Q1. Where did you move to and when?

At the end of my contract last year (2016), I moved to Dubai, UAE.

Q2. How long did you work in Thailand?

From 2013 to 2016.

Q3. What was your main reason for moving?

There's this myth about Bangkok that it's a crazy party city. It's not true. It's a big city. It's a crowded city. It's a polluted city. But I never found it to be exciting. Rather, I felt that it was boring and that I had no energy.

When it's not hot and humid, it's rainy and humid and this ends up draining you.

Thai people are passive-aggressive. Not all, but those who work in education & immigration sure are.

I was jealous at a lot of people but I always had a fair-play attitude towards the whole thing and thought how I needed to improve myself, and not tear my (Thai or foreign) colleague down. Just saying.

It was time for me to face bigger challenges knowing that I'll have a chance of accomplishing something -- whereas in Thailand, we are all very limited in terms of progress. I'd even say that we have zero chance of accomplishing something new.

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

This is a tough question. Weather is hellish, but I find I can save much more than when I was in Thailand.

The expat community here is much more varied and there are people from all over the world.

I can save more money and earn more money. My life in Dubai is by no means perfect but at least I feel my life is going somewhere compared to all those days and nights in Thailand where every day was the same, I'd suffer working with rotten Thai staff and foreign teachers, and barely got paid.

Q5. What do you miss about life in Thailand?

Thai people are a little uptight. At the same time, there's this respectful distance that allows for both people to "save face". Live and let live attitude. You do what you want with your life, and I'll do the same. Tolerance. It's nice when people are gentle and patient. In Thailand, I learned that happiness comes within. This sounds cheesy, but Thailand will always have a special place in my heart because of memories I made there, and friends and just moments where I had a peace of mind.

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

No, not in Thailand. When a newbie is looking to start teaching, it's only right that they start with something where they feel accomplished and not disappointed at every turn. If you start teaching in Thailand, you'll get disappointed a lot, and that will lead to depression. I wouldn't want another human being to get depressed because people and culture around him (or her) are "can't do".

Q7. Any plans to return to Thailand one day?

I'm in Thailand visiting my girlfriend so I don't see why not.

Q8. Anything else you'd like to add?

My biggest disappointment was the expat community in Bangkok. At one point, I accepted that Thai people working in education and immigration are jaded and that they will make your life miserable because they are miserable but I was hoping that expats would be nicer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

So I'd like to add: How about we stop making lives miserable for each other? If you see a fellow teacher struggling but you can't or don't want to help, how about you say nothing at all?

Finding flaws in other people makes us feel better with our lives better because that means we did something right with our life (compared to the other guy)

Men have it so hard in Thailand. Guys in general have so much pressure because we're not allowed to vent or have a hard time, and we're supposed to be a good provider, rich, strong, invulnerable and never ask for any help. That's not right.

Men, if you can't say something nice about your fellow teacher, don't spread gossip, play office politics and try to take down your fellow expat who's probably suffering just like you did at some point. Nothing to be jealous of. Nobody's driving a Porsche here. Show some humanity.

This disappointed me much more than Thai people ever did. How about we give each other a break? We're all ashamed. We all messed up at some point in our lives. We don't have to judge each other and be jerks to each other.