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philosophique.org
#1
I registered a while ago but was then drawn-off by needs from posting much! My name is John, and I began preparing for a possible departure from American shores out of need. My life's been hard (bad illness and long treatment, recurring issues, poverty afterwards), but also sweet--without all that I'd probably be some married, upstanding guy too shallow from the mania of good life to know about hard introspection and scratching-out a place in this world. ;) Without a series of downers and disasters and prolonged inability to do much, I wouldn't have met a special someone, either!

I'm sure plenty of the expats here went abroad out of need, perhaps, as well. What got you guys looking abroad, loving where you land or landing wherever you want or interested in other cultures and people? Perhaps in learning English if that's not your first language? Did you go out from home for someone else, or for financial opportunity or for cultural exploration or both? Any good tips for going to China long-term, perhaps even as someone there to simply live a while rather than work?

These days I'm working on business interests and preparing, as a significant other may be heading back to her homeland soon--won't have a choice about it, so neither would I.

p.s. it's nice to be able to contribute to communities--even little ones online, so what's good for that around here? You know, besides just showing up?
See also
C
#2
hi john,it was interesting to hear about you,sounds like you found someone special,thats great.Im british and my husband is greek,we live in athens,been here about 14 years,been in this crisis and just finished building a house which we started before it all got crazy here.Are you intending to live in china?That would be an interesting place to live,a very different culture,you could keep us all up to date with a blog on life there.I wish you to have a very happy life,all the best to you and your partner,from concertina in athens
fidobsa
#3
In my case I moved from UK to Hungary as a way of taking early retirement on health grounds. I have been suffering from back pain for some years but could not get doctors interested in investigating or treating this. I was self employed in Scotland, repairing electric appliances. This trade is in decline, as a lot of people now just buy new rather than getting equipment repaired.
The property prices are low in rural Hungary so I bought a house here, rented out my house in Scotland and, in theory, the rental income funds a modest lifestyle here. I enjoy the warmer summer weather here and have the kind of property I could have only dreamed of owning in UK.
beppi
#4
For me, adventurousness and the urge to do and see different things were the main reason for going abroad. I never saw it as leaving, just widening my horizon. Leaving things behind isn't any more necessary in our interconnected world.
There is never a "need" to go away, at least for someone from a rich, Western country. Life abroad is invariably more complicated, in almost any respect. If you can see difficulties as challenges and chances (thus as enriching your life), you might have the right mindset to succeed in a foreign environment - but if you cannot stand life at home, you'll be even more miserable elsewhere!
C
#5
hi fidobsa,hungary sounds different,dont hear much about life there,I think it must be fairly unspoilt and green with lovely rivers etc..and its must have been great to be able to buy a house for what houses should cost,which is affordable for everyone,not just for the rich or people who have to put a rope around their necks until they die.How is your back now?I have back problems too,slipped sponges between a couple of lower disks and 2 sponges out in the neck,the sponges press on the nerves which travel down the arms and make my small and next finger twist in,it can all be agony sometimes.An MRI shows all this.Sounds like you are happy there,Im pleased for you,perhaps not so much damp weather there.Is that your house in the picture?Do you have a blog about life there?All the best you in your life from concertina
C
#6

beppi wrote:

For me, adventurousness and the urge to do and see different things were the main reason for going abroad. I never saw it as leaving, just widening my horizon. Leaving things behind isn't any more necessary in our interconnected world.
There is never a "need" to go away, at least for someone from a rich, Western country. Life abroad is invariably more complicated, in almost any respect. If you can see difficulties as challenges and chances (thus as enriching your life), you might have the right mindset to succeed in a foreign environment - but if you cannot stand life at home, you'll be even more miserable elsewhere!


beppi,I think you are right,my husband and I would like to move on to france and people say--oh the french,difficult people,strange mannerism,a nightmare for all your paper-work etc..and they dont like the english.Having coped with the greeks and greece,their ways, then I believe I could cope with another lot.As you say its all a challenge,a bit like when I first went to work in a mental health care-home,I thought,-can I really cope with this or shall I run right now?I didnt and I learnt to manage difficult situations on my own which in turn gives one a lot of strength and the ability to stay on course.I dont know if I agree  with on--if you cannot stand life at home you will be even more miserable elsewhere,I had enough of the violence in the uk,the greeks are not a violent people and the youth dont have problems with alcohol and subsequently aggressive behavior,greece has religion and close knit extended families,the older people not being discarded like an old rags.

fidobsa
#7

concertina wrote:

hi fidobsa,hungary sounds different,dont hear much about life there,I think it must be fairly unspoilt and green with lovely rivers etc..and its must have been great to be able to buy a house for what houses should cost,which is affordable for everyone,not just for the rich or people who have to put a rope around their necks until they die.How is your back now?I have back problems too,slipped sponges between a couple of lower disks and 2 sponges out in the neck,the sponges press on the nerves which travel down the arms and make my small and next finger twist in,it can all be agony sometimes.An MRI shows all this.Sounds like you are happy there,Im pleased for you,perhaps not so much damp weather there.Is that your house in the picture?Do you have a blog about life there?All the best you in your life from concertina


