Let’s see what brought about this DRASTIC change in his career path, shall we??? Translated…
Four years ago, when I backpacked across Europe, at the border of Romania and Bulgaria, I met a pickup driver, this pickup driver looked extremely gentle, not at all like those rough-looking pickup drivers at all, in our conversations, he’d mentioned how he had a colleague who’s a dance instructor, I couldn’t help but wondered, “Wow, you sure do work for a large company, there’s a dance instructor who works with you?”
“Oh, no, because I used to be a middle school teacher.”
“What? You were a middle school teacher? No wonder you spoke fluent English, the residents I met in Eastern Europe couldn’t speak a word of English.” I was very surprised.
He’d replied, “Yes, I was once a math instructor.”
“Sorry if I sound like I’m prodding, but, why did you change your career path?”
“Because the teachers in Romania don’t get paid quite enough.”, he’d sounded a bit down.
“This, I’d heard, can you tell me, how little is your pay on average?”
“It’s usually shocking to foreigners, the pays for the regular school instructors in Romania is about only two, three hundred Euros,” he’d said lightly.
“What? The teachers only get paid about $10,000N.T.?”, back then, Euros exchanged to N.T.s at one to forty, I was still in shock at the low pay rate.
“Yeah, it didn’t pay enough, and although, I didn’t starve, but I couldn’t manage to save up anything, so, I’d changed tracks to an international enterprise to become a truck driver, the requirement is that I needed to be fluent in English, and I’m making 1,500 Euros, it’s over five times what I was paid as a school teacher.”
“Such a great difference! With your current salary, it’s two, three times what those college grads receive in Taiwan.”
“But the enterprises in Western Europe are all very honest with filing the taxes, so, the rates of the normal residents is just twenty-five percent, and I had to pay sixty percent! Gladly, my company takes care of half of that, so, I had to pay about five hundred Euros of tax, and, I’d only gotten paid about a thousand Euros!” he’d continued on, “I’m responsible for shipping the items from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, the driver in the Netherlands have the same job as I, just driving in reverse direction, but he’s paid five thousand Euros, over three times my pay, and we work for the same company!” it’s clear to see, how he WAS a math teacher, because I’m dizzy, converting the currency to N.T.
“Then, as a delivery truck driver, you don’t make it home enough days of the week? Must be hard on you.”, I’d stated.
“Once you got used to it, it’s fine, although I only get to see my family on the weekends, but I just got married, and still wanted to build houses for my families, I just need to make it through these couple of years, and, I know I’ll have it easier!”, he’d stopped for a short bit, then said, “Unlike all the other drivers, when they’d had a sales quota they couldn’t match, they’d gotten drunk and smoked like crazy. Money is important, but health is even more so, my days are quite simple, I’d placed my mobile gas in my truck, and when I wanted to eat, I’d set the cooking gadgets up outside and make myself my meals.”
He looked into the distance, thinking about something, “I know what it is that I’m searching for.”
So, this man knows what he’s after, and, although he’s living a life that’s not easy, being away from his family, but, he’d set his goals, and, he’s working toward achieving his goals, step by step, and that, is the hard working mannerisms of a hard working man.
