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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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 Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:51 am Post subject: Love/Hate/Would Miss-Country By Country |
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After reading a number of threads that tried to compare countries, I got thinking about what we like and dislike about our jobs and adopted countries. Also, what do/would you miss if/when you leave the country?
I'm in Japan and I will start.
Love-Easy job that is sometimes fun and interesting, Japan has a rich
traditional culture, great food, easy hops to other countries in Asia
Hate-Passive/aggressive students, little to no job security, forever an
outsider, xenophobia/ignorance, lack of culinary diversity
Would Miss-Cute girls everywhere, little to no crime, generally convenient
(if somewhat limited) lifestyle |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 11:33 am Post subject: |
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I've been in China most of the past eight years.
I don't "love" anything about it but there are plenty of things I "like": food (a visit to Chengdu is always a pleasure), lots of beautiful scenery, low stress job.
Dislike: listening to other expats moan about everything here, crowds, noise.
Would miss: nice looking women, pleasant students who don't cause me any heartache. |
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contented
Joined: 17 Oct 2011
Posts: 136
Location: اسطنبول
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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I am starting my 3rd year somewhere in Asia.
I love the scenery and the diverse geographic terrain. I love it when I can travel and sightsee. The food is delicious and the produce is so cheap.
I highly dislike the shallow, self-absorbed, materialistic, female coworkers in the English department at my school. I would not miss them at all.
Hate: Disregard for rules (i.e. road rules) by the local people.
Would miss: Friends that I have made, the scenery, my city and all the great places nearby, the low cost of living, low job stress, and the ease of saving a nice sum each month. |
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BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
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| Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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I have lived about the same amount of time in the US and Mexico, perhaps 5 years more in the US.
Things I love about Mexico: food, the people in my neighborhood and the way things don�t change too much over time, the weather (most of the time) slower paced life style, low cost of living, posadas at Christmastime, different traditions
Things I don�t like: traffic, air quality, rude tourists who think non one speaks or understands English
Things I love about the US: snow (for about two days), variety of products that are easily available, the mail actually comes, Christmas lights, central heating
Things I don�t like: politics have gotten so extreme, narrow-mindedness, high cost of living, high unemployment, rude people |
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I'm With Stupid
Joined: 03 Sep 2010
Posts: 432
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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I'm in Saigon atm.
Job:
+ manageable workload
+ high standards
+ huge resources
+ small class sizes
+ great co-workers
+ constantly pushed to improve my teaching
- not the best salary in the city (not the worst either)
- I guess it's a bit far from my house (but I did pick the house after I got the job, so that's my fault)
The City:
+ the 24 hour nature of it (I can even get a cooked fillet steak at 3:30am)
+ the cost of living - rising but still small
+ riding a motorbike
+ the food (local and international)
+ people are genuinely friendly and helpful, rather than just trying to extract money from you.
+ weather
+ hot girls on motorbikes
- traffic
- flooding
- power cuts
- people who have no sense of being in someone's way (annoying in traffic or when trying to get out of a lift).
- jobsworths
- aggressive street sellers
- shop assistants that follow you around the store like a lingering fart |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| people who have no sense of being in someone's way (annoying in traffic or when trying to get out of a lift). |
Is this an Asian thing? I see this constantly in Japan and my friends in Taiwan, China, Korea and Malaysia say the same thing. Minor but annoying and inefficient. |
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contented
Joined: 17 Oct 2011
Posts: 136
Location: اسطنبول
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:52 am Post subject: |
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| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| - shop assistants that follow you around the store like a lingering fart |
I think this is an Asian thing as well. Even when I say, "I'm just looking" in the local language they usually keep following me around. My friends from Europe who come to visit complain about this too. |
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I'm With Stupid
Joined: 03 Sep 2010
Posts: 432
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:13 am Post subject: |
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| steki47 wrote: |
| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| people who have no sense of being in someone's way (annoying in traffic or when trying to get out of a lift). |
Is this an Asian thing? I see this constantly in Japan and my friends in Taiwan, China, Korea and Malaysia say the same thing. Minor but annoying and inefficient. |
No, definitely not the case in Hong Kong, Singapore or Thailand. I saw a guy get shouted at in Hong Kong for doing the lift thing. Although it is interesting that the three countries with some British influence are the three that are capable of queuing properly.  |
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natsume
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 409
Location: Chongqing, China
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:13 am Post subject: |
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| Totally agree with steki and stupid, the whole stopping at the top or bottom of an escalator or really aimless, slow wandering-while-texting in super crowded train stations is just maddening. We don't, howwever, have the shopkeepers tailing us, usually, here in Japan. |
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I'm With Stupid
Joined: 03 Sep 2010
Posts: 432
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| contented wrote: |
| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| - shop assistants that follow you around the store like a lingering fart |
I think this is an Asian thing as well. Even when I say, "I'm just looking" in the local language they usually keep following me around. My friends from Europe who come to visit complain about this too. |
I think it might be a poor country thing. It makes it more difficult to steal anything, and add to that the desperation to make a sale. Again, in Hong Kong and Singapore I found it far less common. Even in Thailand, I think they've learned that tourists prefer to look around at their own pace rather than have the shopkeeper guess what they might want. |
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contented
Joined: 17 Oct 2011
Posts: 136
Location: اسطنبول
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I think it might be a poor country thing. It makes it more difficult to steal anything, and add to that the desperation to make a sale. Again, in Hong Kong and Singapore I found it far less common. Even in Thailand, I think they've learned that tourists prefer to look around at their own pace rather than have the shopkeeper guess what they might want. |
I'm going to go with the idea that they are desperate to make a sale. Where I'm at isn't really poor country. |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| Although it is interesting that the three countries with some British influence are the three that are capable of queuing properly. |
That makes sense to me. Japan has had a strong American for some time now, but not in regards to the sense of personal space. Oh well.
Back to my OT. People squeezing past the 10cm to the right of me when there is clearly 1.5 meters to the left of me is annoying, but a minor gripe. |
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contented
Joined: 17 Oct 2011
Posts: 136
Location: اسطنبول
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm With Stupid wrote: |
| Although it is interesting that the three countries with some British influence are the three that are capable of queuing properly. |
I lived for a short while in India and while they had a huge British presence there at one time, they still can't manage to queue properly at some places. It's such a shame! |
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Tudor
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 339
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| Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:55 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| the whole stopping at the top or bottom of an escalator |
Yeah, what is it with this? People in Jakarta are forever doing it or else just crowding around and blocking access to them and having a huge debate among themselves as if by going up or down is a life-altering decision. I just want to scream at them, "Either use the damn thing or get out of the bloody way!".
What particularly bemuses me is the looks of astonishement when you say "permisi" (excuse me) - in a city of almost 10 million people, most of them behave as if there's no-one else within 100 metres of them  |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Tudor wrote: |
| What particularly bemuses me is the looks of astonishement when you say "permisi" (excuse me) - in a city of almost 10 million people, most of them behave as if there's no-one else within 100 metres of them |
In Japan, the elevator door opens and the person on the other side of the door is really surprised to see another person. Imagine that, another person using a public elevator!
Permit me some ethnocentrism. The logocentric Westerner in me would think that in countries with a high population density they would want to encourage public behavior that is orderly and respectful. Instead, the crowds push them to put on the blinders and ignore humanity around them. A defense mechanism, I suppose.
So we have lots of people just standing in front of shop doors, stopping at the top/bottom of escalators, etc. I have plowed right into people who get on trains and stop just 10cm into the car. And they give me snarky looks! |
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