I have been here for years longer than I originally intended, I'm starting to feel as though I have already stayed here too long.
I'm one of those people that has opportunities via education and connections to have a rather good salary back in my home country of the United States but the idea of living in a corporate life, even though I haven't even done it yet, just kind of depresses me to think about it.
I'm the first person to warn people that are living the "dream" over here in Asia that it isn't sustainable and that especially if you are in your 20's and have the ability to earn back in your home country, that will almost certainly not be offered to you here.
I have met a few people in Thailand that have corporate jobs and they make very good money but even they will admit that it was a long road to get to that point and that they had to take a big pay cut in order to get that job. They also have to wear professional clothes in a very hot country (that was the number 1 complaint about office jobs.)
In order to get those jobs they already had years of experience with a particular company and were moved over to Thailand to head up a new office. For the people that I have met they have all worked in some sort of finance or web-oriented job and there simply wasn't any people that the company was able to find locally in order to do the job themselves. They will also admit that it is very unlikely that foreigners will be employed in Thailand for professional jobs because a company here can hire 5-10 local people for the same salary that they will need to pay a single foreigner. It's not fair that it is that way (for the locals) but that is just the way it is. The average income of your average professional That is substantially lower than we would expect to make in the west even at entry level.
I remember once talking to a Thai teacher who works in the same school as I do and while I did not initiate the conversation, I was a bit alarmed to find out that she, after more than 20 years of primary school education, was making just a little bit more than I was. I have no background in education and have only been doing this sort of work full-time for 1.5 years and then part-time for around 2.5 after that.
This kind of made me feel sad for her because this is really her upper limit and something similar was offered to me as soon as I walked into the school and was hired. That must really grind her gears. I know it would for me.
However, even at this level of inflated earnings, the amount of money that you can bankroll is going to be very limited with most jobs available in Thailand. I make under $1000 a month and only manage to put around $200 a month into savings. Seeing as how my trip back to the USA is going to be over $1000 just for the flight, that's nearly half a year of savings wiped out simply for an air ticket.
So pretty soon I am going to have to face the music and take my own advice and get out of here. In many ways I feel as though I have already wasted a lot of precious time but I am still glad that I did it.
There are a lot of my American counterparts and even people I went to school with that have NO IDEA that the rest of the world is filled with a lot less BS than the United States is... it is also substantially cheaper.
I have already been offered a job that I totally do not deserve back in the states at a financial institution and the salary is ok I guess. I just wish I wasn't completely bummed about having to move back to my own country. I guess if nothing else I am glad I got to see the other side of the planet and have something to save up for in the future. I'll likely soon be taking my own advice and going back stateside and watching my pennies so I can hopefully save up enough to come back here one day and then never need to go back.
src
I'm sure that American consumerism is going to try really hard to sink its nasty claws into me and turn me into a mindless spending robot, but I'll put a few pics of Thailand on my wall to remind me of the good things that exist in other places around the world.