Hi concertina, yes that is my house, which is what in England would be called a smallholding, as it comes with 1.5 acres of land, farm buildings and hundreds of trees. Yes, there is a lot of nature here, as some of the land has been abandoned since the collapse of communism. I regularly see woodpeckers in my trees and there is sometimes a tiny black squirrel, plus the usual lizards, strange jewel-like beetles etc.
My back still protests if I do more than about 5 hours a day manual work. I've not been to a doctor here yet but I have started paying about £20 a month to be in the Hungarian equivalent of the National Health. I also looked at France and fell in love with the Limousin region but ultimately rejected it on the grounds of healthcare costs. In France, if you go into hospital the state scheme does not cover you for the total cost but perhaps 75%. That 25% or whatever can be a very big bill so you need private health insurance to cover it. If like me you are fifty something with existing issues, that cover will be prohibitively expensive.
It has not been plain sailing, trying to rent out my place in Scotland. I got tenants quickly at first but they kept complaining about the house and left after 6 months. It was then empty for 9 months and I was getting desperate to find new tenants. Against my better judgement, I accepted a family that in hindsight I should have turned down. They moved in about 8 months ago and I got my first rent off them about a month ago. The last I heard, the man has been sent to prison for 2 years.
The Hungarians are very nice people but very few of them speak English and Hungarian is a very difficult language to learn. It is therefore the language barrier that is the biggest challenge here. How is your Greek?
I don't have a blog as such but was interviewed by a student as part of her research project:

http://postcardsfromhungary.blogspot.hu … ipsum.html

C
#8
hi fibdosa,thanks for reply,interesting,yes language can be a problem but most greeks speak english,although I try not to assume that they should use english as its greece here.My husband speaks english with me which is not good.Its hard to make friends without the language.Your love of old vehicles is nice,I love them too and old boats,there is a small marina near us and lots of small fishing boats,old wooden and some british people with a lovely old boat that looks like an old missisippi river boat with a big funnel,needs some TLC,I love it.Im probably one of the few women who gets really excited with tools for manual work,I frequent tool shops.Do you think you will stick it out there?I was renting my flat in sussex,found the renters,they paid for 6 months then decided not to pay,not to renew contract,not to leave,I had my mortgage to pay and he had artexed my kitchen,all the walls,all hell was let loose,I had to use the court to get him out,the funny thing was,he worked as a security guard in the entrance of the court,as I walked in he was standing there and I said---Im here for you, very loud.We built a house here which we now wish to sell but of course times are difficult,if my husband was retired we would live there full time but its a little to far to the airport where he works every day,1 hour 15 mins to athens.I wish you well there in your life and if you are ever in greece you would be welcome to stay in the house we just built,its like hot austria in summer and spring from concertina
philosophique.org
#9
[To Fidobsa]

Hi Again,

I just may move to and live in China...it could be quite the interesting experience. xD ME in China. xD Glad to hear your story too. I know how it is with renting btw, have family who buy, rehabilitate, then either rent or sell houses and properties; they don't apparently demand too much of renters, just the rent and that the property be respected, but it's hard to get the latter especially from someone whose property it isn't.

As far as rent though (if I may turn philosophical), with a bunch of desperate people everywhere with open land and imprisonment in many places even if all you do is build a working shelter for yourself on your own space, for having failing to obtain the thousands in permits, audits, inspections, hook-ups...well with that lack of respect for human need and liberty I think our western countries are in for hard times over the long term. I noticed that where people aren't free to leave a system, they may not (without interventions) benefit from that system--the so-called gap of wealth, etc., is the fact that the governing and industry folks regulate alternatives/escapes into non-options. :( A guy I spoke with about going to China for English actually mentioned how strange it was, that in the West we think of being free yet in the center of mainland China which is considered unfree (and it does have significant issues, which I don't mean as an understatement) police are unarmed and sparse, and people go about their business mostly unmolested.

I don't know what it's like in England (the legal environment/people who make it up) but if I had the option in the situation of renting to people who may not be reliable, I might subdivided or build-on to a property, move them over to the smaller space and say "I respect that you are struggling and need space, but I do need the rent; I know this is smaller and less comfortable, but it will let you get by without carrying this whole place", and find another renter for the other side...I know, I know, idealistic and that might require being a rich man. ;)  I can dream someday about being able to provide for people and being a do-gooder.

xD
philosophique.org
#10
[To Concertina]

So cool. : ) I know this is English-only but γειά σου. xD

I have as a goal the study of Ancient through middle-Greek, from Homer through Byzantium. I got near a start in University before getting sick, even impressing an instructor in Koine (not on the campus, a religious org hosted), a Greek scholar while he was translating heretofore un-known manuscripts from ancient bishops or Byzantine--aka romeika--something like that because I'd figured-out without being told that terminal sigma was a holdover from an earlier form of the language, among other things. I was just sitting-in on the beginnings of the class, but ended up too sick to continue.

