View Full Version : Expatriates
Somebody Else
12-18-2004, 04:53
Just wondering how many people here are expats...
I'm an Englishman in Beijing.
*
On another note... I've been trying to work out what it is that persuades me, usually rather reticient, to post random things like this on here...
Adrian II
12-18-2004, 13:29
On another note... I've been trying to work out what it is that persuades me, usually rather reticient, to post random things like this on here...Because you're an Englishman in Beijing, obviously. All expats with on-line computers do it in order to 'stay in touch' and exchange views and sentiments in their first language. I don't know how isolated you are - probably not too much since you are in Beijing. Former colleague of mine did anthropologicla fieldwork in a southern Chinese village for a year. He was the only foreigner in a five hundred kilometer radius. After six months he got so fed up with his inability to communicate adequately across the culture divide that he felt like slapping every Chinese in the face the moment they approached him. He didnt, and he got over it...
Im a Dutchman stuck in Australia!
not really, my grandfather was dutch and i want to return to holland, they left after their house was destroyed by a german V2.
my question is WHY did they come to Australia?, could they have chosen more of *&$%hole!?
thanks,
dessa
Adrian II
12-18-2004, 20:02
WHY did they come to Australia?, could they have chosen more of *&$%hole!?Want me to show you around the *&$%hole that they came from? ~;)
Ser Clegane
12-18-2004, 20:34
my question is WHY did they come to Australia?, could they have chosen more of *&$%hole!?
After being there only 3 weeks ago I could imagine worse places than the Suncoast of Queensland (especially after returning to sh*tty weather in Frankfurt and immediately getting a cold :furious3: )
Adrian II
12-18-2004, 21:53
After being there only 3 weeks ago I could imagine worse places than the Suncoast of Queensland (especially after returning to sh*tty weather in Frankfurt and immediately getting a cold :furious3: )You can say that again, Ser Clegane.
http://www.my-smileys.de/generator/signs2/f3d96b1141c3d581b32661375567aa60.png
Big King Sanctaphrax
12-18-2004, 22:02
Rain is good, I hate the sun. You can put on waterproof clothes if it's wet, but you can only take off so many if it's warm, before you get arrested.
Plus, you can get a trenchcoat walk in the rain, and pretend you're in a film noir.
Ser Clegane
12-18-2004, 22:51
You can say that again, Ser Clegane.
http://www.my-smileys.de/generator/signs2/f3d96b1141c3d581b32661375567aa60.png
hehe ... I nearly got depressions when I came back. :brood:
BTW, AdianII, judging from your native level German, you might almost be an expatriate yourself ~D
*prepares to get flamed for mistaking a Dutchman for a German*
but you can only take off so many if it's warm, before you get arrested.
But the good thing is, that the same thing is true for the ladies ~D
Rain is good, I hate the sun. You can put on waterproof clothes if it's wet, but you can only take off so many if it's warm, before you get arrested.
Plus, you can get a trenchcoat walk in the rain, and pretend you're in a film noir.
A true welshman speaking...it rains all the time there doesn't it?
Adrian II
12-19-2004, 01:51
*prepares to get flamed for mistaking a Dutchman for a German*
*Loves German language (Dichter und denker usw.) and appreciates that German history is just that: history :bow: *
Big King Sanctaphrax
12-19-2004, 02:00
A true welshman speaking...it rains all the time there doesn't it?
Not as much as you'd think. I live right in the south, which has a fairly typical British climate. If you go North the country is much higher and wetter. South Wales, and Cardiff especially, is extremely cosmopolitan, and not very Welsh at all. I certaintly don't really consider myself Welsh. They'd probably do better to make somewhere like Bangor the capital.
Mouzafphaerre
12-19-2004, 02:10
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This may sound weird but I'd like to be an expat at this time. Homesickness is better than, well, better left unspoken... :no:
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LittleGrizzly
12-19-2004, 06:24
Not as much as you'd think. I live right in the south, which has a fairly typical British climate. If you go North the country is much higher and wetter. South Wales, and Cardiff especially, is extremely cosmopolitan, and not very Welsh at all. I certaintly don't really consider myself Welsh.
Ive heard the north welsh call the south welsh the english welsh, and well it doesn't rain every day it rains more than enough.
my question is WHY did they come to Australia?, could they have chosen more of *&$%hole!?
sure they could have, how about some mierable wet rainy country, like where i live. Must be terrible having all that nice weather....
umm australia has a nasty rain season, and it isn't the drizzle you guys get, it buckets down, i swear the clouds are buckets of water.
and the summer, can i say.
its 40degrees+ celsius during the day and then you get a massive lightning storm that cuts the power off 60% of the time and buckets down with rain and gets really blowey.
winter is pleasant, but its more the people, the people in australia especially where i live are neoconservative twits (of course excepting the pair of male dancers across the street), i also want to live in a place where it doesn't take 10 minutes drive to get anywhere, i would rather have 10 minutes walk.
thanks,
dessa
Adrian II
12-19-2004, 13:23
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This may sound weird but I'd like to be an expat at this time. Homesickness is better than, well, better left unspoken... :no:-Doesn't sound weird at all, and no, you don't have to elaborate on it. But it helps if you have something in the future to look forward to.
