Comments on: Examining the “expat conundrum” http://www.vagablogging.net/examining-the-%e2%80%9cexpat-conundrum%e2%80%9d.html Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:10:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: brian http://www.vagablogging.net/examining-the-%e2%80%9cexpat-conundrum%e2%80%9d.html/comment-page-1#comment-24938 brian Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:43:39 +0000 http://www.vagablogging.net/?p=5624#comment-24938 At risk of sounding cliche, I'll invoke the following sayings: Familiarity breeds contempt and absence makes the heart grow fonder. Once you have lived in an area long enough, the novelty wears off and all the flaws of a given area or culture come to the surface. I used to live on Miami Beach, and the pattern was the same for many newcomers. They would explore tiki bars, hit the beach constantly, ogle the models (male and female) sunbathing in various states of undress, laugh at those in the Northeast digging out from yet another snowstorm, etc. As one got used to the surroundings, the hideous traffic, noise, drunks, low tide smell, poor job prospects, and total lack of parking would come to the forefront. Somehow people missed all that when the signed the paperwork for their new condo. At the same time, these newcomers would eventually miss their prior home's public transit (Miami's was awful), honest city workers, decorum in politics (even NYC was more sane politically than the Miami area), etc. I was a guilty of this as any of my friends, but I did enjoy my time there. Eventually I found an equilibrium and took the good with the bad. At risk of sounding cliche, I’ll invoke the following sayings: Familiarity breeds contempt and absence makes the heart grow fonder. Once you have lived in an area long enough, the novelty wears off and all the flaws of a given area or culture come to the surface. I used to live on Miami Beach, and the pattern was the same for many newcomers. They would explore tiki bars, hit the beach constantly, ogle the models (male and female) sunbathing in various states of undress, laugh at those in the Northeast digging out from yet another snowstorm, etc. As one got used to the surroundings, the hideous traffic, noise, drunks, low tide smell, poor job prospects, and total lack of parking would come to the forefront. Somehow people missed all that when the signed the paperwork for their new condo. At the same time, these newcomers would eventually miss their prior home’s public transit (Miami’s was awful), honest city workers, decorum in politics (even NYC was more sane politically than the Miami area), etc. I was a guilty of this as any of my friends, but I did enjoy my time there. Eventually I found an equilibrium and took the good with the bad.

]]> By: Jill K. Robinson http://www.vagablogging.net/examining-the-%e2%80%9cexpat-conundrum%e2%80%9d.html/comment-page-1#comment-24855 Jill K. Robinson Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:04:00 +0000 http://www.vagablogging.net/?p=5624#comment-24855 That's exactly why I can't listen to talk radio. All the moaning and complaining. Yes, there's plenty of whining everywhere we go. That’s exactly why I can’t listen to talk radio. All the moaning and complaining. Yes, there’s plenty of whining everywhere we go.

]]> By: Tim L. http://www.vagablogging.net/examining-the-%e2%80%9cexpat-conundrum%e2%80%9d.html/comment-page-1#comment-24812 Tim L. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:35:41 +0000 http://www.vagablogging.net/?p=5624#comment-24812 Yeah but, these articles on whiny expats always seem to ignore the fact that there's not shortage of whining at home. Turned on cable news lately? Or listened to talk radio? Or gone to a PTA meeting at your kid's school? Sure, you can say it's silly for someone to move somewhere else and complain that things don't work right, but odds are those people complained twice as much before they moved. Yeah but, these articles on whiny expats always seem to ignore the fact that there’s not shortage of whining at home. Turned on cable news lately? Or listened to talk radio? Or gone to a PTA meeting at your kid’s school? Sure, you can say it’s silly for someone to move somewhere else and complain that things don’t work right, but odds are those people complained twice as much before they moved.

]]> By: Rolf http://www.vagablogging.net/examining-the-%e2%80%9cexpat-conundrum%e2%80%9d.html/comment-page-1#comment-24794 Rolf Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:41:11 +0000 http://www.vagablogging.net/?p=5624#comment-24794 This reminds me of what Ryszard Kapuściński, on a related tangent, noted in <i>The Other</i>: "[Polish-born anthropologist Bronislaw] Malinowski discovered to his amazement that the white people who had been living in the islands for decades not only lived far away from the local villages, but what they said about the native population was a load of nonsense, nothing but false, absurd stereotypes. In short, the white man in the tropics is the worst, least reliable source of information about local peoples and cultures." I don't mean to bag on expats (I have, in fact, met some amazing expats in various places over the years), but there's something about expat sub-communities that fosters a kind of self-reinforcing negativity. It's as if there's nothing better to do in paradise but whine about the locals. This reminds me of what Ryszard Kapuściński, on a related tangent, noted in The Other:

“[Polish-born anthropologist Bronislaw] Malinowski discovered to his amazement that the white people who had been living in the islands for decades not only lived far away from the local villages, but what they said about the native population was a load of nonsense, nothing but false, absurd stereotypes. In short, the white man in the tropics is the worst, least reliable source of information about local peoples and cultures.”

I don’t mean to bag on expats (I have, in fact, met some amazing expats in various places over the years), but there’s something about expat sub-communities that fosters a kind of self-reinforcing negativity. It’s as if there’s nothing better to do in paradise but whine about the locals.

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