Instead though, perhaps I'll have to take-up Chinese. Respect for the locals and all. ;) Then again, I know they want either to or for their children to learn English. I'm curious, with the haircuts and bailouts and austerities, since the media and business mags are so uninterested and uncreative, what kinds of things do ordinary Greeks talk about needing that the those two sources, as well as their politicians, miss? Or perhaps as a foreigner that you see where the local ethos might be blinding? Though perhaps not the best mentioned among local company, often being foreign lets you see things that locals won't, whether practical or historical.
philosophique.org
#11
...I've got a question for folks around here:

If I'm off to China I'll likely have to teach English if there are problems with my job online. I don't have my BA yet, but I am certified and have experience doing so. I know that various jurisdictions there interpret the law on whether or not a BA is needed differently, and I also know it's semi-competitive for positions nowadays...and also that they are not always that good, that is, the schools are pretense for business, not necessarily always that good and really teaching English for the sake of kids. I am also not interested in self-righteous educationist philosophies in the matter (e.g. in the name of children educators in American will get huffy about "abuse" just because parents will decide, since the public schools are failing, that they'll do it themselves--and the professionals attack the "non-professionals"), but rather, does anyone here know of a good school or set of schools or company that'll hire a dedicated teacher, have the proper relationships, good training programs, etc. to ensure they have quality personnel and value for their learners?

When I nearly left originally it was because my galpal was thinking she'd have to return to fulfill some visa requirements (if her visa wasn't extended), and the plan was to get the proper visas through the school and stay with friends of hers in order, during off hours, to tutor or offer practice to their children instead of in an apartment of my own: maximize benefit to the society I'm going to and all that, and reduce my own exposure, not to mention gain more counselors in a foreign place. Still, I wasn't totally sure of the quality of those schools: many seem to grab from hiring agencies and I almost doubt that many select for quality as opposed to appearances; I'm not worried about appearances (except perhaps being asked, and I've heard of people encountering this, to pretend to have a BA), being a blong-haired blue-hazel-eyed white guy who cleans-up nice (which apparently many parents actually demand???), but solving the riddle of finding upstanding people with integrity, and a little patience, in a place where information is regulated and reservation about publishing yourself is good--especially if you're upstanding rather than when you're not--means, I think, contacting as many people as possible and getting every kind of info I can.

Heck, I've thought for years that, quite frankly, the language-for-language approach just isn't satisfying, and for a variety of reasons. I would even like to go develop curriculum (hard in China, I know) to...make the language outcomes far better. One thing I want for myself is to go and spend a few hours daily reviewing work, and perhaps then engaging more to finish the degree.

Advise, direction, and constructive-beatings from wiser people is greatly appreciated.
C
#12
hello,thanks for your reply,you talked about peoples ability to pay rent,the guy in my flat actually had the plan to stop paying and apply for a council house,so he was using me really.If he had told my agent he wanted a reduction I would have been ok with that.I personally think that people are paying too much for rents,its insane,I feel sorry for people and governments dont provide affordable housing,I would love to own property and house the low income or no income people,there are lots of rich people out there with it all stashed instead of doing something for their community.Here in greece there are so many homeless,on the streets,living, and the councils have so many empty buildings,a charity has just started up a place where they can go for a hot shower and change of clothes,but still go off to some damp corner outside to sleep.It must be soul destroying to be homeless.thankyou for your greek,your good,yes it is a wonderful language,take for example hippopotamus,its a greek word split into 2 parts as greek often is,hippo is ipoo meaning horse and potamus is river so it is horse of the river,actually english is half greek with loads of french.So you are off to china,that will be very intereting,nice,my son teaches english in japan in a public school and privately through an internet company in the evenings.He was glad to leave the uk,too much violence and at the start in japan he said,oh the japannese are not violent,no no,now 7 years on he says,mother they are insane and violent too,always killing each other,robberies etc..etc..not the family types I guess.I wish all the best for you and your partner with your move and too have a happy life,keep us updated how it goes there,greetings from athens concertina
C
#13
I used to teach english here in my home,mostly conversation,adults and children,I had a great time.I would spend quite a lot of time preparing each individuals lesson,one was a doctor who wanted to pretend I was walking in to his surgery or hospital wth medical problems,well after 3 months of 2 hour lessons I couldnt think of any more sinarios and we parted ways.Another one Dimitri was a very stiff suit and tie man at the start,I soon had him laughing and removing his tie,he was a civil engineer,built bridges and gas power stations so we tailored his lessons all around engineering---I learnt a lot until one day he suddenly said "you know they killed my wife",out of the blue,I said"who killed your wife"The answer was,the hospital,too much anesthetic.I could write a book,a priest came for a while.Lessons are so much more than just the subject, we grow as humans when we interact in a learning situation,if the teacher allows us to flower and grow.I know someone who taught in brazil,he used to meet business people for lunch,an hour lesson over lunch, they paid for lesson and lunch.I see china is always looking for english teachers so you should do well.concertina

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