Random Monday's: Figuring Out What You Want / Where You Want To Be
Hello Steemian Friends,
What's up? Hope everyone had a great weekend and that you are looking forward to the week ahead!
For some of you that have been in touch with us or have followed us for sometime know that we're based out in Bangkok and have been for the past year and a bit. We came to Bangkok from London in January 2017 as Sam knew he wanted to do some further studies to enhance an area of interest: business and prospects for a career in that field. He applied to a Thai University and enrolled in a MBA course, which started in May last year. Yes, Thai Universities and schooling systems are different than most parts of the world and they start in May. Becca decided to come along for the journey as she had never been to Asia before (okay, Maldives for a 10 day family holiday) and so suddenly she took the decision to leave all that she has known to try it out in an unfamiliar continent - Asia. Sometimes one has to take risks to know the unknown. She took the leap and she is enjoying it thoroughly. Yes, there are a few things back in Europe (mainly back in Portugal) that she misses like her family, friends and certain ways of living and life in general. She knows she can easily go back to that, yet when she is back there, she misses something here. You cannot win!
Where We Are Now
Here's where we're at:
Sam's situation: In his last semester of his MBA, which finishes at the end of August (2018), however that's not the end of his degree. Of course, the University has an 'extra' last semester for the exams and thesis defense. Therefore, his 'actual' end date for his degree will be by late November/December depending on thesis defense oral exam. On top of this, he's teaching part-time (on his days off Uni and weekends) to earn an income to sustain his day-to-day life. He spent the first year (January 2017 - January 2018) on his savings that he saved over the four years working in London, but it has come to a point where he does not want to spend anymore of it....save some for a rainy day and future plans.
Becca's situation: Used the first part of 2017 exploring Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia. She moved to Siem Reap in April 2017 and obtained a business visa for six months as she found an "expenses only and $200 a month" job in her field of study: conservation. She loved the job, but there were days where she did nothing and the long-term prospects were hampered by the Cambodia government favoring more revenue driven projects rather than community/conservation projects. This meant her organisation's main project in the pipeline was delayed and delayed. Would you waste your time and life to this bureaucratic nightmare? No, therefore after the six months visa was up, she moved back to Bangkok to be with Sam and decided to give teaching a shot. Becca obtained a 120-hour TOEFL certificate before coming out to Asia and even received a distinction. Once back in Bangkok, it only took her two weeks to find a teaching job as there are so many language schools looking for (native speaking young female) foreigners to teach Thai kids. Yes, some job applications can be that specific and it wouldn't be seen as discrimination here. Some jobs ask for pale skin (basically saying white without being racist) and attractive female assistant and they will get a pale skin and attractive female assistant. You see this for advertising and marketing roles. Anyway, back to the matter, she has taken a liking to teach, but her heart will always be in conservation. Luckily, for her, the organisation she's teaching for loves her to bits and wants her to sign a full-time contract (which will come with the holy grail for foreigners who desperately want to stay in Thailand legally - a work permit...though the ultimate one is a residency permit), which will mean she won't need to do these visa-runs outside the country every other month. Yet, there's always a catch. A full-time contract means a one year contract (as a work permit is yearly), working 6 days a week (Friday's off), 09:00-19:00 (10 hours), 14 paid holiday days (cannot be used at once - maximum seven days at a time), 10 paid days given at Christmas (but cannot use personal holidays on top, so cannot use personal holidays before and/or after those 10 days) and 5 paid days for Songkran (Thai New Year - mid-April, same conditions about personal holidays), but 30 paid sick days... All for $1,300 a month (before tax). The offer came after her first month, so the beginning of this year and she has put it off/delayed her response as she misses her family and wants to make the trip back to Portugal worth it. Why spend $600-$700 for a flight; just for a week back home? She's going back at the end of June for three months, which wouldn't have been granted if she signed the contract and would have been fined 20,000 baht (just over $600) for breaking the contract. When she comes back they (the language school) want her to sign the contract. We hate being pressured into doing things, but she doesn't mind the job, so it's still an option. The offer will always be on the table and probably will be for a while.
Figuring Out What You Want
Damn! Finally, the main context! Sorry for the long background story to the point of this post, but we wanted to ensure YOU (our reader) understand where we are in life. If you were expecting to find some incredible answer to the title of this post then this post won't give you that here. This post and any Random Monday post is about writing out what has been in our heads lately and maybe, just maybe a revelation might come out by penning (in this case, typing) it all down. So far, nothing....still nothing.....one more time (scratches head).....nothing! Well, let's get back to the question. What do you want? Well, we know what we don't want and that's working to live and to go back to old habits and old routine. Sam lived in London before Becca came into the scene and even before he had a girlfriend; he was saving at least $250-$500 a month for the future - the unknown future - to treat his future girlfriend, for his masters and a deposit on a mortgage. It was all for something in the distant. Whereas, all of his friends were spending every dime of what they earned. Different lifestyle habits and priorities for that matter. We feel like less people we know are saving up as we have talked to our friends and they said that their goal only gets further and further away, so what is the point of saving up, if it will take ages to reach! Why not live in the moment? There is some truth to that, but since Sam has met Becca, he has treated her to many trips around Europe and Asia and he is just about to finish his masters. All because he thought of the future and saved where he could. Yes, he did miss out on a few cool rooftop parties, but he wouldn't have done it any differently. The mortgage isn't on his mind anymore, but monthly contributions still go towards that savings account....just in case. But, what now? Do we get a job to save up for that two week holiday we get every year or do we do something more? Do we stick around on a shitty salary and we bound to contract or do we find ourselves something else? Do we want to be here or do we want to be there? Every where and every thing will have it's pros and cons, but it's about figuring out what YOU want. Sam is more money oriented, not in terms of earning for a materialist need, but in terms of earning for value and saving up for the unknown future. Becca finds her core values are in life experiences. This can be evident in that Cambodia job, in which, Sam would have steered clear of that (because you're earning $6-7 a day), but Becca did it for the experience. One can say we have two different goals, but goals can change and ultimately we compliment each other. Our main goal is the same: live life to the fullest!
Where You Want To Be
We want to be in a place where we can truly feel happy. A place where we are working because we want to do that work and a place where our contribution is valued and valid. We're at that point where Sam soon needs to look into options for after his MBA and we need to figure out a place to be. The funny thing is, we are writing this to an online community. Which got us thinking does where matter? Can we be location independent? We often think about should we be looking at jobs in this and that location, but really we should be looking at us. What can we do? What are skill sets? How can we apply it to the real and online world in order to make a living? Do it because we love to do it and then the rest should follow. We might make cents at the beginning (like this post will probably make), but we might make millions. Yet, ultimately, we did what we wanted to do and not what we were "expected" to do.
We would love to hear from our readers and followers about what you think. All opinion matter as we consulted our friends and family many times as we have been thinking about this since the beginning of this year. Yes, 2018 will be known to us as the 'Year of Worry And Deciding The Future'! LOL
Stay Classy Steemians!
Random Monday’s is a post written by the @travelling-two every Monday to keep their blog spontaneous and to not focus solely on travel, food, nature and their other passions.
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Life has a funny way of guiding us in the right direction when needed. Keep doing what you are doing, it'll all come together in the end. You both have bright futures ahead :)
Life does throw some surprises and we feel more than ever that this next step can determine a lot and that's why it's been on our minds. We're mid to late 20's, both with masters, but unsure of what we TRULY want to do. We have an idea of what we want to do, but we know we're not at that point or have the means of getting it. Maybe we should just keeping plugging along and eventually the answer will come, but we have never played it that way before. There has always been a plan. Thanks for your comment and belief in us! That makes one of us :p