Job Discussion Forums

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Hey! I'm curious as to when those of you abroad would decide to come home, if at all. Also, could you give reasons for your answers?? I'm "home" right now, but I may venture abroad again someday (after I get my MA). Maybe the results of this will help put some things into perspective...

[ls650]

I've been overseas TEFLing for about 2.5 years. I have no plans to return in the immediate future. I don't know what I'll be doing five years from now...

[tedkarma]

I expect to retire in Thailand - where my investments and modest social security (should I actually get it) will give me a much higher quality of life. Besides the fact that I love the food, the people, and the sea there.

[Guy Courchesne]

I've married and started a family and home in Mexico City. When global warming gives me the chance to own beach front property in Skukumchuck, British Columbia, I'll consider going home.

[basiltherat]

my wife and son are in the uk and i get back there every 4 to 5 months for a month. not ideal but once our son is old enough to take more control of his own life (probably 4 or 5 more years) my wife and i are planning to quit the uk for good really.
reason ? i think, like a lot of brits do, that generally speaking, the country is a bit of a rip off. take for example council tax. we have a pretty small flat in the uk and are hit with over a thousand quid a year. thats a LOT. crown that with a tv licence costing over 100 quid, water bill of sometimes 150 quid a year. the cream is that compared to the costs of these things, what one gets is *beep* public service. cost of public transport is ridiculous. take a trip by coach from colchester to heathrow airport which costs 22 quid one way. it takes about 6 hours in all cos of having to change coaches. to drive a private vehicle wud take about 90 minutes. thats how silly its become.
frankly, i cant even keep up with all the companies that merge with another thus causing me and a lot of other people to wonder wat electricity company, for example, theyre actually subscribed to. I returned from Syria once to find that the return portion of my coach ticket home was worthless cos the old company had gone out of business. Nice. Thanks a lot.
we're also just a bit tired of all the crass advertising and commercialism of life there. cant seem to get away from it. solution ? love it and leave it.
wanna see a doctor in the uk ? gotta wait sometimes up to 2 weeks ! mmm no, i dont think so. here in damascus, for example , you can find a doctor to see within minutes ( no kidding !) and thats not because foreigners are given any sort of priority. and i can see him for as long as i like within reason (ulike the uk where i believe its max 6 minutes per patient). cost is minimal compared to my income and even the locals' incomes. the treatment is excellent, too. im quite sure there are plenty of other countries in the world where costs are more just and service is better quality than in the uk.
hope our son grows up quick. he knows our plans but he might have different ideas/ambitions/views. smarter, too.
best
basil

[Perpetual Traveller]

Right now I am perfectly happy swanning about the world but I think there is a corner of my mind that still calls Australia home (say, what great title for a song, someone should use that ). I think the reason that my answer has differed from most of you who have posted so far is largely due to the fact that you are more settled than I am. When I begin my job in Japan next year it will be the seventh country I have worked in... in five years.

Of course circumstances change, I may find a country that I feel more at home in than Oz or my personal situation may well change. Then again I may wake up one morning and think; 'I'm sick of this globe-trotting malarky, I want to go home!' not saying it's very likely (although my parents live in hope), but you never know.

PT

[Chris_Crossley]

When I first came to Wuhan, it was with the intention of staying one year and then going back. I stayed two, and then went back to the UK, only to discover that I drew a complete blank when it came to trying to get a TEFL job. I had already qualified as a secondary school teacher of science eight years before but I had drawn a complete blank as regards getting a job, which was why I (eventually) switched to TEFL.

Eight weeks after fruitlessly searching for a job, I returned to China 23 months ago and have been here ever since, all but the first half-month back in Wuhan. By the time I had gone home, I had a (Chinese) wife, but, since returning, I have gained a child (sweet little 19-month-old girl now), but, more importantly, I have gained both a home (which I share legally with my other half, as both our signatures are on the documents) and a career teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which commands a hell of a lot more dosh than what I was getting when I first came out here four years ago.

Hence, at the moment, my answer to the poll is "maybe someday", depending upon the circumstances. If both home life and career remain good, I could stay here longer. Once the mortgage is paid off, at least my wife and I have an asset to fall back on, something that not many TEFLers have when they go abroad, so I am quite pleasantly surprised by the way things have turned out, especially as, back in my formative days of TEFL, I was not exactly positive towards Wuhan as regards my attitude to it. Still, I live on the extreme south side of the city away from the ghastly pollution and overcrowding, but, occasionally, I still have to venture into it, but not to work and back, thank goodness.....

