This whole process started back in September 2007. There was an advertisement in the Education News asking for teachers interested in applying for International Teaching Fellowhips to put in their applications by mid October. I discussed the idea with my wife and children and they decided that they would be interested in doing another exchange in 2009. I had a previous exchange to Burlington, WA, USA in 2001. It would be a good time for my children to go because my daughter Bridget would be in year 10, and my son Daniel would be in year 8.
I decided to apply. The decision then was where. We decided that we would apply for Canada, the United States and New Zealand, in that order. It was then a waiting game. In January I got a letter to say that my application met all criteria and had been accepted into the pool for matching. Then nothing until mid June. I was told that a match had been made with a teacher in Red Deer, Alberta. This fell through about 2 weeks later, and it wasn't until mid August that I was told that there was a possible match to Vancouver. We were excited about this because it is a part of the world that we really liked.
We waited with fingers crossed for confirmation that it would go ahead. We had to wait until the schools in Canada came back after their summer vacation. In mid September, my wife and I went to a briefing session at the DEECD office in Melbourne with the 19 other exchange teachers from Victoria. All others had known, some for several months, but our exchange was still TBC (to be confirmed). It was on September 16th, 3 days later that I got an email to say that the match had been confirmed, both here and in Canada, but I still had no paperwork.
It was during our spring vacation that I final got the paperwork that I needed to begin the process. I have had to fill out forms for criminal records checks in BC, and now have the paperwork needed to be able to apply for a Canadian work visa. This is where the costs start to add up. If we want to travel into the US in the 12 months that we are there we also have to get US visas. Although Australia and Canada have a 90 day waiver free visa period, we are away for the entire year. For this we have to make an appointment at the US Consul in Melbourne, and everyone over 14 has to be physically present. With the way the A$ and the $US are traveling at the moent the cost of these visas is going up each day.
There is a huge list of things that have to be done before I leave. Our school year ends on December 19th, and I have to be ready to teach in Vancouver on January 5th. I have to buy a one way ticket because I will be away from Australia for longer than 12 months and you can only get a 12 month airfare. A one way airfare between 20th and 31st of December comes to A$2200 - A$2400. I haven't booked this yet. Still looking for a good deal.
