Job Discussion Forums

nomadder · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:55 pm Post subject: Time to Go

How did you know when it was time to pack up and go abroad? Bad jobs? Deadend relationship? Restlessness? What was your poison so to speak?

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

Graduation from uni. And pressing student loans. Combined with a desire to try teaching. With a dash of never having lived in another part of the world and being curious. I took my one big opportunity to make a run for the border.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Nomadder - this is an interesting question.

Two more spring to mind though to broaden the discussion:

1. How do you know when it is time to go back home?

2. How do you know when it is time to move on to another country?

Anyway, to answer your initial question, for me it was lack of full-time well-paid work for newly qualified TESOLers in the UK. This made moving abroad a logical step.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

For me, it was similar to Shmooj, lack of "good" full-time work in Canada. I was on the verge of getting laid off at an excellent college due to budget cuts and I jumped ship just in time.
I was also pretty restless, we had a 6 month old baby and she hadn't even seen the world yet Exclamation

Honestly, it was good timing for us, our baby was at a good travelling age and the job offer was enticing.

How to know when to go back? Just as difficult, but I think when the culture just gets to you and the little things annoy you more than they used to. Of course this is after culture shock is over, otherwise we'd all leave after a week.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

But for many of us there is no "going back." Studies of migrant workers show that they becpme fixed mentally in the time they left the old country. The same happens to TESOLers who are just another kind of migrant worker. My psychological home is the East of Scotland circa 1970.

How do I get back there ?

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I almost arbitrarily decided to head off to the Czech Republic when I realized that I just didn't see myself continuing with the field I had studied as an undergrad. I made the decision to go, but it took me two full years to get the money & the preparation to actually do it.

What made me go back? Once I realized how much I enjoyed teaching, I also realized how little I knew about it, and I felt like it was my duty to all of my future students to get some more training. So back to grad school I went. I think I left at the right time, too--most of my teacher friends were also leaving, and our school, which had actually been fairly good & had a good reputation, was apparently slashing its teaching staff from 30 to 7, etc., etc.

This time, I've told myself that I will be here for two or three years. What will lure me back to the States next time? My dream job in California, hopefully.

d

Dr.J · Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 304 Location: usually Japan

scot47, that's exactly what was running around in my mind recently, but I just couldn't catch it.

when I went back home, I was surprised to see how everything - and everyone - had moved on a whole year; like I was expecting them to remain in suspended animation while I froliced around the globe.

ever heard that springsteen song 'glory days'?

Shonai Ben · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 617

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

For years I had dreamed of living and working in the southern part of Mexico or a Central American country. Knowing that wages had always been on the low side in those locations, I decided to wait until I felt I was in a decent financial situation to embark on the venture. I guess I knew I was ready to go when 1) my financial situation seemed okay, 2) there was no job available that I really wanted "back home," not even many available jobs that I didn't want, actually, and 3) I was offered a job in Merida.

As for the question of when it's time to move "back home," I suspect for me the answer is never, or something pretty close to that. The longer I'm away, the less desire I have to return to my home country, and the urge was never very strong to start with. As for relocating, that's probably unlikely as well. I figure 4 or 5 more years in my current job, and then I'll retire here. At least that's the plan.

cheryl · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Japan

I wanted to travel and get paid for it. So, I went to university, got a linguistics degree and a CTESL. I was lucky because i knew what i wanted this before i finished university.

As for how will i know when it's time to go home? It'll be time to go home when i want to settle down. I love Canada and I want to have a family there. I don't think I could live in Japan forever.

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

When to come home, eh? There are lots of cows around here. When they head back to Eastern Canada, I will too. Wink

Seriously, for about 10 minutes yesterday I toyed with the idea of going back. For the first time in four years. Given the descisions I've made regarding MAs, I'll probably either EFL or ESL. May as well EFL. I'm in a cultural no-man's land. I'm sure that I'd fit back into Canadian society just as badly as my Chinese students would (minus language problems.)

I escaped, and I can't think of anything that would drive me back to stay now.

Kurochan · Joined: 01 Mar 2003 Posts: 944 Location: China

As for me, I've wanted to go to China since I was a teenager. I studied Chinese in college and was thinking about going there as an exchange student, but the whole Tiananmen Square incident killed my desire to do that for a while ...

After I graduated, I thought about going to Taiwan to teach, but didn't know how to go about it. Also, my parents didn't want me to go.

Eventually, I went to grad school and got an MA, but couldn't get funding for my PhD. Being a tightwad, I decided I needed to find something else to do. Luckily, I stumbled across an ad for a teach/study in China program that was cheap, paid your airfare, and promised a salary that would cover the program cost. Again being a tightwad, I decided that program was for me! So, finally, after wanting to go to China for like 15 years, I was able to go.

rogan · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 416 Location: at home, in France

I took an early retirement in 1991 - Thatcher having virtually destroyed the State Education system, I thought being paid NOT to work was a good idea.

At the same time I could also teach small groups in France and get paid for it.

Then it seemed like a good idea to learn a little about Eastern Europe, so I started more work "abroad"

nomadder · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:04 pm Post subject:

Wow! Very interesting answers.

I have to agree with Scot47 sometimes things really have changed too much back home, not to mention you've changed. I would recommend a back up plan if "going home" doesn't work. After 3 and a half years away I found I just don't want to stay here in Eastern Canada. Soon I will quit the 2 pathetic jobs I found and go. Interestingly just as I made the decision to leave I got a phonecall from a job I applied for a month or more ago. The same thing happened last time I planned to leave. A weird sign. Guess once you don't care anymore...I can't imagine the job that would keep me here. Being harrassed by menopausal women all day while working for peanuts and being on your feet all day is not my idea of a good job.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Quite a few people I talk to want to give up teaching. The reason they are in the ME is so that they can save up enough money so that they can retrain and 'get out of teaching'. I find this quite alien. If i had to give up teaching and find a new profession I'd be stuck. teaching is the only thing I know. If the bottom fell out the market and there was no longer a need for EFL teachers what would you do? returning back to Scotland to work(doing god knows what) fills me with fear.