Canada. I finished my MSc. at the exact moment a government restructure eliminated essentially all the jobs in my field.
So there was a big temptation to just sell all my worldly possessions, move to a growth market, start a company, and just work really hard. I checked out China, but ended up choosing Vietnam because it was in an earlier stage of development, the language used Latin characters (so I didn’t become functionally illiterate), and there was a clearer framework for properly sorting out my immigration paperwork.
A lot of other foreigners I knew early on laughed at me for sorting out that last item. About four fifths of them have been booted out, the rest died. I am left.
I’m not great at running a business, I made many mistakes. Heck, I lost every dime to my name at the worst of it (and nearly died of cholera besides). It worked out in the end, I’m happily married, have achieved reasonable cultural integration, I’ll own a home and probably retire into volunteer work in my mid 40s. However I’d classify the journey as acutely distressing. Some of the things I’ve experienced haunt me, but I think I can live with that.
Thanks for sharing! How come you moved to Vietnam? Where were you living before?
Canada. I finished my MSc. at the exact moment a government restructure eliminated essentially all the jobs in my field.
So there was a big temptation to just sell all my worldly possessions, move to a growth market, start a company, and just work really hard. I checked out China, but ended up choosing Vietnam because it was in an earlier stage of development, the language used Latin characters (so I didn’t become functionally illiterate), and there was a clearer framework for properly sorting out my immigration paperwork.
A lot of other foreigners I knew early on laughed at me for sorting out that last item. About four fifths of them have been booted out, the rest died. I am left.
I’m not great at running a business, I made many mistakes. Heck, I lost every dime to my name at the worst of it (and nearly died of cholera besides). It worked out in the end, I’m happily married, have achieved reasonable cultural integration, I’ll own a home and probably retire into volunteer work in my mid 40s. However I’d classify the journey as acutely distressing. Some of the things I’ve experienced haunt me, but I think I can live with that.