Job Discussion Forums

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Oh ye of many assumptions. First of all, you have never seen the sheer size of my relative's place. It's like a mini-castle. When I do go home for visits, I have the whole downstairs (den, bedroom, private bath, bar, private entrance/exit) to myself. Long term? No, of course, I'd rather live in my own place if I move back permanently. But my aunt/uncle are so generous that I could stay at their place for as long as need be until I found a place. By the way - - single, so that's not an issue.

My car is parked down the road at my sister's home in one of her two barns/storage units. She or my uncle take it out for a spin once a week or so, so none of that pesky battery or tire deterioration you're going on about. The car's insurance and tags costs are negligible. Certainly no more than the cost of renting a car for 2 or 3 weeks when I go home in the summer (it's actually a lot less). I only carry collision insurance and the car is about 10 years old now, so the cost of tags is quite low as well.

AND, I think I made it clear that, indeed, it would be a bit foolish to go home now looking for work in the education sector or most any it seems these days, but thanks for repeating that.

My point is/was that some of you may have gotten yourself in a hole by staying too many years out of the country (and making blanket "bah humbug" statements such as HT's) but I'm one of those lucky enough to have a support system should I decide to pack it in and go back. I'm not in a desperate situation here, nor would I be in one if I left. So my bubble is still intact for the moment, thanks.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

melmoth · Joined: 21 Aug 2010 Posts: 10

It's usually the people who started in Korea who love China the most. Count me in that group. I think if you've never lived in Asia and started in China, you might hit some bumps pretty hard but if you start in Korea, then the rest of your life after Korea will be like a waking dream.

Steinmann · Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:39 am Post subject:

Lobster · Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 2:54 pm Post subject:

Hey mga, glad to know things are still going well for you. Time sure flies. I remember when we worked for the same outfit (well you still do and so do I once in a while) and I knew that you were the type of guy who could be happy here. Resiliant, upbeat and ready for a challenge.

I look back at my posting from many years ago and find I feel pretty well the same. Hard to believe that I've been here 10 years now. Still with my girl going on 7 years, married for 5, bought a nice place in Shanghai and still putting a bit in the bank. Still have friends from my early days here who have settled in too. I still see many posters from the old days who are doing ok too. My Chinese is better now but it still isn't that great, but I can get by and understand 70-80 percent.

Last night, as I watched the fabulous fireworks from the window, I thought about how life would have been different had I stayed in the country of my birth and kept the job I had there. Many of the schools I worked at there have closed their doors, and people are struggling to get by. On my last trip home I couldn't help but notice how harried and worried the people looked. I am happy with the choices I have made.

China has been good to me. Never any major problems, and I've gotten over the cultural expectations for behaviour that troubled me for a long time. Actually, I've noticed that, here in SH at least, people have changed their behaviours and become significantly more cultured, individualistic and friendly. I'm talking about the Chinese mind you. Expats here still aren't that friendly, but no matter.

Anyway, Xin Nian Kuai Le to all and best wishes for the Year of the Rabbit. For those who have been here a long time; I hope that things just get better and better. We'll all take some lumps from time to time, but it happens everywhere. To those who are new to China; I hope that you can enjoy the things that make this a special and different place and build fond memories for the future. Help your students; they need your support to find their way. Help your employers; they need your insight to improve. Help your friends and neighbours; they need to feel that they are in a welcoming place. Life's a long and winding road with a rather bleak destination, so let's relax and enjoy the ride.

Good luck to all.

RED

slareth · Joined: 29 Jun 2010 Posts: 82 Location: Shandong

Am digging it here too. I won't say I LOVE China but I am far happier here than elsewhere for the most part. I met my wife here and she is truly the best woman I have known. Her family also is fantastic and never for a moment treated me like an outsider.

TexasHighway · Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 779

Lobster wrote:

Zero · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 1402

Until retirement, when your former buds are sitting on fat 401ks and you're struggling not to get deported from China, without regard to family status, property ownership, or years of service, because they've deemed you too old to work! Back to the U.S.? Sorry, no space at the inn if you're looking for Social Security or Medicare .... you haven't worked here in HOW many years?

Lobster · Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:42 pm Post subject:

Well, most of my buds aren't sitting on fat retirement packages. I'm not an American, so Health care would be free after 3 months' residency back home if needed. Haven't worked there for 10 years, but my pension contributions still count. Don't need a visa struggle because I qualify for a family visa now. Right now I could sell the apartment and buy a house back home should I choose that route, and I'd still have money left over. As well, I have savings that would allow me to stop working tomorrow if I chose to. My family isn't exactly poor.

Maybe your personal situation is more severe, but that doesn't mean you should project it on other people. It's like some people who meet burnouts at the bar or deadbeats in the school and assume that FTs all have some loose screws, a shady past and no future. I'm sure there are some who fit the bill, but your gloomy-doomy prognosis is based on assumptions you have no grounds to make. It's highly simplistic and over-generalized.

Maybe I'll be eating dogfood while my buds throw quarters at me as they whizz by in their BMWs on the way to the steak house. Maybe I'll get smeared by a taxi at the airport. But your predictions are like me assuming you're going to soon contract some debilitating chronic illness in the good old USA and have to spend every last cent you have on doctors, and then end up living under an overpass between stints in the joint for petty survival theft until you are finally shot to death by a crackhead for the bottle of cheap wine you're drinking. Your wife and kids won't come to the funeral, because they packed up and left after the bank foreclosed on your house. Yeah, I guess both scenarios are in the range of possibility, but if you want to veer off into worst cases, there you go.

Don't want to be harsh, but you're pretty close to trolling considering the topic of the thread.

RED

jibbs · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 452

Zero · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 1402

Beyond1984 · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 462

"....Reach out your hand if your cup be empty;
If your cup is full may it be again;
Let it be known that there is a fountain
That was not made my the hands of men.

There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night;
And if you go, no one may follow;
That path is for your steps alone...." -"Ripple," Garcia/Hunter

Lobster (Red) and Kev7161 have posted reasons why they love it here. They both have found a measure of security and happiness; their cups are full. Cool

Zero and 7969 warn that those feelings enjoyed by Red and Kev may be ephemereal; their cups may empty in a flash, at a trumpet crash ... Shocked

-HDT

As I have written on another thread, there is an adder in the path which your own feet have worn. You must make tracks into the Unknown. Wink

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

China's been pretty good to me as well. But I put that down to having a positive attitude and making the most of my opportunities. I arrived nearly ten years ago with about $5K as a back up. Now own a house outright that would sell for over $150K tomorrow, a car, a lovely wife, a gorgeous wee daughter, and some savings. As for work I have a great job with at least 6 months fully paid holidays a year and a 12 hour week when I do work, and a very comfortable free apartment. Not really what's on offer back home. Life ain't perfect all the time but sometimes, like now, I reflect on how lucky China has been for me and how my experiences here have helped me retain a sense of wonder, which is no bad thing to have, IMO. If/when my bubble does burst, and if we were forced to, we could always go to UK, despite not having that many ties there anymore except friends and family, and make another life. But I'm not planning that anytime soon.