[Gregor]

I'm going back to live in the U.S., for the first time in ten years, early next year.
I'd be perfectly happy staying in China, I think, if that's what my wife wanted to do. But she wants to leave China, for reasons similar to ours, for wanting to leave our own countries. Also, many reasons similar to a lot of jaded China posters who are sick of the BS you have to deal with in China.
My wife is Chinese. Many of you, including Jizzo, know this.
But I can dig where she's coming from. She's got a modest catering business going on (her pizza rocks), but the government makes it even more difficult and arguably more expensive than the U.S. government to make it a legitimate venture, with even a small take-away shop/restaurant. It's just absurd.
Combine that with our wish to be on equal legal footing, wherever we are. If China would give me a Green Card for being married to her, and allow me some freedom to pursue our own destinies, that would be great. But they don't. I can't own a school because I'm not Chinese. My wife can't help because she doesn't have a degree in English.
On the other hand, once she has her U.S. Green Card, we're on pretty much equal footing anywhere in the world we decide to go EXCEPT mainland China.
She's still Chinese, true, but with permanent residence in the U.S., other countries treat her as effectively American, for purposes of whatever visas we can get.
So it's back to the U.S. for a year or three.
Anyway, I want to play in a band again. I really miss that. I could do that in most SE Asian countries (with big expat communities and clubs to play in), but it's been a big dud in China.

[Girl Scout]

My husband and I made a compromise when we came to Asia for the second time. He said he would only stay for five years. I have four years left to enjoy this life.

I have a house back in the states I bought with the money I made in Taiwan. All my other assets are also in the US. As much as I like living in Asia, everything I own is in America. I have to back eventually.

[Justin Trullinger]

I chose "maybe someday," because until you make very concrete plans, you just never know. And I've never been much into concrete plans.

I was a little confused when I saw the subject line- My first response was, well, I came home last night around three, I think. (And I have the headache to prove it.)

I could move back to the US, if circumstances make it seem like a good idea, but the thought of it as home has faded over the years.

Justin

[QatarChic]

[Hod]

This thread, it�s all a bit one sided, isn�t it?

The UK�s not exactly the Bronx, not yet anyway. And it�s always been expensive, it just seems more so when you return from abroad. Apart from petrol, I don�t reckon things in the UK have got more pricey, and people who only ever have 100 pounds at the end of each month are either:

1. In a bad job
2. Crap with money
3. Lying
4. This 100 pounds is after investing in mortgages and other saving accounts (all money in the bank).

I remember saying I�d never live in the UK again, and saying it time and time again even as I was getting more and more burned out teaching. Not only was it getting boring, in five years I�d saved bugger all money.

Been back in the UK since July. I�m not gonna defend it. I�m already planning to retire to Asia � I�d much rather be living there right now too. Yep, UK tax sux, and I�m not a fan of the people amongst other things. I was also nodding in agreement with the medical comments above, but even after bills, pensions, share schemes, premium bonds and a few other savings thingies, I still have over 300 pounds to spare each month. I�m not some exec, and certainly no financial wiz. I get just under 30K.

Having a good job is important to me. Outside of teaching, my career options abroad were limited, but not so in the UK and EU. Remember, this TEFLy thing is quite new. No one�s grandparents, or maybe parents, were TEFL teachers. Life�s gonna be damn hard for all older folk in 30 years. No one knows how TEFL teachers will fare after retirement. Never say never.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

To try to balance this a bit more, here's a perspective from the other side of the pond:

Even though there are days I wish I were abroad, I usually appreciate being in my home country, being blessed with the job I have. There are virtually no problems when it comes to small things like shopping or getting what you want when you go out. I know that communication difficulties make life abroad more interesting, but they can also be a headache.

My classroom is also modern, so I don't have to worry about the a/c or heat going out, or getting chalk all over my suit (white boards rule, and I have a computer projector too...sweeet). Not to mention the fact that the opportunities for my students to use what they've learned in class far exceed those in their home countries. There's a whole new dimension to the job when it's on your home turf.

I'm now able to stand back and see my culture from a new perspective (gee, everyone drives here; people in restaurants are unusually friendly; people sure do eat a lot!; etc), so each day does hold a bit of excitement. And I always have my international students to remind me of the life I've left behind.

Yes, things are expensive, and yes the government sucks, but at least here you can find pretty much anything you want, and people are allowed to talk about the government (hell, even criticize it!). And I never get a craving that I can't satisfy (try getting a sirloin steak in rural China) and people know how to queue. Oh yeah, and I love my car.

Hope I didn't come across as haughty, I just wanted to show that things aren't always all bad at home.

[joshua2004]

I am home.

I plan to stay in Mexico several years and then make my home in another country. I have no plans to ever return to the USA. I prefer it here.

[Cdaniels]