Important decision

I am facing one of the most important decisions of my life now: to live in Thailand or in America. I graduated from Stanford in December 2007 and came back to Thailand in January 2008. I have been living there since. I got an opportunity to teach at Chulalongkorn Business School as a full-time lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Software Design, and Management. Time flies and it has been almost five years now. Either living in Thailand or in the US, both have pros and cons. I would like to detail them out here with the hope that it will help me think more clearly.

Why living in Thailand?
1. My family is in Thailand. Mommy, Papa, Minnie, Mary, and Mack are all in Thailand. My(?) cat (HuiHui) is also there. Though I am not the type of person that need to see or talk to them everyday, it makes my heart warm when I get a chance to chat and have a long conversation with the whole family every once in a while.
2. My social status here gives me a lot of opportunities to meet interesting people. By being a lecturer (arjarn in Thai) at Thailand's best university and receiving the education from Stanford, people here treats me a bit differently (in a positive way). Though it does not work in every situation, it is a mini special key that I have in my pocket. So far, with this key, I have opened many doors and gotten to know quite a few people. Some of these people greatly shaped my careers and have a strong influence on how I see the world.
3. Food is great in Thailand. I have such a nice life back home. I wake up, say a couple words, take a shower, then there is breakfast on my table. Food is not the topic that I need to pay attention to at all. It is cheap and you can get it at any place any time (worst case microwave food at 7-11). Living in the US, unless you are a multi-millionaires that can eat anywhere you like or work at a big tech company that serves food like Facebook, Google, or Twitter, you have to think about Food at least 2 or 3 times a day. What and where and when to eat? As I observe my friends in term of food consumption, they just ordered pizza, chinese foods, or had the frozen foods. Eating in the US just cannot compare to eating in Thailand at all.
4. I have a very balanced life between working and exercising. For the past five years, I have been exercising regularly. At the very least, I have to hit the gym or go swimming once a week. I can say that Royal Bangkok Sport Club (RBSC) is my second home while I am in the city.

Why living in the US?
1. The main reason I want to come back to the US is for my personal and careers development. As much as I love Thailand, I start to feel that I am not growing or learning as I must as I can anymore. The first two years at Chulalongkorn gave me great opportunities to practice my communication skills, to screen and look for contents that are great for the audience, to do public speaking, and to read and understand people. Very valuable skills indeed. However, in the past 2 years, I start to feel stagnant at my current university career. 80% of the contents I lectured is about 2 years old. May be I just stuck in my own world and do not think of all the great possibilities I can do at the university. But right now, I feel it would be great if I can go somewhere and be back in the steep learning curve again. With that said, I can see that Silicon Valley will be a great place to turbo charge my development again.

2. Last year was the first time I came back to the US since 2008. One thing I noticed was the amount I learned just by talking to people around me..Kenneth, Jen G, Richard, Mike, Andrew, Henry, Reza, Bee-tin, you name it.

In every conversation I learn something new, something I never thought they exist before. For example, I just learned that there is an event held every year called Burning Man. This event is organized in the desert somewhere in Nevada...in a vast empty space. Burning Man is held every year for a week and people who attend the event..I cannot even describe in words how awesome and crazy they are. For example, they spent a long time building and crafting all the things they want to express and show to the world. They brought their creation to the event, displayed it, and then burned it down at the end. WHO WOULD DO THAT?! Well apparently a lot of people do it, and they are very proud of their actions too. This is just one example that I wouldn't have never known if I just stay in Thailand. Staying in Thailand, I just longed for these kinds of conversations. The talks that are about ideas, about doing something new, about challenging oneself, about inspiring other people that they can do them too. It is sad but it is true that most of the conversations I have in Thailand even with the intelligent people are mostly about fashions, gossips, foods, beauties, and tv shows. May be I need to change where I hang out...

3. Lastly, this might be too far-fetched, but I start to think about my future family and my children too. Though the love of my life hasn't shown herself yet (may be she did but I am too dumb to see), I know I will eventually meet her one day. And that will post a big question where I shall raise my family and my kids. I have talked to many of my friends who are Asian American and ask them about why did their parents decide to move to America (surprisingly 95% of my Asian American friends' parent are from Taiwan). Many of them told me that their parents came here so that their children (my friends) will have a better education and better opportunities. Will my kids have a better opportunity if they are born and grown up in the US rather than in Thailand?

Yep, these are most of the things that are running in my mind right now.. Would love to hear your comments or suggestions. How would you view the world if you were in my shoes.  :)

Cheers!