Before
April 2002, I hardly heard the news from Pink. That, in
a way, is typical since we hardly communicated back to the
college years. I probably heard of Pink from
ปุ้ย from somewhere I don't actually remember that
she was living abroad and having a daughter.
Then
one day in the late of April, we started exchanging couple
of emails telling each other life's story and how we were
doing. Again, I don't recall exactly how it started. Never
mind. Here are some great parts in her emails that, in my
point of view, worth reading. She tells it all in passionately
factual fashion about ongoing life in England.
In
brief, Pink is married to an Englishman called Granville
who is a civil engineer working in an international engineering
firm with one 2 1/2 years old daughter. She is now working
as a Marketing Product Manager in Marketing department
of Brother UK. (The position looks daunting to
me because it's BIG. :) She describes her current work as
following :
"looking
after Home Fashion Products: domestic sewing machine &
industrial sewing machine. Doing all marketing activities,
advertising, PR, promotions, exhibitions with a lot of
travelling both in the UK and overseas"
All
right, guys. Wait no longer. Here is what has become of
one of our friends who, in my opinion, is one of the most
suitable persons to be in the column 'Alive & Kicking'.
Here
in her own words is what's in the emails we exchanged. Use
your imagination a little bit to fill the gap of the big
picture.
"I've
been married since April 96 so it has been nearly 7 years
now (sounds a very long time!). We have 1 daughter called
Claudia, she will be 3 this July (2003) so hopefully she
will be less naughty! She goes to nursery full time 5
days a week as we both work full time in different towns
from where we live. We have no one to look after her so
the best place is the nursery which is like a small version
of kindergarten. She loves to go there and we do know
that she is very happy and enjoying herself very much
which is the most important factors that we send her despite
the fact that we have to pay about ?500 a month for her
to be there!!!
"Well, life in UK is not as marvellous as many Asian
people think. Once you live in it then you will know.
Permanently paying out for everything all the time and
you can not avoid, for example we are paying council tax
of ?100 per month when they come to collect the rubbish
(bin) once a week. Personally, the public schools here
are not as good as our private ones in BKK although they
are free. If you can afford then the private one is better.
When you want to see a doctor as you are in pain, you
have to queue and I'm talking between tomorrow and 2 weeks
whenever they are available although it is free but we
are contributing 9% of our salary monthly towards this
national insurance, (can't avoid as it's deducted directly
before you get paid). I prefer to pay like in BKK and
you can see the doctor on the same day. Here, ok we have
a good life but I know in BKK we will have a better life,
better weather (no pissing rain nearly everyday so you
don't feel depressed, little sunshine and average temperature
is 10 degrees, 4-5 days a year in summer with high temperature
above 25 degrees, apart from that either rain or cold.
"from outside, UK sounds great especially if you
are in a big city like London, lots of tourists, many
places to eat, mix variety. We live in Bolton, 20 mins
from Manchester which is a good location and we have everything.
The town is good, BUT everything closes at 5:30pm in most
cities apart from Thursday night (up till 8:00pm), Saturday
when shopping centre in Manchester close at 6pm! And only
big cities that will be open on Sundays. SO I hate it
as you can not have a life after work as most places are
close and you have to rush to do everything on a Saturday,
either to the bank, Post Office, shopping, etc. I love
BKK where you can just do anything any time in a compact
place, eat out even on the street, go out at night, etc.
But must admit, I love the shops here, great shopping
places. I love shopping!!!
"My
parents lived in London for 10 years (30 odd years ago)
and they have been visiting me every year on hol. They
like England very much but to live here for good, they
don't want either. And above all, I hate the cold weather,
no beach and bloody cold especially in winter... Besides,
all my family and friends are back in BKK, I miss them
all the time so I don't think I ever get over the homesick
part!!
"Is your wife called AE from nitade? I got confused
who you were going out with at that time... Congratulations
anyway, are you happy there?"
So
I replied. At the time for me it was just a few months of
restarting life again in Thailand after living abroad for
3 and a half years without returning home once. I remember
telling her that I wasn't quite happy. (I'm still not totally
happy nowadays. LOL).
