The farewell speeches....

Leaving an international school does not mean you have to give up. You leave for many reasons.

Just because you leave one, does not mean you are giving up on international teaching.........................

Watching the farewell speeches today I catagorised them into a few.....

1)Enforced retirement: heart breaking no words can explain this but the country laws give the school/teachers no choice

2)You could have but have no choice: *Contract not renewed: you did not fit the company and/or redundancy means you no longer are welcome

3) You choose:

You recognise it is time to leave: no one forced you, you just knew it was time to leave.

I sat and watched the farewell speeches today and saw the differences. Your colleagues are sad but understand. Some are angry, most are happy for you. It's like most establishments.

My advice, leave with your head held high and don't let any bastard know you are sad. Move on and show those who thought you weren't meant to be there what they are missing.

Believe me, I have 'left' places of my own choice knowing full well those who 'spoke' to me are knobs.

Don't let the knobs dictate who you are in the future. I haven't and believe me, it gets better!

And don't stay in places that are full of knobs...............there are plenty of international schools out there who will love you!

Cheers,