I hope you do. ~:cheers:
Adrian II
12-19-2004, 13:25
(..) i also want to live in a place where it doesn't take 10 minutes drive to get anywhere, i would rather have 10 minutes walk.Where I live it takes 10 seconds to get anywhere and everywhere. The downside is you can't get away from it whenever you want to.
Dessa14,
You can come to Canada. I'm watching yet another dumping of snow land all over us. About 20cm in the last two days. Nothing like shovelling the roof and watching the shovel slip from your hands and fly down two stories. :furious3: At least when it snows it warms up. It was -25 the other morning. The wind was burning my ears off standing with the kids waiting for the school bus.
+40 you say? Hmmm...
:sunny: :sunny: :sunny:
:thinking2: "Sounds nice to me"
If you get tired of the sunshine, come on up for a game of baseball.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/horsesass/photo-snowball.jpg
ill never play baseball, ill come up for a cricket match though mate.
how dare you a citizen of canada speak of baseball like that, baseball should be the scrouge of the world.
i don't know, but Tasmainia is bloody cold, it drizzles all winter and you get the wind straight off the southern ocean after it comes across antartica.
hey adrian how many people there play cricket, im just intrigued.
and i love snow, snow and skiing.
thanks,
dessa
Would it change your attitude if I told you these was a canoe full of beer by home plate? (Seriously.)
~:cheers:
no it wouldn't, because cricket is such a superior game, baseball you hit the ball once and run around a diamond once, cricket you have to work to run more.
its a game of endurance and skill, not like baseball a game of advertising and capitalism.
thanks,
dessa
Adrian II
12-19-2004, 15:00
hey adrian how many people there play cricket, im just intrigued. and i love snow, snow and skiing.Not many people play cricket and it's not popular at all, only in some restricted posh circles. They tried to introduce American football here some ten years ago, but that misfired completely. For team sports Dutchmen play soccer, hockey, volleyball, basketball and a bit of baseball. Ice speed skating is popular, Canadian hockey isn't. Not much snow here either, certainly not of the skiing kind. We have no mountains and our climate is of the moderate, maritime kind. Not much of anything, really.
'Cept we now have this constant &%#$@* drizzle... :furious3:
no it wouldn't, because cricket is such a superior game, baseball you hit the ball once and run around a diamond once, cricket you have to work to run more.
its a game of endurance and skill, not like baseball a game of advertising and capitalism.
thanks,
dessa
Ummm... did you see any advertising or capitalism or just a bunch of guys running around in the snow having fun.
Oh, did I mention the canoe full of beer at home plate?
Are you allowed to play cricket with beer in the field?
well the thing is in australia, there is plenty of beer, so when you play cricket, i can make a bet you do nothing but drink while playing cricket.
i bet you tommorow when i go out to play cricket with my mates, we'll drink beer while batting.
plus i really wouldn't want your canadian beer, it'll probably taste like vicky beer, weak and sweet.
thanks,
dessa
well the thing is in australia, there is plenty of beer, so when you play cricket, i can make a bet you do nothing but drink while playing cricket.
i bet you tommorow when i go out to play cricket with my mates, we'll drink beer while batting.
plus i really wouldn't want your canadian beer, it'll probably taste like vicky beer, weak and sweet.
thanks,
dessa
Is it just me or did Australia wake up on the wrong side of the planet this morning? ~;)
TheSilverKnight
12-20-2004, 15:44
Oooooohhhh!! Australia got burned by Beirut ~D ~:cheers:
Tricky Lady
12-20-2004, 18:29
'Cept we now have this constant &%#$@* drizzle...
And wind.... Wind.... My God, wind blowing you from your bike... :smiley:
I like biking but the combination wind + rain really makes me :furious3: I hate it! (I live in Antwerp near the Belgian-Dutch border)
Tribesman
12-22-2004, 02:25
Wind and Rain Tricky ? try the West of Ireland ~D
Back home again now , but it will soon be time to emmigrate again .
Somebody Else
12-22-2004, 04:26
So not very many expats around here then... fair enough.
Crazed Rabbit
12-22-2004, 08:29
Rain is good, I hate the sun.
What is this "sun" you speak of? I know not what ye meaneth. Is it some sort of clime wherein it is not raining? Or perhaps, even more absurdly, a time wherein there is no rain?
Madness, I say! For we all know that if rain clouds did not seperate the earth from space, we would all be sucked into space!
Seriously, near where I live is the most northerly rain forest in the world. This is becuase we have two seasons here: wet and moist. In the winter, you can go, literally, for days without seeing the sun or blue sky. It is all gray. Only gray. There is nothing but gray. Ah, western Washington.
As one might espect, the people around here are pale and prunish.
Crazed Rabbit
LittleGrizzly
12-22-2004, 08:35
n the winter, you can go, literally, for days without seeing the sun or blue sky. It is all gray. Only gray. There is nothing but gray.
i feel your pain, isn't all the greyness just depressing!
the people are pretty pale here too, well at least those who haven'[t recently holidayed (isn't making up words fun) or used fake tan.
Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe
12-22-2004, 09:01
I was a French in Boston, USA, now I am still an expat, French in Burgundy.
When you stay some times away, home feel foreign.
Louis,
Somebody Else
12-22-2004, 12:26
When you stay some times away, home feel foreign.
Tell me about it... England's a pretty screwed up place to me... although, it probably is anyway.
You know, I had a french teacher, who was French... he went back to France once, and was mistaken for an Englishman... For some inconceivable reason, he wasn't pleased.
Ja'chyra
12-23-2004, 09:48
I'm a Scotsman living in England, does that count?
Stop complaining about weather, as a wise man once said "There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes".
LittleGrizzly
12-23-2004, 10:01
If being a scotsman in england counts then surely an englishman in wales counts, there isn't any difference really except a few english insults....
bmolsson
12-23-2004, 12:26
I am a Swede living in Indonesia. Been here a while though.... Just sued the National Police and Prosecutors office for about 20 million USD so I might not be here for long though..... ~;)
Somebody Else
12-23-2004, 12:36
I am a Swede living in Indonesia. Been here a while though.... Just sued the National Police and Prosecutors office for about 20 million USD so I might not be here for long though..... ~;)
Sounds like a story... do tell...
bmolsson
12-23-2004, 12:59
Sounds like a story... do tell...
Well, its a rather long story. Summarized:
In March 2003, I was rented in to fix a Volvo Truck company in Balikapan Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). It has about 500 employeed. The company had just been under a siege by a local organization with about USD 200,000 robbed as a ransom for a hostage. With no money and with more or less the whole operation stopped, I went in to get it back on it's feet.
After 3 month it was back and in full operation. New bank loans, improved supplier relations, the sun was shining.
Now the same gang as before decided, together with some of the staff, to try the same thing with me. On June 5 2003, during a meeting with some staff, I was attacked. The intention was to take me hostage and get more cash out of the company. The company did have about USD 1 million that I could sign out alone. My Treasury manager was in on this so he knew exactly how much. Well, I did not agree and resisted. This resulted in 3 stabb wounds in my back and 3 in my head. Several bruises as well. I managed to fight my self to safety and got to hospital. Alone with about 35 attackers, it was a rough ride I can tell. Got 3,5 liter blood transfused and the doctor wondered why I was still alive.
The police arrested several and in a following trial 4 was sent to jail. The man with the knife, a local politican (!), got 6 month ( ~:confused: ) in jail.
Well, so far everything is fine.
In December 4, 2003, I was arrested in my Jakarta office and brought to the prosecutor in Balikpapan. I was charged for assulting the 35 guy's I was attacked by. (I did fight back though).
The prosecutor told me that if I paid him about USD 500,000. I asked him to @!#$@# and on record time my case was taken to court. The following trial was a total joke. I have money, lawyers and my own investigation team. In the trial I can prove that I was in Sweden at the same time I was interrogated in Balikpapan. I cna prove that the investigation officer was in a different location when investigating the crime scene. I can prove that the "evidence" comes from a totally different place than the actual crime scene. The prosecutors withness admit in court that they have been told what to testify. Of course my political contacts doesn't make the life easier for the prosecutor.
On August 23, 2004, I am aquitted and the case is thrown out of court. It's unique since the court also say that I should be rehabilitated.
Of course not a word from police or prosecutor, so I decide to collect. On December 9, 2004 I sue the national police and the general attorney's office for damages of USD 20 million.
I will never get any money, but since I am a rather high profiled investor in the country, they will have to come a talk nicely to me...... ~D
The story is like taken from a novel written by Stephen King, Frans Kafka and Walt Disney together, but it actually did happen.......
Ser Clegane
12-23-2004, 13:32
Holy shit!!!! ~:eek: ~:eek:
I think the Jakarta office of our company just made it off the list of offices I would be willing to transfer to.
I hope you fully recovered from the injuries caused by the assault...
AUSTRALIA IS THE ULTIME PLACE IN THE WORLD!!!! (cept Melbourne, that place is a #*@&%hole)
Although I must say, I HATE CRICKET. Softball is waayy better.
Rugby is THE sport to play if you ask me.
Only problem with sydney, is as its soooo great the land costs a ridiculous amount. And Hail is scary, especially when there is a 10 min gap between a 40+ degree day and Giant Balls of Ice Slamming down at you.
I rather like cricket although of course I prefer rugby...even though I'm ok at cricket and crap at rugger.
Somebody Else
12-23-2004, 16:08
bmolsson - what an ordeal, not sure what sounds worse - being kidnapped, or being sued in a dodgy court for being kidnapped. Well done for getting through it, and next time... give 'em hell!
The Scourge
12-23-2004, 16:42
English man ,who got married and has been living in Denmark for the last ten years.
Which ,I suppose is one of the reasons I've stuck with this forum for so long ,although I don't post that much these days ,as I'm just too #@*:ing tired after work.
~:cheers:
Goofball
12-23-2004, 18:43
I used to be a Canadian living in Saudi Arabia and then I was a Canadian living in the U.S., but now I'm back home.
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