Does anybody live in a foreign country?

R

R. Paradon

New Member
Shortly after I retired about six years ago I moved to Thailand. It is a country that I have visited about twice a year since 1987 and decided years ago I would move here. For me with not much income than SS it was a great move financially as well safety reasons. The people are great, the food is delicious and with the exception of the monsoon season the weather if always warm.

Are there anybody else on the forum living in a foreign country?
 

I guess it is foreign if you were not born there...but in all honesty I was looking for a bit more distant places! But yes, you have different laws and culture there as well so it does qualify! How long have you lived there? Any particular differences than the States as far as culture?
 

I used to live in a foreign country for 7 years - it was called New York City. When the day came that I finally moved out I could only understand the language of my old NYU English professors. The taxi ride to the train station produced a lot of Pakistani chatter, the train offered Spanish-language advertising and "street" language conversations and the bathroom at the airport offered toilet-usage instructions in 12 languages, none of which I was fluent in.

Now I live in a country that ignores basic human rights unless they're one of the currently-popular "causes", my government has enacted laws that allow them to confiscate all of my belongings and put me in a concentration camp whenever they declare an "emergency" and what little money I have is forcefully taken from me in the name of something called "taxes". When I chose to defend myself against three muggers I was put in jail for "using excessive force" and had no legal representation (I had too much money to have a court-appointed lawyer but I couldn't afford a private one), so I sat in a cell for three months. My government tells me it's illegal to use medicinal herbs although it's what I've been trained to do. I cannot open a business without paying off the appropriate agencies. I cannot vote unless I have state-issued identification, nor can I ever leave this country unless I manage to either get some or forge some. If I DO manage to get some ID and leave, I'll be strip-searched first and my pocketknife taken from me, along with my shaving cream, my razorblades and my metal comb.

Nor has the language improved much - now at least I understand the words that are used, but it turns out they never mean what I think they mean. Most of the time it's a case of "say one thing, do another".

Seems I've lived in a "foreign" country my entire life ...
 
I'm from England, which is a bit of an ethnic melting-pot these days due to the high levels of immigration.

But by and large, people get along together. Which I hope can be a model for the rest of the world. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, irrespective of colour, race or creed.
 
SifuPhil said:
I used to live in a foreign country for 7 years - it was called New York City. When the day came that I finally moved out I could only understand the language of my old NYU English professors. The taxi ride to the train station produced a lot of Pakistani chatter, the train offered Spanish-language advertising and "street" language conversations and the bathroom at the airport offered toilet-usage instructions in 12 languages, none of which I was fluent in.

Now I live in a country that ignores basic human rights unless they're one of the currently-popular "causes", my government has enacted laws that allow them to confiscate all of my belongings and put me in a concentration camp whenever they declare an "emergency" and what little money I have is forcefully taken from me in the name of something called "taxes". When I chose to defend myself against three muggers I was put in jail for "using excessive force" and had no legal representation (I had too much money to have a court-appointed lawyer but I couldn't afford a private one), so I sat in a cell for three months. My government tells me it's illegal to use medicinal herbs although it's what I've been trained to do. I cannot open a business without paying off the appropriate agencies. I cannot vote unless I have state-issued identification, nor can I ever leave this country unless I manage to either get some or forge some. If I DO manage to get some ID and leave, I'll be strip-searched first and my pocketknife taken from me, along with my shaving cream, my razorblades and my metal comb.

Nor has the language improved much - now at least I understand the words that are used, but it turns out they never mean what I think they mean. Most of the time it's a case of "say one thing, do another".

Seems I've lived in a "foreign" country my entire life ...
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I was born in Brooklyn and went for a year to Erasmus Hall High School. At that time while it did look like a castle/dungeon it was in good shape. Some years ago I saw a picture of it and it was a mess. I want to use a different work to express it but that will do. So i am familiar with that country!
 
Knightofalbion said:
I'm from England, which is a bit of an ethnic melting-pot these days due to the high levels of immigration.

But by and large, people get along together. Which I hope can be a model for the rest of the world. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, irrespective of colour, race or creed.
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I agree we are all brothers and sisters. An English friend of mine - definitely old school in his thinking tells me that in England the immigrants are getting everything, houses, cars, allowance etc. for free. And I read on online that a young guy (English) was fined because he had the English flag on the back of his car. According to the Judge, it was insulting to immigrants, however they could do pretty damn much what they want!