I
talked about having kids and I asked about hers.
"in
the beginning when I was pregnant, I thought a boy would
be easier but when she was born, I just immediately fell
in love with her, that cutie face with perfect body, tiny
long fingers and her little noise, can still remember
that first moment I got hold of her, just seconds after
she was born even before she was clean up
and I think
a girl is better as they are sweeter and cuter, besides,
we can dress them better!!! Well, maybe wait for a few
years (when you feel ready, that's the best time to have
one, do not rush if you feel you are not ready) because
I disagree with some people who want to have kids straight
away after got married (to secure the marriage), as I
think that could make them break up even faster as children
need constant care as you don't have much time for each
other.
"So
we did spend a few years alone, I know Granville in June'94
then we got engaged then married in April'96, we didn't
have Claudia until 2000 as we wanted to do a lot of overseas
travelling which we have done over the years and enjoyed
every moment of that. I love having Claudia but I knew
that I didn't have much time for anything else including
my husband! Now she is nearly 3 and she is a very good
baby!!! As we don't have anyone to help, she always goes
everywhere with us including overseas trips, I remembered
the trip to Portugal that we had to carry the pram, the
suitcase and the baby on the plane, what a struggle!!!
And one trip when we drove to France with my parents,
the car were full with her stuff, steriliser, bottles,
foods, big pram and all our suitcases as she was just
9 months old, but my god, we did have a cracking holiday!!!"
She
also asked me if I used to live in England which I said
I did. I lived in Nottingham just before I got back home.
Then she told me about how it was like living in the UK.
"Well,
I think Nottingham is warmer than up here, we are near
to Manchester!!! Colder and wetter I think!
"Well,
I think if you live in UK and work here, you will change
your mind about BKK, the society there changes a lot but
nothing like here. I don't want Claudia to grow up here
as the kid here has quite a bad behaviour, little education
(their education system is poorer than BKK), no discipline,
no respect, etc. The society teaches them to be like that.
"Other
general issue, people like us can't claim anything, we
pay full tax and pay for a very expensive childcare fees
in order to work that's why lots of women (who doesn't
have a good pay job) will have to quit work. But then
the government will help the wrong group of people: unemployed
(but give them monthly income, free house), single-parent
will get a free house to live until the kid is 18!, for
the unemployed they get council house or stay in a 3 stars
hotel for free!! (as long as they want which means people
like me are paying tax to help these lazy ones). I think
this system makes people lazy and don't care to make their
own life better as they know if they don't have a job,
they can get a free support and act like a worm!! But
people like us we get nothing as both of us earns well
so we are not qualified even if I stay home!!!
"Lots of people thought that Europe is the gold-digging
place I don't know why... here to tell you the truth,
everything is expensive but people do not earn as much
so the result is people have no saving or should say living
in debt!!! They use credit cards to buy things all the
time. In BKK, I worked for Motorola so I earned quite
a high salary including my hubby so we have savings. So
only if you have a good job then you can have some savings."
...
That
is, perhaps, one of the most narrative stories on the dark
side of the UK one will ever precisely tell. Pink told me
she would be going back to Thailand for good next year (2004).
Not too sure if she still wants to go back here for good
since she has just changed job from working as Market Analyst
of Brother International Europe to Marketing Product Manager
of Brother UK as I said earlier.
But
one thing is for sure. From her testimony, life abroad is
not as rosy as people imagine, come to the real world.
The
latest from her is that she has got her Master Degree in
Marketing Management last July 2002 and is now further her
studies to become a Chartered Marketeer, a professional
qualification from CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing).
Moreover, she just finished her French GCSE with the A+
which she's very proud of. Congratulations to her!
If
you wish to contact her, Pink's email address is sansanee.warke@brother-uk.com
And here is her address:
Sansanee
Warke (Pink)
30 Delph Hill Close
Doffcocker
Bolton
BL1 5SD
England
Tel: +44 7766 697957
Home tel: +44 1204 841404
|
