[UnW]

Again, the Comfort Vs. Growth decision has to be made. For me, I'm planning to move abroad at the back end of this year despite leaving behind a great job, and a comfortable life in my home country.

The excitement of exploring the unknown is something that drives me to leave. I'm in my early 20s and possess the desire for adventure and growth away from the comforts which I am experiencing daily. The thought of wasting my best years in a place where the environment makes me unhappy is too depressing to continue residing in for now.

[BadWolf]

Just remember, it doesn't have to be forever. Why not do 6 months there and 6 months at home?

[libertad1312]

(07-25-2014 01:37 PM)berserk Wrote:  

There's only a few countries outside Europe and the US where I would feel like I could become a local, Hong Kong, Singapore being among them. No way in places like Thailand or China. You will always be an outsider there. I wonder how long term expats feel about that. It does bother me.

I have heard this many times and can see this on a daily basis. I also feel the same to a certain percentage which is 100 percent to be blamed on me, as my priorities are set on building a business instead of learning the culture and language.

On the other side I see people who are fluent at Thai and have opened themselves to the culture for many years. They dont have any problems being an outsider.

It just takes a lot of time and effort to get to this point. I think the problem is that we often underestimate the cultural difference. The big cities might look modern, probably even more modern than these cities where we are coming from. But this is just the outside facade. Truth is that most locals grew up in some village in the countryside and the life there can probably be compared to the life a few hundred years ago in our western cities. Your Thai friend might be driving around in his expensive car and be living in his modern condo overlooking a vibrating city. But on the other hand he grew up sleeping on the floor, is still sitting on the floor for lunch in grand-mums wood-house in a small village, might be staying in the temple a few weeks here and then and is shitting his pants because of ghosts.

It takes a long time to get deep enough into the culture and then you can still not expect it to be the same as our culture. Simply because it is another culture.

Personally, at this stage I dont even want to become part of their culture. I like to learn from it and compare it to other ways of life. The boredom of my own culture and the desire to learn from different cultures was the main reason that brought me here, so I appreciate all the differences.

But sure, if ever settling down, then I would have to take the time and patience to adapt to a foreign culture - which would obviously be easier in places like Singapore and Honk Kong.

[berserk]

Yes, integration is very difficult, I can see this with the middle eastern immigrants in Europe. It requires close to fluency in language, but much more difficult is to really understand the culture and being able and wanting to adapt it fully. It's not enough to fake it, you have to want to make it part of your personality. Then again, judging from from those well adjusted immigrants, if you do manage to get adapt the local culture and speak the local language fluently, then you will often not only be accepted, but get extra points. In a way, an outsider assimilating is a compliment to that country and its people. Some immigrants I've met speak the local language perfectly, like how an older, upper class person would and I think that is cool too, but it's a huge undertaking. The difficult part of integrating into an Asian country or a European country (for ME people) is that the culture is ethnic, the history is ethnic, the tradition is ethnic, you can't just claim to be a part of that, so it requires that the society is somewhat modern and has values that are not based strictly on ethnicity.

On the other hand, places like the US, London, HK, Singapore etc, are multicultural by design so integrating means accepting certain values and beliefs more than ethnic culture. That's what made the US unique, that everyone could be an American if they had the right values and mindset.

[Biologist]

Great thread. I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately.

I am in my mid 20s and planning on expatriating to somewhere in Asia in the future. I am currently working feverishly to establish a location-independent source of income for myself, and I am confident that I'll be able to achieve this within a 2 - 3 year timeframe.

I have been thinking about expatriation ever since I became Red Pill, which was about 3 or 4 years ago. When I came across RVF last year, it sealed the deal for me. I know now that I have to do this.

Even though I truly love Australia, I feel that I cannot miss out on the opportunity to live in a place where I would be able to enjoy an abundance of high quality women.

I understand that it's very difficult leaving the place where you grew up, especially due to the fact that you are leaving behind all of family and established social circles. However, I would say that the pain of moving to a city where you don't know anyone is much less than the pain of regretting not doing so.