I am a first time mum (Fabien is three now) and some of the decisions that other parents have to make, such as where to send your child to school, have been made for me.

Being able to send your child to the Early Years provision at your international school is just one of the perks of the job – seeing them grow and make new friendships. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be able to drop my son off at his nursery and know that I am steps away if needed.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” (Ernest Hemingway)

I’ve always been bad at making decisions. What do I want for tea? What shall we watch at the cinema? Which subjects should I take at college?

So when my boyfriend and I were offered a job in the Seychelles I was in a panic.

It’s nearly two years since we moved to Bangkok. I don’t think we would have made the move if the events of the last week or so had happened in the run up to us leaving London.

Istanbul is a vibrant city that spans two continents, and yet has its own identity with a unique mix of both European and Middle eastern cultures.

The flight to Pokhara is short, about 35-40 minutes, and passes parallel to the Himalayas. Imagine flying below the peaks both ways! Quite simply, this was the most spectacular flight of my life. Be sure to get window seats!

Namaste! You’ll hear a lot of that common greeting from the locals in Nepal, one of my favorite vacations during my many years of teaching overseas.

Venice of the East? Well, that certainly sounded tempting. Canals and boutique shops, but in Chinese. This was the description our students gave us of Wuzhen – an ancient water village reconstructed in Eastern China and a very popular tourist destination. Sure, I thought – let’s go! Can you take us there?

It’s the year of the horse and to those who believe in such things – the horse represents energy, brightness and warm heartedness. The Chinese see the symbol of the horse as an unremitting effort to improve themselves. How apt then, that it should be the year that I move to China! And for snakes such as myself it is set to be a great year. I have to say, I feel my ‘fortune’ is already coming true!

I really took for granted the journey mastering a foreign language would take me on until I embarked on my year abroad thousands of miles away from home. No text book exercises or comical conversation classes could have prepared me for life à la Martiniquaise nor come anywhere close to that joyous feeling of finally ‘settling in’…

Along with Finland and Shanghai, Canada is a top performing education system that is also relatively equitable. So what are its teachers doing? Lucy Crehan is a teacher on an educational mission to give some insights on education in top performing systems from a teacher’s perspective. Over the next 9 months she will share her… Read more »