Moving to (Insert Country)
I feel i need to point out something to my mystery poster. I had a conversation with my brother last night in which he pointed out that there was a great deal of truth to what you commented about, to which I agree. I simply don't need to hear it anymore as I hear it from a lot of people, not only that but it isn't easy for me to go and work in another country as I don't have an official degree. I did go to college for a long time and was very close to completing a degree in graphic arts, but eventually it became a little beyond me and I lost interest in the program. I did take other classes for the next couple years, and decided at some point that I wanted to finish my graphic arts degree. But it had been over 5 years since I started the program and would have had to start from scratch. I couldn't really ever afford to go to school in the first place, I certainly couldn't start from scratch. Anyhow not having a degree really limits my range of countries I can work in, in fact it's easier for me to work in China than it is to work in the US. At 29 i am not really sure about my ability to sit in a classroom for another 4 years, that has never been a good way for me to learn. I am about half way through my English Cert, and of course you can buy degrees these days. However, the legitimacy of those and how well they hold up is always in question. My true passion has been music for a long time, but i have never been very good. I am pretty good at wiring up electric guitars and making them do cool things, running a decent second hand music store with upgraded instruments has always been one of my dreams. I am trying to build up inventory over the next few years. I am a pretty good fiction writer and would love a degree in creative writing.
posted by goemonronin at 10:44 PM
5 Comments:
Well, once you get your English cert, I suggest you go to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia post haste. You will make similar or more money teaching English but quality of life will be far superior. If you really want to stay in China there are only two places I know of that are worth being in. One is Yunnan, particularly Kunming or Dali. The other is Shanghai.
As a follow up, you at least owe it to yourself to visit Thailand. The biggest cost is the plane ticket (which should only be a few hundred dollars), and once you are there, you can get a room for maybe $5 a day (a shared room in Khao sanh road) and get great meals for $1-2 dollars each if eat Thai food. Vietnam is even closer and cheaper, you could even take a hard seat train there if you're really strapped for cash.
It seems like China is the only place in Asia you've ever been, and you're really selling yourself short if you limit your opportunities to places like Wuhan and Zhengzhou. Sure, without a college degree, you probably can't get a job right now in Japan or Korea. But you should be able to get work in any other country in Asia, and most of them have an even lower cost of living than China. And if you're going to stay in China, at least go somewhere where you can make some more money and that isn't swarming with nose-picking bumpkins staring and hooting at you all day. Shanghai, for example, has so much job opportunity, higher wages (you could probably get $20-30/hour if you halfway tried), more sophisticated people and a much better music scene. Kunming has fresh air, nice weather, lots of interesting ethnic minority people, who are generally much cooler than Han people, and pot grows wild everywhere so you can pick it yourself or make hash, if you're into that.
Mr. Anonymous sounds like one of those Americans that give us a bad name in other countries... Don't even know if he/she is American or not - just an example.
Thomas ...
I'm not sure why you think "Anonymous" may be the type of person who gives Americans a bad name. I can't comment about China, but his/her remarks about Thailand and Vietnam are pretty much on target. Vietnam is an industrious, up and coming country with great beauty and wonderful people ... you would have a hard time finding any animosity there considering how much "we" worked them over 35-40 years ago.
Thailand is the land of smiles ... again, wonderful people and lots to see. You definitely could do worse than spend a lot of time there.
But maybe "Anonymous" has said other things that sound offensive.
Anyway, my two cents on this.
Patrick
It does not matter what people say. Reeds rattle in the wind and make more sense. Do what you want to do and stop getting distracted by rattling reeds, and remember two cents is worth two cents.
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