The Official Pro boards Expatriating Thread

[stillmovingforward]

Laterbloomer- you might like Flagstaff, AZ more. It's a high elevation college town. Good food.

[Artemis Windsong]

How expats a viewed in their chosen country that's not the US

www.yahoo.com/news/column-generation-smug-american-expats-194938803.html

[Artemis Windsong]

And more on anger at expats.

This is also expressed in places like MT.  I'm sure more places feel the same.

www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-city-residents-angered-influx-141741417.html

Edit:  We had Canadian friends back in the 90s who built a huge house on a gated lake resort in N. MX.  I don't know the exact place.

Another friend would not reveal the place in MX where they have wintered for 40 years or more.

I knew another man who went on a church mission trip to Jamaica, returned to our town, sold everything then moved to the "slum" in Jamaica.

[stillmovingforward]

One needs to be culturally and economically sensitive.

[NastyWoman]

Jul 30, 2022 10:20:00 GMT -5 stillmovingforward said:

One needs to be culturally and economically sensitive.

That is a true statement and on the surface very elementary. But with 42** years of not living where/how I grew up under my belt I can tell you it is anything but simple. We all are a part of our environment and formed by our lives experiences. In my experience (and this is strictly my experience on three continents not some study) what people really want is for "foreigners to improve their lives by improving their economy, but these strangers should neither be seen nor heard otherwise. So if you are renting or buying o house in my town you  are driving up prices and unless I am tbe one selling to you I don't want you here. Just being respectful of my customs is not enough - you have to become like me and give up " you" IOW the melting pot idea.. You happen tto get paid a high(er) salary? You foreigner are "stealing the good jobs from us" or alternatively if you are working for a lower salary as the locals demand you are spoiling the local job market.   And on and on..

It is easy to be jealous and blame all troubles on the foreigner. Note that I am not talking about naked selfies on the Borobodur or taking a little piece of Pompeii home as a souvenir. Disrespect is always wrong but it is also not realistic that people should give up who they are just because they chose to live in a certain place. Yet it seems to be the universal expectation for expats. Yet even though I have encountered some of those behaviors and expectations myself, I have been quite lucky in life with finding friends who accept me for what and how I am so I am not complaining here - just sharing my observations and experiences.


**three of those years I did live in my home country but due to choices we made we were part of both the Dutch and the international community. That was a truly eye opening experience in many ways