A Good Job

Good things are not all the same. One of the big lessons to learn over here, is that a good life is not always the same as it is at home. There is no less understanding of the American dream. Mostly, it is the same. Czechs have a proverb, “Muž potřebuje tři veci, Rodína, Dům a strom.” ”A man needs three things, a family, a house and a tree.” Not so different in my opinion, and likewise in Latvījan there is a similar saying.

There is a good feeling knowing that you can provide the things that you need, even if there is a problem. Hardships have a different meaning to me these days. Not many people in America have a boss “like a tiger” that only “give me fifty dollars for all month and Christmas.” Sure, I know there are lots of poor families in Appalachia and all over the USA, if someone would just take a look.

That is an ugly secret of capitalism. One time sitting in the “Black Cat” with my dear friend Natasha, she enlightened me about what good economics meant in Latvīja. To tell you the truth, I was mortified. All of those discussions with family and friends came flashing back, why you would want to stay there. Her grandiose vision of a good job pays 450Ls (US$ 800) per month, and very good money is around 600Ls (US$ 1200) every month. I assume these numbers were before taxes. Although I get the impression that she does not pay many taxes.

At that minute, I knew that the future of our relationship ended right there. The future that I saw in her eyes became impossible. I tried to remember what to compare that to. First, you have to remember that I plan on living longer than one month and to have a self-sustaining situation beyond that as well. So when numbers are tossed at me on a monthly basis I have to pause to think about how much that is on a scale I am more familiar with. When I considered that a 3.8L of gasoline was 1.30Ls ($2.08), a one-room flat was 50Ls per month and that a flight home was more than several months salary, the world all came crashing down. It is not cheaper there, some things are cheaper (mainly labor), but am I ready to give up everything I know on a gamble? What about on a situation that does not immediately add up?

I knew I could not come out and tell her that I paid that much for my car. Or that at my current salary, that seemed ever so painful every month was more than double what she thought was a good amount of money. Likewise, the 1500Ls (US$ 2300) I earned in Czech is an unavailable salary in her town. My investigations indicated positions for which I am qualified would only pay 40% of what I was making in Czech. Which simply put was less than I made in high school.

It is really not that I did not try. I considered several businesses and several situations in Rīga with her. It is a “math problem” as we said in college, that meant that the engineering was done and that the design either worked or it did not. At thirty, I am not ready to say that I have lived so much that I can step back and say that life would not be good with her there. However, any life there in Latvīja comes with such a price that I am just not willing to pay it now.