Question 4 Ex-Pats Living Abroad
 

Do you live in the community with the locals, or did you choose to live in the ex-pat compounds?

I was watching a few of these House Hunter International shows, and it's interesting to see the different choices people make. Especially in Costa Rica, South America, Cambodia, etc. and so forth.

:helpme

I don't trust any guy who moves to Cambodia.

i live in spain with the locals and i have a catalan girlfriend.

living in a place full of english would have made moving no point. You have to live with the locals if you really want to experience a different way of life, if not just stay at home. You will get bored after 1 month if you are in a compound.

i really try to avoid most germans

The problem is they are everywhere.

The only Germans I have seen here are ones trying to fuck cam girls :))

i only know two here and one of them is my business partner


yeah, i can imagine - lol

I live in town with the locals but am surrounded by a mix of Americans, Canadians and Mexican/Americans.

But it is not just Germans. Brits, Dutch, Italians, Americans, Scots, even Australians, one would think there are girls a little closer to home that might be a tad willing. Only a labagiu in the deepest bog of delusion truly believes the cam love is real - if he is spending hundreds of dollars for a companion on his computer monitor, he is willing to suspend disbelief. At least bring a boatload of cash. :thumbsup

hundreds? i know of one Romanian cam girl who got a BMW as present and when she said she had no drivers license, the guy paid that too :1orglaugh

LOL Ma, i know a girl who got college, car and house paid for and her husband was laughing his ass off each night. Even after dropping more than 100k and after finding out
she was married the labagiu was still convinced the cam love was real and he could 'save' her.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

you really wonder sometimes how stupid people can be :upsidedow

I live in a second tier city in China (not one of the big popular ones) in the middle of the community. The area is a mix of low income, middle class and slightly above (by Chinese income standards). Never had a security or safety problem in the few years I've been here.

I see white faces once a week when I catch up for a beer with 2 other expats on a Friday night, otherwise I'd see a random white tourist maybe once a month if lucky.

I just don't see the point in living in an English speaking, expat bubble.

I lived in an area mixed with locals, Japanese, Koreans, Americans, British, and Australians.

Unless you want to totally immerse yourself in another culture and try to live like one of them, finding a middle ground seems to work best. That way you have a mix of local and western.

As far away from the English in Spain as possible.

South America is not a country

Just like men who spend hundreds or thousands a gentlemen's clubs and still don't know the girl's real name.

I have a place in an area that is mostly Spanish but has a good mix of Northern Europeans - That works out well.

We have friends from all over the place and when we all get together there can be conversations in 6 different languages going on - I like that.

If they weren't horny and stupid I'd be a tad poorer. As one performer told me, "Boss stupid is really good, I want more stupids they don't even know when I make fake anal and they fall in love fast."

Depends 100% on where you are going.

Some countries if you want clean running water and power you are almost forced to find a affluent, expat area

I have lived literally at the end of the road in Central America where behind me for hundreds of miles was only jungle and I had clean running water and power. Internet occasionally along with intermittent mobile service. In Romania we have some of the highest internet speeds in the world (4th or 6th I cant remember) but I have yet to run into a resident gringo outside of a couple of embassy guys I ran into in a club.

I live in Costa Rica for 4 years and I don't think I would have made it this long without having local friends. You have to accept how the locals do things or you're going to go nuts, is how I look at it.

Yaaawn... that was really interesting * me turns around and has a real nap *

Well i live in Aus not really any mixing going on

Thanks Harry - much appreciated ;)

unlike genius, stupidly has no limits...

In Brazil i live in a small city where only are few foreigners. There are even not many European tourist.
The appartment i had was in the center, good neighbourhood, good neighbours. In Brazil only few Brazilian sprak English.

In Surinam it was like living in Holland, everyone speaks Dutch. Had an apartment from a Surinam man who lived in Holland before.
There is no reason to live in a compound. A save neighbourhood is always better, same as in your own country.

In Thailand i stayed at tourist resort.

But i only stay a few months everywhere.

If i stay in Brazil i won't look for an expats community, but look for a good neighbourhood.
And if there is a nice appartment in a compound or appartment with security, maybe i would take it.
If you stay at an compound you will never integrate. When i thhink about it, alle the people gossiping about each other, bweehhh!
And than the expat community, if it are families i wouldn't like it to live there when i was single.
I hated to live in a small village where everybody knows what everyone is doing.
But the main reason for living on a compound would be safety.

When I lived in Costa Rica I lived in a local community, but almost all my friends were expats. Couldn't get along with many locals.

Live with the locals in a quiet little sub-burb. I've never understood why people would move half way across the world, just to live in an over-priced apartment close to the mega mall in the expat area, and never leave that 3 block radius of expat cafes / bars / restaurants. That makes no sense to me.

actually you would be amazed at how seriously some people take on line "relationships" with cam models over stripper sites :1orglaugh

Best is to have mix from all,locals and expats.

I find MOST of the expats living in Indonesia are losers that couldn't hack it their native countries. Here they can be big shots and demand special treatment. I get tired of the bullshit but I think you need some of it to a certain degree to keep a "civilized" perspective. But the conversations always about how life is better wherever they are from.

I live in close proximity to other westernersm but far enough away I can avoid them if I chose.

happy new year, don´t be so negative :thumbsup

I live on a mountain in a mixed up non gated rural community. I am even a petty elected official so I must interact well. If you are moving to another country learn something of the culture and language before you go and doors will be easier to open.

:Oh crap Sorry to come off that way. I am jaded I guess. you have a great new year too:)