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kazazt
Joined: 15 Feb 2010
Posts: 164
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 Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| So did I last night when I had 12 cans of lager. |
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robertokun
Joined: 27 May 2008
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| Anyway, I think Latin America would be a good choice. You've done China/S.E. Asia already. Latin America is real laid back, great culture, awesome food, warm people, etc . . . I don't know about criteria #2, but you'll probably pick up enough Spanish after a while anyway. It's not like you'll have to learn 2,000 Chinese characters from scratch or anything to be able to read things. Mexico caught some flack in this thread, but I had a great time living there. If you post this on the Latin America forum you might get some suggestions about good places to go. |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| kazazt wrote: |
| So did I last night when I had 12 cans of lager. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:42 am Post subject: |
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livingandlearning posted
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Some of the criteria would be:
1. Friendly, helpful locals
2. User-friendly public facilities (eg: English signage)
3. Not too overbearing officials
4. Ease of obtaining legal work status |
I think sometimes the difference comes down to if you're accepted as a resident as to whether the locals appear to be friendly or not. That being said, some places do have more an accepting tolerance for newcomers.
As to officials, who are human also, I think this is a similar problem. As to getting work papers, this often is related to a visitor's original country of residence/citizenship and that country's relationship to the your 'adopted home' for work.
2# is an interesting one, because in Tokyo at least, this would score high as even at some government offices the signs are multilingual. Other places in Japan wouldn't generally score nearly as high, including some tourism offices.
I trust the OP may have some problems anywhere he goes. Xenophobia is alive and well everywhere to some extent. Funny, when I was in Beijing, really the only prejudice I encountered was once in the order of serving people at kind of cheap takeout, and with surly waitresses in an expensive Peking duck place. I would guess they were a bit surly as we didn't speak a high level of Chinese.
Now I do know from living in HK, I would get annoyed about people sometimes talking about myself and/or my guessed nationality or just foreigners in general. But this happens in Japan more often than I would like, so I doubt you'll find it necessarily better.
I think China and Japan often share the treatment behavior of outsiders that translates best as the 'god or dog treatment'. as rarely as a foreign outsider are you treated as something in between (which is what most would prefer, at least I like to think so).
I guess it's a matter of locals often 'picking' on newcomers. Of course, as loosely alluded to earlier, if your appearance is similar to the dominant majority locals, you'll probably be mistaken for the locals until you open your mouth or run afoul of local customs.
Also some places don't have anything approaching multicultural populations (or if they do they conveniently ignore any minorities they do have), so you can expect that outsiders will stand out and possibly be mistreated. They may be blamed for all kinds of problems unrelated to their entrance into the country (and may have in some cases actually be responsible for the solution of some).
Sadebugo posted
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| If you can't generalize, then you can't give an assessment/opinion about anything. |
I agree, it's difficult to give most opinions without generalizing to some degree or or we would have to severely qualify every point we wish to make.
I thought Cobain 'joined' Nirvana! I won't say started as I think Buddha is credited with that.
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bulgogiboy
Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| robertokun wrote: |
| Anyway, I think Latin America would be a good choice. You've done China/S.E. Asia already. Latin America is real laid back, great culture, awesome food, warm people, etc . . . |
Obviously 'Latin America' covers so many countries, I'm sure this varies greatly from country to country and city to city, but I always got the impression that a fair number of countries in Latin America are quite dangerous? I'm thinking particularly about Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, particularly in terms of kidnapping, police corruption and drug-related violence. I've also heard some of the small Central American countries like Honduras have very serious gang problems.
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm only going on things I've read, heard, and seen on documentaries,etc  |
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redriots
Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Cross Russia off your list immediately, if not sooner. |
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bulgogiboy
Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| The only thing that appealed to me about Russia was possibly dating beautiful Russkie ladies, apart from that it looks pretty awful. Basically I get the impression it would be like living here in Scotland: Cold, depressing, eeking out a living, but with much higher crime and police who are as useful as *beep* on a boar. |
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kazazt
Joined: 15 Feb 2010
Posts: 164
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Russian ladies are likely to be less than impressed by your TEFLer pay. |
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bulgogiboy
Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Excellent point |
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SaratheSlytherin
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
Posts: 137
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="idiggs"]After hearing both sides, I do agree with both of you to certain extent.
All countries do have jerks, nice people, and morons but some countries do have higher tendencies of racial prejudices than others.
For instance, an African should not set foot in Russia if he expects to leave that country healthy or better yet....ALIVE!
There are a lot of sections in Mexico that have a strong prejudice against white people. Some white Americans go to Mexico for vacation and end up missing and never seen again.
What sections of Mexico? With all respect, what are your sources? Have you ever been?
I'm a US citizen of European descent, and I studied abroad for a year in Cuernavaca, Mexico. As a redhead, with freckles, I did get a LOT of attention, but I didn't experience hostility. Most of the people I met were friendly and kind.
My fellow Americans don't share my perspective on Mexico because their perspective is limited to what they see on the news. I blame the US media for this. There are horrible areas of Mexico, but there are also horrible areas of USA. There is violent crime in Mexico but there is also violent crime in USA. Mexico certainly isn't the deathtrap that the US media makes it out to be. If you don't use common sense, something bad could easily happen to you down there, but I don't necessarily feel safer in the USA. You certainly don't see anything like Columbine down in Mexico.
It seems like people have a double standard... anytime something negative happens in Mexico it makes the news and reinforces the negative and grossly distorted picture that US citizens have of Mexico. Yet, crime happens EVERY DAY in the US. My family certainly didn't pack up and leave USA when Columbine happened. A terrible tragedy, but then again, a double standard.
I hope that I'll eventually teach in Mexico. I did my teaching internship in Cuernavaca and I'd go back in a second. Unfortunately, crime happens all over the world, and in my opinion it makes more sense to learn to protect yourself than to let the US media scare you away from traveling. My parents were worried about me when I decided to study abroad there, but I don't regret it. I'm trying to convince them that I'll be safe when I go back and teach there. I feel guilty because THEY are worried but I know that I'll be fine.
I live in North Carolina now and I honestly prefer Mexico. I became deprsessed when I returned to North Carolina. With the exception of my family the vast majority of people in my town (no offense if you're from North Carolina) are mean and cold. I have never really readjusted after all these years.
Mexico is like anywhere else, if you don't use common sense then you are setting yourself up to be a victim.
USA news has reported quite often about American kidnappings in Mexico.
A lot of people mistook me for Irish or some other nationality. Many people don't agree with USA politically (I don't blame them) but most people are intelligent enough to realize there's a difference between the CITIZENS of a country, and a country's politics.
I say open up your mind and DON'T let the media scare you away by doing your thinking for you. |
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