Another point: my contact was supposedly making over 50K bones a year teaching ESL. Yeah, right. He made that 50K, then went back home to the US to finish his poly-sci master's and got a job later working in a bank making maybe half that.

Hmmmmm....Not only did he QUIT the SA job, he got the master's in an unrelated field AND went to work in the states. And he didn't even go back to SA...not for even a few months to a job payin' 50K. I personally would have gone back for at least a little while.

I suspect he was telling a tall tale...he was full of s##t, in other words. IF SA really were a great, high-paying place, they'd not need to put ads on websites advertising they need teachers--every school there would have STACKS of resumes and apps from which to pick and choose.

Hey--you never see NASA advertising, do you? It's because NASA's the real deal. SA isn't.

Thanks for tipping me off, Richard. Let's see...one more country I can scratch off my list!