

We have our tickets!!



Now we need to plan the trip, packing, airport transit, packing, arrival time, packing, in flight needs, packing...

Cathay Pacific is our carrier and they are apparently very strict about the baggage limits. We are each allowed two bags of 70 pounds each as well as a carry on and a purse/laptop or equivalent. If our bags are over the 70 pound limit the airline supplies us with a cardboard box into which we place the excess and then we are charged another $185.00.

We leave Pearson terminal three at 11:35 on Sunday, July 1 on Cathay Pacific flight 829. We fly to Hong Kong via Anchorage Alaska. We understand that we'll have to deplane at Anchorage for refueling. and then its on to Hong Kong arriving there at 6:50 AM on Tuesday, July 2. From Hong Kong we catch CP flight 723 at 8:50 AM and fly into KL at 12:30 PM.

A representative of the college will meet us at the airport and take us to a local five star hotel. The college will support that accommodation for a week while we make arrangement s for a rental unit. On the Wednesday we will be introduced to a local real estate agent who represents owners in a condo apartment type of building. The buildings we will see are those recommended by the college. The units are all furnished and a three bedroom goes for about 2400 ringgit . The ringed is the local currency and exchanges at 3 to 1 against the Canadian dollar. All of which means that the apartment will rent for about $800.00 Canadian.

We have an orientation session at the college on Thursday and a staff meeting on Monday. Classes start on Tuesday, July 9.

For those who are interested KL is exactly 12 hours ahead of our Eastern time.

Getting Ready

There is a large pile of paperwork to getting ready for this type of gig. For example we need to get a visa from Malaysia that allows us to work in the country. The college takes care of the paperwork but we still have to provide them with the documentation including:

• Curriculum vitae or resume
  
• A clear copy of your passport (the page that has your photo, passport number and other personal details) – Please ensure that your passport has a validity of at least 16-18 months, otherwise the Malaysian Immigration Department will not be able to endorse your work permit and visa


• Staff must be at least 25 years of age and documentation must be provided. (Passport)
  
• Copies of all academic qualifications, including transcripts
  
• A copy of your Ontario College of Teachers membership or Letter of Standing
  
• A medical report or statement of health from your doctor
  
• Penal/criminal clearance from a police report (can be easily obtained from your local police – allow 3 to 4 weeks if you live outside a city)
  
• 8 passport-sized photos
  
• Documentary evidence of teaching experience (letters from the school boards or school principals indicating the number of years of teaching experience) Experience related to teaching would also apply.
  
• Statement of marital status to allow for specific contract allowances and details

Once we got all of this together we delivered it to Bill Roach who arranged for the college to receive it.

Next we determined our departure date and we had to contact a travel agent in Georgetown. She made the reservations for our flight and sent us the electronic ticket. (More about the flight later.)

And then! we contacted several travel health clinics regarding an evaluation of the immunization requirements for travel in the area. We had already been to our family doctor for the medical certificate we needed for the visa and Kim started the Twinrix vaccine for hepatitis A and B. Bill had this one a couple of years ago because of his work on ski patrol. We set up an initial consultation with a clinic that is affiliated with Toronto General Hospital. The nurse who saw us made her recommendations along with a detailed explanation of the risks of both the vaccines and the diseases. We accepted her recommendations and a couple of thousand dollars and three visits later we were as protected as we could get.

In early April we received our initial tentative teaching assignments. Kim is teaching English Lit and ESL while Bill is assigned Business Management. We are contracting to be at the school for 30 hours in a five day week and to teach for 18.5 hours. Basically this is three 70 minute classes per day out of a possible five periods. The rest of the time is dedicated to planning, marking, and administration.

Bill went down to the Ontario Publications store and retrieved all of the relevant documents (and then some). We have the curricula, exemplars, expectations, and other support documents. From the web we downloaded specific profiles and then we contacted acquaintances in high school to arrange to get copies of "THE BINDERS!"

With email addresses in hand we contacted our respective department heads and obtained local outlines and the local selected text book information. Nothing left to do but read and plan.

Oh, yeah! packing...

Why and How?

As we meet you you often ask why we are doing this and how we found and chose Malaysia.

Initially we knew we wanted to travel in our retirement. This led to a discussion of alternatives that included doing some teaching early in those years. We contacted a couple of acquaintances, Bill Roach and John Futa, who were involved in recruiting for overseas schools and we went to lunch in December with Bill Roach who represents Taylors University College in Kuala Lumpur (KL). After his presentation Kim said she would "go right now". We wanted to review other possibilities to be sure this was the right decision.

We had applied for and were accepted to attend the Teaching Overseas Recruitment Fair (TORF) operated by the Faculty of Education at Queens University. This weekend invites over 100 international schools, all of whom are looking to hire many teachers. The fair also qualifies a limited number of individual job seekers through a detailed documentation package and a nominal fee. This assures that only committed job seekers attend. We highly recommend the process for those interested in teaching overseas.

The fair took place the weekend of February 9, 10, 11, 2007 and since Bill was skiing in BC during the week and only returning on Saturday (Feb 10) Kim went down to the job fair on Friday. She registered and attended several information sessions on Friday and went to a number of interviews on Saturday. Very early in the process Kim was able to establish certain parameters for our search. For example, we preferred a Canadian curriculum. A large proportion of the international schools teach an American curriculum. We also sought a place that was relatively safe but culturally different from Bolton, Ontario, Canada. Via a telephone conversation we agreed that the KL opportunity best matched our wants and needs. Kim met with Bill Roach and with the current director (principal) of the program, Frank Meagher at which time she committed us to a verbal contract.

On Saturday Bill flew into Toronto from BC and almost immediately boarded a flight to Kingston to meet Kim. On Sunday we attended several presentations including Bonn, Germany, Kuwait, and one with an accounting firm that advises on the financial implications of these overseas contracts. We were still in agreement that the Taylors College was right for us and we met Bill and Frank to sign a letter of intent.

Okay; so what were the factors that made us choose Taylors:

• It is a Canadian, Ontario, curriculum. What we are learning is that everywhere except Ontario it is considered to be a prestige education.
• It is a high school program. We have both taught elementary and adult education. This was an opportunity to try something new.
• Culturally it is different but not totally alien. KL is a modern city (look at the Petronas Towers for example). The functional language can be English since this was a British colony until 1957. The local language is Bahasa Malay.

• It is in a part of the world that we might not choose to visit in our planned travels.
• The cost of living is reasonably low This allows us to live comfortably while we work and travel.
• And so much more.