Job Discussion Forums

ntropy · Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 671 Location: ghurba

Slats,

You're right! I forgot about Alobar and immortality. Loved that one.

yossarian · Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 9

I'm not familiar with the pork/turkey topic in the past threads, but I'm guessing it was a fairly silly comment? Smile

Well I'll readily admit that mine was -- I felt a bit odd connecting with a nerdy sci/fi movie, but surely it's better than being a fan of, I don't know, highlander or something? Smile

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Dear John,
I'm sure I speak on behalf of the forum. with 'jokes' like those we hope you never fall off the wagon. they can't get any worse,can they?

johnslat · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:32 pm Post subject: Going from worse to worst

Dear dmb,

"they can't get any worse, can they?"

Anything and everything can always get worse - and usually does. While I can't guarantee that I'll reach new depths of "groanablity", I can promise that I'll never cease striving to do so.

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Regards,
John

khmerhit · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:58 pm Post subject:

I know! I know!----'Ulysses', by Alfred, Lord Punnyson. What do I win?
yours kh Razz

johnslat · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 11:12 pm Post subject: And the winner is . . .

Dear khmerhit,

What else? My undying admiration.

Regards,
John

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Terrified. Getting a car, apartment, mortgage, life insurance, car insurance, tons of other types of insurance, long commutes. And America's got problems now.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Tonester · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 5:05 am Post subject:

I'm a 1st year JET ALT who had did an exchange in Saitama, Japan 5 years ago and when I went back to Australia to go to uni I felt like as if I'd been sentenced to 3 years in prison. Australia is a good country but I ended up hating it and my family for not understanding me when I came home. I loved Japan so much that I didn't want to come back to Australia and I just couldn't get Japan out of my head. I did my 3 years, got my degree and as soon as the opportunity arose I applied for JET and found myself 8 months later back in Japan (I was an upgraded alternate)! I love it here more than I ever did before (although in a different area to before) so I think for people like me and others who have been lured back that reverse culture shock will probably be a lot worse than it was before. I am perhaps a loony but I never really totally got over it. I plan on becoming a Japan lifer...............

yaramaz · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:06 am Post subject:

This might be of interest to some: deals with reverse culture shock (nowt to do with monsieur Khmerhit, alas)

http://www.american.edu/IRVINE/sarah/firstusee.html

I've never actually gone through reverse culture shock upon returning to my homeland... just restless. Hell, I am restless now and I'm in the middle of central Anatolia. I guess I'm an incurable insatiable freak...alas.

Tonester · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:22 am Post subject:

Thanks yaramaz, it was interesting. It applied to me back then and it will again if I do go back to my country.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:28 am Post subject: Going home ,no thanks and why ?

Hi
After more than two decades away I went back for a short visit and as others have said it reminded me why I left in the first place but now those reasons have multiplied and in answer to the question would I be scared the answer would be an emphatic NO ,just bloody angry that I have to give up a better live over here . The reasons for staying away have already been stated ad nauseum ,now can some one on this forum give me just ONE good reason for going back .

yaramaz · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:35 am Post subject:

I'd go back to Vancouver for the stunning variety of restaurants (I would kill for sushi or a Vietnamese pho right now), microbreweries, eclectic book and music shops, and that lovely wet west coast greenery and sea and mountains. I will do that for a few months this summer until I start craving donkey kebabs and cheap wine and Ataturk's face on everything.

lucy k · Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 82 Location: istanbul, turkey

As for returning home.... I'm not too worried about fitting in again. I know it'll be dificult at first (I've done it before). But I've managed to stay close to most of my friends, and when I reaturn home for visits, I feel like nothing has changed. Maybe it's because I've done it before, and now I'm just "the friend that's always in another country". But I do think that a part of me is afraid of staying away too long, because I don't want it to be difficult to go back. This time I've been out of the States for 1.5 years (not too long, I realize). I think I have another year or so in me. But going home does seems difficult... saving money for a security deposit on an apartment, buying a car, finding a job, etc. And even finding an apartment that takes pets can be difficult... in Turkey no one cares if you have animals in the apartment! At the moment I just want to spend all my money exploring this part of the world... not saving for a car!

articulate_ink · Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 55 Location: Hong Kong

Interesting thread. From the vantage point of someone preparing to make his first jump abroad, in about a year's time, I'm far from contemplating any return to the States once I leave. Do any of you other Americans living abroad have a sense of things here getting worse, and more surreal, with each passing week? Does the idea of coming back inspire angst? That's sort of what I'm expecting, once I'm gone. Whenever I travel, the only relief I experience upon return is not having to struggle with language and not having to sleep in an unfamiliar bed. Other than that, can I just go back to wherever and, you know, stay?