Initial Post

I have begun the process to teach in Abu Dhabi. After being forced out of my current school by a horrible administration, but mostly awesome students I'm looking for something completely new. A friend at work suggested I look up Teach Away Inc, they are a recruiter out of Canada that places teachers over seas. Most of their recruits teach English to Arabic speaking children, but they had opening for me to teach secondary math to older students (the equivalent of American high school and community college age students [14-20 was quoted to me]) math in English. The position is pretty lucrative, paid flight each way once per year, housing allowance, tax free salary and support. The salary is based on experience and degree status, I haven't received an actual number yet but I should be on the higher end of the spectum quoted on their website because of my Master's and 7 years experience in the classroom.

I've done a lot of research on life in Abu Dhabi. I mean a lot! Serveral hours. So far I've learned that the city is very similar to cities in the US! Everything is expensive, but the salary should cover everything. By my calculations, the housing allowance will cover my rental housing, rental car and most of my food expenses. My plan would be to send most of my salary back to the US to pay my credit card bills and student loans. My calculations show that I will have most of my smaller loans paid by the end of the first year, with everything paid off by the second year of the contract.

I've looked at:

Rent - apartment vs. villa (unsure of where my school is yet, so far villas are nicer and cheaper and closer!)   anywhere from 1200+/mo AED
Car - long term rental 2000/mo AED
Cell phone - 299-450/mo AED
Cable TV - 80-300/mo AED  (no western networks! only western cable [food network, discovery and etc..])
Hulu plus and VPN service - about 70/mo AED  (stream western network TV over the Internet)

Apparently there are three major grocey store chains there... Carrefour, Lulu and Spinneys. I really don't know any more then that at this point.

So far I've had my phone interview with a Teach Away rep on April 1oth, 2012 at 1PST. The interview was about 15 minutes. I followed the advice of their website and wore my suit. I know it's only a phone interview, but somehow I seemed to speak in a more professional manner when I was dressed nicely. The rep said "I have no problem recommending you for the in person interview". The same day the TA rep sent me a "pre-employment" form. The form requested basic contact information and to write a little blurb about my teaching history.

So as of April 17th, 2012 I haven't heard anything farther.