Job Discussion Forums

[khmerhit]

� There's another old saying that I like to quote and then debunk, this one by author Thomas Wolfe: "You can't go home again." Well, a guy can go home again, but not at 2:30 a.m. with a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and the faint smell of perfume on his clothes. (No, I'm not talking from experience.)

� Here's another variation of that: Yes, you can go home again, but somebody else is probably living there and they'll call the cops on you.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:vdlPle7pfYAJ:www.observer-reporter.com/305390260351209.bsp+quote+wolfe+you+can%27t+go+home+again&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Shonai Ben]

I think maybe the question should be:Will you be comfortable after you get home?
Of course you can go home again,but once you get there you may not feel that you belong anymore.Things change and what you expect in your mind may not always be the case.Old friends seem to diasappear also or move onto something else.New buildings,businesses and even new streets pop up and you start to wonder;Is this the same place I left?
That's how I felt when I first went home.

[SweetOne]

I think part of the attraction to this field, for many of us, is the idea of the nomadic life. The safe, "stay-at-home, raise the kids in suburbia" mentality is not prevelant among us. Then again, some of us HAVE raised our kids in the safe enviornment and are now ready to do what we couldn't before.

Does this mean that we are now going to be homeless (forever or otherwise?) I don't think so.

While it is true that I am a newbie to the world of ESL, I am by no stretch of the imagination a newbie to world of travel and address-changing. Even here in the US... I moved from Colorado (oh, goddess is it beautiful here) to HAACK.. GRUNTT..... North Carolina (a pretty enough state, but yucky for open-minded people to live there) and when I returned to Colorado, I realized that what previous posters said was true: Ya can't go back home... I did and there REALLY WAS someone else living there!!! The nerve of some people. hahaha....

Also, I think when a person travels (outside of the "tourist traps) he/she will always find it difficult to just hop back into thier old routine of home. It isn't just that our friends and family have moved on and changed, but to a great degree (if you have your eyes and mind open on the trip) YOU have changed. At least, I did.

I am surprised I didn't see this in a previous post (to be fair, I only breezed through a couple of them, so it may have been stated already)
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.

oh, how freakin' goopy is that?

[Ben Round de Bloc]

I pretty much view where I am now as home. I plan to stay here indefinitely, i.e., work a few more years and then retire here.

I don't see retirement relocation as that uncommon for many Americans. Look at the number of Americans who retire to geographic areas other than the places where they lived and worked most of their lives. Florida, Arizona, and some parts of Mexico are good examples.

However, I most likely won't end up living in a typical retirement community, because I didn't move here as a retiree, and I can't see myself fitting in very well with the foreign retiree community in this city.

[Capergirl]

[naturegirl321]

I'd like to travel the world for ten or so years, but eventually I'd like to settle down some where in Eastern Europe

[Lee_Marrero]

I am 27 and have really tired of listening to my parents moan about me "settling down". It started when I was 22 and finishing school. I took the first job offer I had at Citibank in Miami Florida. I stayed 1 year realized it blew and took off to Denver, cool but not it for me. Back to my parents house in Connecticut. Went to Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, no work, beachy blah blah blah. Then an epifany "come to work in Mexico" I went stayed 2 years, got tired of internal and external parasites back to Connecticut and my parents "thank god your home, now lets get you a car, a job and a wife" LOL, no. Wow I have ESL experience and a degree, Korea here I come!! 1 year and it was definitely cool but not a "settle down" place. I did meet my partner who is Vietnamese-Australian. We went back to my parents house ( at least I wasnt alone anymore to quote my mom). We went down to Guatemala for a few months to see about business opportunities, VERY COOL PLACE, but unstable in many regards. By this time money is running out so I had to do the dreaded and send out resumes here in the US. Out of 50 resumes 2 job offers, one in NYC only 1 hour from my parents or a decent paying job in San Diego, California. Well here we are 1 year later and I feel like I am becoming my Dad, stressful job, taking on debt and extremely unhappy. As a previous poster wrote" you really see the wrong in every place after a while". That is so true I hate the US now it seems very evil and transparent, I feel as if it is not even my country as I have not much in common with the convertible BMW drivers who race from fancy restaurant to downtown lofts on a friday night. I have saved 15,000 USD and have to leave. Australia allows same sex partners immigration rights , but I have a feeling it would be very expensive to get set up there and than get tired. We have booked open ended tix to Vietnam for August 17. My partner of course speaks Vietnamese which will be a great tool for success in Saigon and I am so excited. I am a nomad but I don't know if he is as well. He hasnt been there since the fall of Saigon in 77? So he is going for more than one reason. I am just scared hat I will never find "my place" I dont want to arrive at 55 -60 yrs old with deteriorating health and no home. I dont want to be a Laowai, farang, gringo, Mee-gook, etc forever.

[khmerhit]

Great post. Youve got a few years before you have to worry. Why not start a business in VN? I saw some clay garden pots for sale the other day in toronto. someone is exporting them, why not you..... dont forget to stop in Cambodia.

[Lee_Marrero]

I am dying to see Cambodia!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I am going to fall in love with her beauty. I have an Angkor Wat screensaver on my pc here at work