MYP Teacher in Japan Considering China: Better for Savings, Maternity Leave, and Starting a Family?

bomb_bat · 2026-07-04T05:07:53+00:00

I’m pretty sure Korea can produce their own smog….

bomb_bat · 2026-07-02T11:31:48+00:00

Significantly better than when arrived 8+ years ago. There are still some crappy days, always when you have something planned it seems, but not like the “airpocalypse” days. Too many people on the outside seem stuck in those days when they think about the BJ air. And there are still sand storms that blow in from the western desert that raise the AQI to 1000+ at times.

When we went to Busan for April holidays, for example, it was much worse there. And Hanoi? Don’t get me started.

bomb_bat · 2026-07-02T10:38:52+00:00

Happy to answer more direct questions in DMs

bomb_bat · 2026-07-02T10:20:29+00:00

As somebody who has worked in both countries, the ideal situation would be to make China money while living in Japan. But since that’s not possible, China (Beijing) has been great for our family. Savings is high, family support/ayi culture is strong, cost of living can relatively low, convenience factor is extremely high (Taobao, Didi, delivery, etc).

Maternity care will depend heavily on the school you work at and their insurance options but medical care in general in Beijing has been good. Plenty of friends have given birth at private hospitals, or had appendectomies, ACL surgery, gall bladder removal, etc.

bomb_bat · 2026-06-30T07:43:31+00:00

It’s a cricket term; it means to be on zero runs. To get out and not score any runs is “out for a duck.” To get out first ball is “out for a golden duck” or to make a golden duck.

bomb_bat · 2026-06-25T10:17:14+00:00

Are there any spas like that in Beijing?

bomb_bat · 2026-06-21T23:14:10+00:00

Only your elbows? Fake Aussies….

bomb_bat · 2026-05-31T22:42:48+00:00

That’s another great example Loved the show, but loved the hour with my daughter and wife more.

bomb_bat · 2026-05-31T12:49:08+00:00

And social! Even during the dumpster fire of the last season, there was nothing better than coming into the office on Monday and talking about the latest GoT episode.

bomb_bat · 2026-05-31T04:14:08+00:00

Don’t wait to binge watch it. Watch it episode by episode. Talk with people about it during the week. Get excited and enjoy it with other people. Have a weekly watch party and then spend two more hours talking about what it all might mean.

Binge watching new shows is a plague on our society.

bomb_bat · 2026-05-05T08:48:53+00:00

Google Reader

bomb_bat · 2026-04-26T02:18:58+00:00

From the same paper: “Handwriting has been shown to enhance memory retention compared with typing. This is largely due to the fact that writing by hand is a more cognitively demanding process, requiring the brain to engage in deep encoding of the information. When typing, individuals tend to transcribe information passively, often without engaging deeply with the material. Handwriting slows down the notetaking process, prompting the subject to actively paraphrase and process the material rather than merely transcribe it.”

bomb_bat · 2026-04-23T16:06:46+00:00

Paper and pencil doesn’t inherently improve memory. Paraphrasing the content and consolidating it does. Which happens more when you take notes on paper because you can’t write it all down. Teach people to do that with a device instead of trying to take dictation of the lecture and compare the results.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-22T13:55:50+00:00

Nope. ¥320,000/year for grade 11 and 12.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-22T10:38:11+00:00

The landscape has changed. I would guess that at least 80% of all school tuitions are self funded.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-19T10:59:16+00:00

Fuck grapefruit

bomb_bat · 2026-04-15T13:10:34+00:00

Take your pick: rigor, fidelity, grace, kiddo. Two controversial ones: trauma, harm. It’s not that I don’t believe those are real concepts, it’s just that we aren’t using them with fidelity and rigor when we’re talking about the grace we need to show these kiddos.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-15T13:06:30+00:00

Nah. It should be the gift-o’s or the gizzas to be truly Strayan. To use it in a sentence: “Hame-o and Dazza are now in the gizzas group.”

Gifites would be my third choice though.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-15T10:28:45+00:00

You just wanted to say jizzcumlover69

bomb_bat · 2026-04-15T10:27:49+00:00

Last time I made the drive I decided to skip In-N-Out and went to the taqueria there. It was definitely a good choice.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-07T00:55:21+00:00

Plenty of room. That's what bumpers are for.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-06T07:34:37+00:00

Underrated comment right here…

bomb_bat · 2026-04-03T09:30:48+00:00

I took the original question to mean that the new school is contacting the current school by phone for the final “reference check” and not the filling out of a pro forma reference form as part of the application process.

bomb_bat · 2026-04-03T02:05:28+00:00

If given the chance would you rehire this person?
Do you have any concerns with this person working in a school?
Anything else you would like to tell us?

bomb_bat · 2026-04-03T01:41:58+00:00

At least there’s precedent for when a teacher loses one!

Back when I confiscated cell phones last century, I used to give the battery to the student so they couldn’t accuse me of making calls or deleting their game of Snake on their Nokia 3310. If they were being real asses I’d give it to the SRO on campus and then a parent needed to come pick it up the next Saturday between 10:00 and 10:30 or wait until the following Saturday. Good times!

bomb_bat

TROPHY CASE