Expatriate whining

Bilbo: "Can you promise that I will come back?"
Gandalf: "No. And if you do... you will not be the same."
(The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

Meanwhile, I have been in Asia for 20 months now. I haven't had a dull moment yet. I know I do not have the social security of the European wellfare society here and I know I earn relatively little compared to what the same job would get me in Europe. But I feel alive and happy here, whereas in Europe life feels like one big process of slowly rotting away, until death.

Like my last blog, this one will be about paperwork. The ridiculous amounts of unnessecary paperwork, required to get a Thai work permit, to be precise. This time such paperwork took me to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. I have to admit it is nice to be able to see something of the country this way, although I would rather do sightseeing in my own time and at my own pace.

Chiang Mai is an interesting city with a lot of old temples, nice restaurants and busy markets. It gets many foreign tourists - a bit more than it deserves in my opinion. Besides the obvious backpackers and retired older western people, Chinese tour companies have discovered the place too. But it is still a relaxing place to spend a couple of days, lacking the enormity, pollution and insane traffic of Bangkok.

The paper in question was a TOEIC test. Or rather: a good result in the test, thus proving my proficiency in English. Thai rules stipulate that all foreigners should do a TOEIC to get a teacher's license, except for Americans, Australians and Brits. For some reason, these nationalities are considered fluent in English - yet how about American Hispanics or South Africans? Maybe the Thai bureaucracy has not discovered the existence of such people yet.

The test sets you back 1,500 baht, and the journey to Chiang Mai and accomodation there were not free either. But that may well have been one of the reasons why the ministry made the test mandatory in the first place. I have that suspicion because nobody really cares much about how well you perform, as long as you do the test. The director of the test institute may have friends in the government - that's how things work in this part of the world.

The blogosphere created by western expats in Thailand is usually rather negative. Read for example this recent story on CNN's iReport:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-985267

Most of the whining is justified. I agree with most of the points made. Yet I do not want to copy this negativity too much. It leaves out the many positive sides of living and working here. So why are these expats so negative about Thailand? I think there are two problems here.

First problem: people who write blogs use them as a way to channel frustrations. Blogs tend to overemphasize negative aspects. But that does not mean these aspects do not exist! If Thailand wants to improve its education, it should start listening to complaints, and make it easier for qualified foreign teachers to work here.

Secondly: I have the impression that Thailand is considered 'easy' by both tourists and expat workers. Most of the expats are relatively 'green'. Thailand is their first Asian country, or perhaps they would not consider working in another Asian country anyway. But I do not think the perception of Thailand as 'easy' is entirely justified. Thais are mostly Theravada Buddhists. They value what they call 'sanuk' above anything else. Sanuk means more or less: 'happiness for everybody'. If you complain about somebody's behaviour, that somebody will feel bad. Therefore, Thais ignore bad or rude behaviour and don't complain. This has created the misconception among westerners that you 'can do anything' in Thailand without crossing culturally defined sensitivities or values. Yet in fact, many Thai people are shocked and scandalized when they see -for example- tourists half-naked or drunk in public, even though they don't show it. Thus the image of this country as a cheap and easy holiday destination where anything goes continues.

The TOEIC test went okay, by the way. Halfway through the listening test, there was a monsoon storm with heavy lightning, which caused a powercut. We had to wait a couple of minutes until the electricity came back and the record continued playing. It did not matter. My score was nearly perfect. Now that it is clear beyond doubt that I have mastered English, I can try my luck at Thai.