Can You Be Happier Abroad? Maybe You'd Be Happier Back Home?

[xiongmao]

Well I moaned a bit in the post above but I have renewed for another year so it's not too bad I guess.

I'm in Zhejiang Province, near to Hangzhou.

Positives:

My room is nice and I am too attached to it to move.
I do really enjoy teaching it can be a lot of fun but it does affect me if the class is in a bad mood.
The salary is very good here and my retirement fund is growing at a similar rate as it was back in the UK. But I only do 20 hr weeks here, not 40 hrs like in the UK. I did get interviewed for a job in Thailand but after expenses I'd be left with pocket change. Better to live in China and fly business class to Thailand a couple of times a year!
I get paid a retainer over the Summer.
Employer is legit.
Much cleaner here than in the rest of China (particularly the food).
Easier to learn Mandarin here as more people speak it than in places like Guangzhou.
On the high speed train network with Shanghai 2 hours away and Hangzhou 1 hour. Both are great. Shanghai is full of foreigners of course. Hangzhou is a backpacker paradise with exotic night markets and quaint backstreets but there are no backpackers.
Now give zero f*cks about the politics and sh*t going on back home.

Negatives:

East Asia is soulless, particularly in this part of China. I went to a businessman meeting the other night. The expats were white pot bellied bores. The Chinese could only talk about house prices.
Dating is abysmal here, not sure why. My students are so lovely but they obsess over dreamy KPop boys and there is relentless pressure to look pale and thin. Also the girls are very cliquey and outsiders have a miserable existence. Maybe those are clues.
Pretty boring here. Nobody drinks and does stupid sh*t like back home.

[xiongmao]

HappierBackHome has a new home. I've put it in a sub-forum of my Asian dating forum here. I've had this forum for years but it was in an ancient version of phpBB and I just couldn't keep the spammers off. But I've now got a domain name for it instead of running it on a sub-domain.

If anyone wants the HappierBackHome.com domain name then PM me. I'll probably just let it expire. I think it's a good idea for a travel blog (or even an anti-travel blog). But I want to reduce the number of websites I have.

Anyone wants to join my forum mention that you're a HA member in the "Justification" box when you register and I'll put you straight in the Registered Users field. I'm happy for you to post links to stuff you've made (but don't post spammy stuff or other cancer).

[andako]

I constantly have to communicate with expats and migrants and sometimes I think that a person who grew up in another country can never fully integrate into a new environment... This is not just another language, it is a different culture.
For example, many Russians left for the USA and Europe (Germany) in the 90s and 00s, but now a lot of them are turning back. They could not get used to a different mentality. The same happens with many young people who decide to move to Japan.
But a person who was able to settle in a foreign country and enjoys its culture deserves great respect.