Returning home

Discussion Greater Forumosa
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I left Taiwan at the end of 2011. I remember reading stories about people returning home. My goal in writing this is to give a fair analysis of returning to the United States. I lived in Taiwan from 2007-2011. First, I will say that I enjoyed Taiwan and didn’t leave because I didn’t like Taiwan.

I will say that if one has never worked in their home country before moving abroad right after college, it can be tough to obtain gainful employment back home. Now, I am sure that it is easier if you have a degree in computer science, or a medical degree. However, for those with just a B.A. in Humanities it can be difficult. If it was not for living with my parents from 2012-2014, I would have basically been living in poverty. It took me two years to find a job. One problem is that hiring managers in the United States only want to hire you if you live in the city where the job is located. That can be frustrating for those of us who have been all over the world. I have been to 45 countries and it is crazy to think that I would not move for a good job. However, American HR people are used to people who don’t want to relocate.

Returning to your home country after living in Asia can be a challenge. Everyone has a different experience, depending on your previous work experience, family support, and where you live.

After some challenging times, I did land a job with the Internal Revenue Service. Things are starting to get better. I even signed a contract to purchase a small apartment building, which we are still negotiating. We have not closed on the building yet. I have a simple government job, I am not getting rich. I work a part-time job and invest the money from that job in real estate.

I continue to travel and will teach ESL in the Ukraine for two weeks this summer. Furthermore, I am hoping to summit Mount Aconcagua in Argentina December 1-24.

My goal is to continue to travel and work in the United States.

For those of you thinking about returning home, a successful repatriation can happen. There will be struggles and there won’t be the excitement of moving to a new country like when you moved to Taiwan or another Asian country from your homeland. There are struggles, however, I would have to say that it is worth not having to switch jobs every year. Maybe your experience in Taiwan has been better, but I think I had four jobs in four years. It is hard work, but it can be worth reconnecting with friends. Plus, you don’t have to give up traveling just because you returned to your home country. I am hoping to visit my 46th and 47th country in 2018. If you have any questions about returning home, feel free to PM me.

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I also want to add that you may have a hard time even getting a job at McDonalds or some other $10 an hour job to get by when returning home. After, several years of experience in Taiwan on your resume, people will think you are over qualified to work a job at McDonalds, Walmart, etc. I interviewed for a job doing inventory for retail stores and they passed me up. It was unfathomable. The person interviewing me couldn’t even speak a proper sentence. So, it can be really hard just getting some job to get by while looking for something long term. It may be easier to find casual work in large cities. Unfortunately, I lived in a small town and it was impossible to even find casual work. I hate to work online for two years, working on websites, doing SEO, writing content.

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I thought it was quite common for people to just pack their stuff and move to another city for a new job?

Definitely true, not only in the us.

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rantanplan,
From my experience, I would say that it is hard getting an entry level professional job if you don’t live in the city where the job is. Of course, a seasoned professional can land a job in another city if they are more qualified than anyone in that location.

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Even though I had no interest in still teaching ESL after almost 8 years of doing so, I looked to universities, and managed to find a pretty well paying ESL job within weeks of arriving back in Canada. It was initially a temp job, but after the summer, I could have easily extended to full-time. Instead, in the fall of 2010 I found a very poor paying entry level civil servant job ($12/hr) that had the potential (through internal opportunities) to eventually become a 6 figure paying gig. I supplemented it with music teaching and paper marking at University until I got that coveted job I had been waiting for. And now I have finally hit $80K, and next year ( finally!!) I will be over the $100K mark. It did take 8 years of very hard work though … I guess in retrospect, it was pretty much starting from scratch again.

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Noel,
Great story. I am happy to hear that someone else has a success story to share about returning home. I actually put in for a Budget Analyst job with the United States government that will eventually take me to $125,000 a year. I applied for Pensacola, Florida.

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Not that it all roses … For the most part I love my job but … Now I have to deal with $100K job problems - Insane shift work with 60 hr work weeks and often 10 hr+/wk overtime ( not optional), and a very high stress job with chances of injury, etc. .

Still, it has been worth it, especially with a cushy defined benefits pension that will be at $30k/ yr if I retire in 6 yrs (50 yrs old/13 yrs of service), and 40k if I wait for 11 yrs (55 yrs old/18 years of service). Not to mention the crazy shit I see on a daily basis …

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Would you ever return to Taiwan?

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Yeah I absolutely would. I talked about it a fair bit in the retiring early thread (I think that’s what it was called). I always felt really welcomed in Taiwan and love the people and nature and the general vibe of Taipei (not for everyone I know).

I speak fluent Mandarin and read it as well, I used to be able to write it but pretty much forgot how, which definitely helps in getting by in Taiwan. That being said there are the bigger issues of what my wife thinks and my son’s education. We would both be 50 when we could (earliest) move to Taiwan, and my son would be around 11 years old. We would likely homeschool him in that Chinese School be too much at that age in my opinion. With my pension I could easily do ESL teaching for 15 hours a week or something like that just for a Visa and then get by aprc and open work permit after five years.

As of right now we are also considering Malaysia (Penang) and Mexico. If I work to 55, then the money situation isn’t really an issue no matter where we live. If I worked only to 50 when my pension is around 30,000 Canadian year which equals about 60,000 NT a month, then money will be a little bit of a problem until our investments mature a bit more ( though still pretty good though). But the working 15 hours a week would more than make up for that.

Regardless we still have a few years before we need to make up our minds.

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The funny thing is that I have not been to Taiwan since 2012. It has been almost six years since I last set foot in Taiwan, during the summer of 2012.

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@steelersman & @Noel
i take it that your current is not in any way affiliated with your time in taiwan or your chinese language expertise. did you initially look for something like that when you returned?

i’d say i would love to go back there 1-2 a year for holidays but for working, it would have to be a really sweet offer to consider that(which i don’t see happening anytime soon^^)

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I taught English in Taiwan. Now, I work for the IRS, my experience is not related. I got my current job based on my education.

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My Chinese ability was definitely a factor in my getting hired. I use it about once a month or so in my job, sometimes less or more. I am not in teaching anymore, that is for sure - I taught for about 8 years off and on in Taiwan. My job right now, if you are interested in specific details, feel free to pm me.

Really, with the world I live in now, I would love to move back to Taiwan, the lack of threats of physical violence alone is very attractive to me and my family, but I do live in Winnipeg right now, which for Canada is violent and cold. But, we will see what the future brings.

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How’d Winnipeg get so violent?
Can understand the cold part, but where’s the unsafe factor coming from if you can offer a bit more details?

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i also found that quite funny. you’d think that people in that climate have better things in mind than going out getting sh*tfaced or spraying graffitis. on the other hand, domestic violence might be a serious problem if you’re stuck with your “loved ones” 24/7

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but is it as bad as walking down Compton in LA during the dark?
Can people walk in downtown Winnipeg safely at any time of any season?
Is there a downtown to walk around?

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no idea, never walked through those areas during night time. i guess you could get a bloody nose in winnipeg if you wear an l.a. kings shirt. vice versa not so much, who cares about canada’s game in la?

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Probably a cop.

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Here are the statistics from the most recent crime severity index, where Manitoba is the highest ranking province for violent crime ( the territories not included in that). Although it is from 2016, imho, it has only gotten worse since then:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/legal51a-eng.htm

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Thanks.
Interesting that the far north territories/provinces have a truly high crime index. Perhaps alcohol-related due to nothing else better to do during cold winter months. Quebec and Ontario are the lowest. Always wanted to visit QC.