Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mrsquirrel]

It's been four years or so since I last moved country. That was from Korea back to Thailand.

Four years is a long time to stay in one place. I'm nicely settled in a cushy job with low hours (12 a week). I have a couple of motobikes, I rent a spacious house with a garden, garage and circular drive way ($120 p/m). I've got a nice wife who puts up with my drivel and a good circle of Thai friends.

And I'm prepared to throw this all away (not the wife) in the search of the elusive dollar ( I would rather say pounds but it just doesn't have the same tone sound to it.).

There are other reasons for leaving. Mainly that Thailand is a deadend career wise. It's a country to retire in or tread water in but you have to be at that comfortable doing that. Just now I'm not.

Ideally I would like to spend a couple of years in the desert. I'm convinced experience wise employers really respect anybody who has worked out there. Where as they think people who work in Thailand are here for sex and drugs.

Korea is/was my second choice but taking into account most of the Middle Eastern contracts are single contracts, my wife would have to stay behind for a year or so (which isn't a problem but maybe not fair on my part). So Korea has started to move back into the top slot again.

What worries me was four years ago I hated the place enough to run away. I know now I didn't handle things as well as I could have, I feel better prepared now for business practices in Asia. I'm certainly not green now (other than the slightly jaded colour from four years in Thailand).

Am I doing the right thing? All I want to do is fill up the offshore account again and replenish the savings I have chipped into. Make sure that the missus and I have an easier life in a few years time.

Any comments please, feedback or flames.

[jdog2050]

Do what'cha gotta do man. I'm definitely saving up for school right now, and I can already sense that I'd have gone somewhere much more appealing to my aesthetics if I weren't. So, I personally have a feeling that, especially with the damage that the bush admin has done, this ESL horse won't be around to ride that much longer (I say 25 years), so get it while the gettin's good.

[bejarano-korea]

I'm going to give you some tough love, if I was there with
ya I would bitchslap you back into commonsense mate!
Someone has got to do it!

[mrsquirrel]

That is what I keep thinking.

The grass is alway greener.

The dollars are always greener as well.

My salary is enough to live on comfortably here ($1000 plus a few bits and pieces) but not enough to replenish anything outside of Thailand.

Now I could work harder here. I could double my hours teaching privates. This of course would mean hunting them down as well (language schools in town pay the exceptionally good rate of 350B an hour or so). My rate being 500 an hour. So even putting in another 50 hours a month I'm only pulling in 25000 Baht or 750 dollars a month more for twice the hours. Just doesn't seem worth it when I know that if I slog it out in the desert or the gimchi I can double my salary or more on basic plus throw in a few extra hours here and there and make more.

[bejarano-korea]

But what is the reasons? Is it to buy more mod cons?
It sounds like you have enough money to live in
Thailand very comfortably. I don't think anyone
knows bar yourself why you want to do this.

If you are taking your wife out to Korea (is she Thai?)
you would be subjecting her to some hostile racism
and worse if she went with you to the Middle East. It isn't
just about you anymore and that's what you have to take into
consideration.

That's my two bob's worth on it anyway. You have to decide
not whats just best for you but whats best for the family and
the real reason why you want to go back to a country you
didn't paticulary like in the first place. It or you won't have changed
that much for the end result to be any different.

[nautilus]

Butterflies


You rang, m'lud?

[leebumlik69]

[bejarano-korea]

[TECO]

schit, do a contract in Korea and then re-assess.

After a year of enjoying the hookers, kimchi, and soju, you may be ready to send for the wife.

Depends, though.

How old are you?

It may be financially irresponisble for you to be relocating to a place like Thailand at such a young age.

Work a bit and save, but still have some fun.

[MissSeoul]

[Tommy]

Bejarano, I think you've got some sound advice and really agree with you - why change a great situation? However, at the same time, I understand the need to want to save more money - which seems like what OP wants to do for whatever reasons. Mrsquirrel, from your monthly salary, how much are you banking now, and how much would you like to be banking (in $)?

[mrsquirrel]

[ilovebdt]

[frankly speaking]

I don't see why you think that you are leaving anything. Going away for a year doesn't mean that you will loose anything. You will learn some new things, experience something different and change the pace. Sounds like a good way from getting burnt out. Even if things are great everyday, sometimes that can burn us out. Spice up your life for a year and save some money.

You are lucky that you can save 16,000 baht a month. That is pretty good in Thailand. But if you are planning on having children or want to buy a house and other things it will be difficult.

Work for a year or 2 abroad and go back to a simple low paced life is good. I think that if you were to stay in Thailand for another 10+ years without any changes and without a nest egg, you might end up in trouble. We all have the risk of burn out. Why burn out making enough to get by and end up in the future with nothing to keep you up. A few years abroad with a nest egg of savings will help if you ever get burnt out from teaching.

I think because you have such a nice life that will give you something to hold on to when it gets tough. You are building for a future. Then you can sustain in Thailand for the next 20+years.

It will be tough but it is wise to have financial security when your young rather than just get by. All of sudden you are 50+ burnt out from teaching but stuck because you need to provide for yourself and wife for the next 40 years. No pension, no retirement only what you have saved.

I wish you all of the luck and happiness. I too feel for you. I am from Thailand also where I have a wife, nice home and had a good job. It was hard to leave but for me it was a good choice. My first time in Korea, I was able to save enough to buy our house. 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 1/2 acre of land. I then went back to Thailand for a few years. Worked like you: few hours, little stress, low wages but enough to sustain. Did this back and forth a few times. Now that my wife is expecting, I needed to have some savings to provide a future for him/her. So another year in Korea will provide education for my children throughout his/her life.