Q1. Where did you move to and when?

I moved to Nanjing, China in August of 2011.

Q2. How long did you work in Thailand?

I lived and worked in Bangkok for roughly 9 1/2 years.

Q3. What was your main reason for moving?

I wanted specific experience in a specific international curriculum that was not available to me in Bangkok. Kind of a Catch-22 situation. I couldn't get into the schools I wanted to work at without this experience, but couldn't get the experience there without already having it. So I had to leave to get it.

Q4. What are the advantages of working where you are now compared to Thailand?

The aforementioned professional experience and development, the opportunities it should hopefully allow to materialize in the future, and the money. It was strictly a choice made to enhance my career possibilities.

Q5. What do you miss about life in Thailand?

Seeing my fiance regularly, friends, food, nightlife, weather, people, ease of everyday life, beach getaways to Phuket or mountain escapes to Chiang Mai/Rai, cleanliness (yes, Chinese cleaners don't have any idea of what cleaning is) and the inexpensiveness of it all. Bangkok is better in nearly every way in my opinion. The only thing better in Nanjing is that it does have a proper Spring and Autumn, which is nice and it is a fairly pedestrian friendly city with real sidewalks to walk on. Watch out for the cars and electric bikes though.

Q6. Would you advise a new teacher to seek work in Thailand or where you are now?

It depends on what they teach. I would definitely advise against coming here to teach ESL. I just don't see the salaries as being very good for that here. You couldn't live well in my opinion on the salaries they offer. If they want to enjoy life then they shouldn't come here to Nanjing. If they want to come and work at an international school or at a Chinese school running an international curriculum then it is a different story. In that case if they want to earn money, advance their careers, and just see something different for a couple years then they should keep the option on the table. Nanjing probably isn't all that bad actually, but after nearly 10 years in Bangkok this place just isn't doing it for me.

Q7. Any plans to return to Thailand one day?

Absolutely. This is a temporary thing. A three year hitch and then I'll try to get into a good international school with solid curriculum experience and a professional leadership position under my belt. I also have a Thai fiance and we own and operate a small business in Bangkok, which is doing fairly well.

Q8. Anything else you'd like to add?

I get a pretty decent one bedroom apartment in the city near my job paid for by the school. An annual flight home to the United States, good health care coverage and an after tax income of about 118,000 baht a month. I am here to work and that's what I do so I'm saving about 95-100,000 baht a month in additon to getting great experience. My school has paid for me to do professional development in Hong Kong twice and KL, I'll go to Africa on a school trip for two weeks and I get 11 weeks paid vacation a year. But it is a really challenging job and there are high expectations. It is a high profile teaching job and and highly scrutinized with mutiple lesson observations a year by multiple people, work scrutiny by peers, meetings out the kazoo, a million people to please, many of them unreasonable...you get the idea. I start the work day at 7:30 am and although I am free to leave at 3:30pm I usually leave around 5:30 or 6 on average and stay as late as 8pm often. This is a big reason why I save 100,000 baht a month. I go home and fall face first on my bed.