katekordzinski

Hello to anyone who can help!

I am a qualified teacher, married with two children (6 and 3) .We are very unsettled where we are living in Northern England and a job opportunity to teach in Brunei has become available. The salary is excellent and the school is outstanding (our children would be attending Hornbill School where the job is available).We would be living on the British Army Camp with accommodation provided and utilities paid.
From what I have researched myself about Brunei- the way of life, cost of living and opportunities for our children etc seem amazing. We would also have the opportunity to see parts of the world which we would never otherwise be able to afford.

My worries are mainly about the climate and humidity and if our children would settle here. Could anyone give me any advice or their own experiences of moving to Brunei from the UK. How different is the way of life? We have never been to Asia and it's not something I could afford to do!

All advice/ experiences/ information would be appreciated.
Thankyou

Jerseygirl

Hello and welcome to BE.

To be honest I know nothing about Brunei...and unfortunately we do not have a dedicated Brunei forum. I suggest you post any questions you may have in our Far East Forums...I don't know if we have any members who live in Brunei...but hopefully someone will be able to help you.

I see you have already made yourself at home in our Spain forums...good for you. I hope you enjoy being part of our cyber community of British Expats.

If you have any site related problems please give me a shout.

Hepa

I spent time in Singapore and Pulo Penang in what was then Malaya, not all that far from Brunei. It is hot humid and it rains a lot, but you do eventually acclimatise. I hail from the West Riding of Yorkshire, I returned one winter, I was so cold, I had acclimatised to the tropical climes.

The way of life in the far east is completely different to the north of England, as a young man I thought it was absolutely fantastic!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, if you do not accept this post, it will niggle you for the rest of your life. A big decision and one only you can decide, I know what I would do though...............

I wish you well in your new venture, go for it!!

katekordzinski

Thank you so much for your advice and your opinion!! Not one person we have spoken to about this has been negative and so I wanted opinions of people whoo have experienced this part of the world.

Your comments are greatly appreciated (and is what I want to hear to be honest. Our children are priority to us and as long as they are okay, so are we!!)
Kate

katekordzinski

*who

Hepa

The only down side at first was the heat and humidity, I was only 16 and was working, I suffered from Prickly Heat or Miliaria. With the heat you are constantly sweating and the pores in the skin become inflamed and provide you with an itchy red rash.

In those days, over 50 years ago, Johnsons baby powder company sold Johnsons Prickly Heat powder. Showering many times daily, changing underwear many times daily and using this powder cured all.

Other than that small setback, no regrets, it was an experience not to be missed and I am sure with modern day air conditioning life will be a lot easier.

Hope all goes well for you and your family.

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

amax

Hi Kate

Not sure if you will receive this as you posted some time back. I will try to answer your questions specifically. If you want to know more then message me.

1. Hornbill is a fantastic school
2. Brunei is a wonderful country with extremely friendly people.
3. As you have noted the climate is extremely hot and high humidity. Many people don't cope with it. We love it and I think that it depends on your kids as to whether they will adjust to the climate and settle with the way of life, which is TOTALLY different from the U.K.
4. Cost of living can be cheap but can also be very expensive. It depends where you shop and what you lifestyle is like. Cars are very expensive to buy. Prepare yourself for this. My opinion is that you are better off buying new.
I think that is it. Do your research carefully and then take the leap I would say. You have nothing to loose and probably everything to gain.

bakedbean

Hi Kate and a warm welcome to the forum. I have friends who have lived and worked in Brunei and loved it. Do please check out the Far East forum in the general section. I know that there are some threads about living in Brunei so do a search on there. If you can't find them, post back on here and I'll have a look for you.

As you can see I'm out in south east Asia. Yes, the climate is hot and mostly humid. Yes you do get used to it to a certain extent. But, quite honestly, how many folks stay outside all hours of the day? I certainly don't. You'll find in Brunei that most places will have airconditioning so you don't need to suffer the heat unless you really want to. I'm in my 8th year in the Tropics and I still like some aircon now and again.

I imagine your kids will have a whale of a time there.

If you are drinkers, I think I am right in saying that Brunei is a "dry" country. You may want to check on this as I'm not 100 percent sure. It certainly used to be. Having said that, I think it may be possible that alcohol is available on some camps. Again, if you post on the Far East section, you may get answers from folks in Brunei.

All the best

Funkymonkeez

Hi there,
Just wondering if you did move to Brunei and was the temperature ok? Contemplating the move ourselves with our children.
Thanks

amax

Don't think that you meant to ask me this, but in answer to your questions, yes and yes.

Funkymonkeez

Hi there,
I know it is abit of a random message but we are thinking of relocating to Brunei with our 4 children aged 9,7,5 and 2 years old and were wondering how you have found the climate over there. As you said in your old message the lifestyle and location looks amazing but it is just the children you worry about. Thank you for you quick response any advice on life and weather out there would be really helpful. Thank you.
Cathie

bakedbean

Hi Funky. There's a few threads re living in Brunei in the Far East section of this forum. Go and have a look through.... link below. If you use the Search box on the top right, once you're in the forum, type in Brunei and everything will come up.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=59