Are these infrequent events or is England giving the principles that made her a great country away?
 
R. Paradon said:
I was born in Brooklyn and went for a year to Erasmus Hall High School. At that time while it did look like a castle/dungeon it was in good shape. Some years ago I saw a picture of it and it was a mess. I want to use a different work to express it but that will do. So i am familiar with that country!
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Just to bring a tear to your eye ...
 

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Cool! Thank you. They seem to have rebuilt it and that is good. Many famous people have gone there in the past! Did I ever tell you how I had to walk all the way from Hawthone St. in the 4 foot snow with only shoes ~ and they had cardboard in them because my parents could not afford to get them resoled? Well.....it goes.......:rolleyes:
 
We live partly in the UK and partly in France. I was a university lecturer here in the UK before retirement - my husband is a mulit-linguistic interpreter at the UN in Strasbourg. We have family homes in both countries and, although technically, France is "foreign" to our nationality, it doesn't really feel foreign. We're both fluent French speakers and have spent so much time in France.

I actually describe myself firstly as "european" before "British" as I do relate more to a wider, generally european, lifestyle and attitude.

We are in the process of selling up in the UK and moving permanently to France. We are looking to sell our French flat in the centre of Strasbourg and buy somewhere between Strasbourg and Paris.

It will also be much better for our dog and house rabbit - we can travel to-and-from with them (since 2004) but it is a bit of a palaver, especially the France to UK paperwork needed for the dog. we have good support networks in both places and often, for short trips, we leave our pets with friends, which is not ideal.

We will be living in the heart of champagne country . . . . .
 
I live in SE Florida and between the influx of New Yorkers (we are known as the "sixth borough"), Latinos, and Islanders it feels like a foreign county to me sometimes.

I don't have any issues with immigrants, my parents came to SE Florida from Canada and I have always respected all cultures. The real problem comes from people "escaping" somewhere else because of corrupt government, gangs, high taxes, etc and then when they move here they vote the same people into office that got them what they say they "escaped" from.
 
R. Zimm said:
I live in SE Florida and between the influx of New Yorkers (we are known as the "sixth borough"), Latinos, and Islanders it feels like a foreign county to me sometimes.
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Heh ... I was just looking at rentals on Craigslist for Broward County and environs ... can't afford my first choice, Key West. :(

I don't have any issues with immigrants, my parents came to SE Florida from Canada and I have always respected all cultures. The real problem comes from people "escaping" somewhere else because of corrupt government, gangs, high taxes, etc and then when they move here they vote the same people into office that got them what they say they "escaped" from.
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... and the people themselves continue to expect to live as they did in the "Old Country" and expect the U.S. to accommodate them, instead of the other way around.

... and the nasty thing is, we usually DO accommodate them. To the point where native-born citizens are ignored.
 
For 23 years we spent half of each year living in New Zealand and the other six months in California. At my age now, the 12.5 hour non stop flight from California is burdensome. But it was a super 23 years. Traveled all of NZ, Australia, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tahiti.
 
I lived in Turkey when I was first married. It probably saved my marriage......it was too far to go home to Mama when we'd have an argument. We spent 2 1/2 years there. I'm looking forward to next month when I go back. Can't go back to where we lived, though, as the town was essentially destroyed several years ago by an earthquake and then rebuilt as a holiday town for 'Bulis.
 
Well, if we're listing our countries 1952-2000 - USA, 2000-2007 - Scotland (with a few months in England), 2007-2009 - Uganda, 2009 to current and final - Scotland.
 
SifuPhil said:
Heh ... I was just looking at rentals on Craigslist for Broward County and environs ... can't afford my first choice, Key West. :(



... and the people themselves continue to expect to live as they did in the "Old Country" and expect the U.S. to accommodate them, instead of the other way around.

... and the nasty thing is, we usually DO accommodate them. To the point where native-born citizens are ignored.
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I couldn't agree more! What about if we took care of the poor of our own citizenry first???!!
 
We live in the US but our son who, who has lived in Sweden for the last 30 + years has tried to talk us into moving to an apartment over his garage. I love Sweden but I just wouldn't be happy living out of the U.S. I am a visitor when I go there and I'm sure that's always how I would feel.
 


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