Emigrating, where is the grass greener?

[Aardvark]

Dave made an interesting comment about considering emigrating from Britain.

 

It got me thinking, if SFNers had to leave their home country where would they go and why?

 

I can't quite make up my mind between Australia and New Zealand. Both have great people and both are beautiful but in utterly different ways.

 

On the whole i think i might go for New Zealand because i love the hot springs and the culture seems more British and less American influenced than Australia (just personal preference, no insult meant to Americans;) )

 

Anyone else got any interesting ideas?

[mike90]

I've always wanted to go to Japan. I'm a big fan of a lot of japanese movies and animes, and it just seems to me from the way they write there way of thinking about life is a lot more similar then mine then most american people I've met.

 

I'd like to see what the culture is like there and see if thats true at all. Plus there are just a lot of things about japanese culture I find interesting, enough to want to at least visit and take it all in to find out if I could live there.

[Heretic]

I've always wanted to go to Japan.

 

I'll have to second that. Put on top of all your other comments the fact that Japanese consider English to be an incredibly sexy language (don't ask me why) you've got a winner.

 

Japanese is also very easy to pick up as most of their sounds are easily distinguisable for someone who has spoken english all their life. Chinese on the other hand (either of them) is sung with tones and is very hard to pick up and understand, as with the wrong tone and right sound you can say something very offensive.

[mike90]

Hm they find English attractive there too? That certainly can't hurt. I speak perfectly good english here, but women always seem to find me unimpressive anyway

[Sayonara]

New Zealand or Brazil for me.

 

Yeah baby.

 

New Zealand seems like western civilisation as it should be, with a stonking great garden bolted onto it.

 

Brazil is just a whole other world.

[Aardvark]

New Zealand seems like western civilisation as it should be' date=' with a stonking great garden bolted onto it.[/quote']

 

That's the truth. In many ways New Zealand feels like it's how England should be.

 

Brazil is just a whole other world.

 

Please elucidate.

[Sayonara]

Please elucidate.

I don't know where to begin.

 

It's... just... completely upside-down. The madness. The MADNESS!

 

Winter gets as chillingly cold as the height of July in England. The moon is at 90 degrees. All-you-can-eat restaurants charge about £8 a head. Pizza comes without the tomato layer (much nicer) and may involve smarties or strawberries. The beach has its own laws. Poor people are better armed than the police.

[Aardvark]

I don't know where to begin.

 

With Madness?

 

It's... just... completely upside-down. The madness. The MADNESS!

 

Ah yes, excellent.

 

Winter gets as chillingly cold as the height of July in England. The moon is at 90 degrees.

 

Drat, there go my plans for setting up an insulation and double glazing company. Ah well, theres always room for another ice cream shop, i'm sure.

 

 

All-you-can-eat restaurants charge about £8 a head.

 

Egads! But i bet it tastes awful.

 

 

Pizza comes without the tomato layer (much nicer)

 

Blast, proved wrong.

 

and may involve smarties or strawberries.

 

Aaaaaaaaah, he rubs it in. Alright, alright, i was wrong, i accept it.

 

The beach has its own laws.

 

The law of the beach? That certainly sounds a lot nicer than the law of the jungle. (or European Union diktats for that matter..........)

 

Poor people are better armed than the police.

 

Eeep. I take it that poor people form quite an effective lobby, get peoples attention and all that? Empowered you might say?

[Sayonara]

Egads! But i bet it tastes awful.

Best. Restaurants. EVER.

 

Eeep. I take it that poor people form quite an effective lobby, get peoples attention and all that? Empowered you might say?

No, they are allowed guns on the understanding that they live in the favellas and only shoot each other.

[Aardvark]

Best. Restaurants. EVER.

 

Does that judgement include the waitresses? I have heard rumours about the lovely Brazilian ladies...........

 

 

No, they are allowed guns on the understanding that they live in the favellas and only shoot each other.

 

Aah, splendid, an excellent gentlemans agreement. Truly Brazil must be a civilised place for such a happy understanding to be reached.

 

Tell me, how does one go about getting a visa?

[Sayonara]

Does that judgement include the waitresses? I have heard rumours about the lovely Brazilian ladies...........

Yes they are lovely, even the ones who aren't really ladies. Strangely though they don't seem to go in for waitressing, and most staff in the eateries are male.

 

Go figure. Or go gay. Either will do.

 

Tell me, how does one go about getting a visa?

That's the best bit. British Citizens are exempt from standard visit visas.

[Aardvark]

Yes they are lovely,

 

Hurrah!

 

 

even the ones who aren't really ladies.

 

My word, and how would you know such a salacious thing? You haven't been, dare i say it?, a cad, have you?

 

 

Strangely though they don't seem to go in for waitressing' date=' and most staff in the eateries are male.

 

Go figure. Or go gay. Either will do.[/quote']

 

Considering options carefully. Hummm.......

 

 

That's the best bit. British Citizens are exempt[/b'] from standard visit visas.

 

Suddenly life looks a little less bleak.

[Sayonara]

My word, and how would you know such a salacious thing? You haven't been, dare i say it?, a cad, have you?

How DARE you Sir.

 

I, er, read it in a magazine.

 

 

Considering options carefully. Hummm.......

Wait until you are over there, then you can blame it on the seventeen caipirinahs you had when you landed, and the bewildering and massively unfair level of shaggableness among the Brazilians.

 

 

Suddenly life looks a little less bleak.

That is the paradox of Brazil. I am missing it, but life is less bleak because I know it is there. One day I shall return. Soon I hope!

[Aardvark]

How DARE you Sir.

 

I' date=' er, read it in a magazine.[/quote']

 

Please excuse my quite unaccoutable lapse, naturally the idea that you could behave as a cad is quite unthinkable, i know the, er, magazine well...

 

Wait until you are over there, then you can blame it on the seventeen caipirinahs you had when you landed, and the bewildering and massively unfair level of shaggableness among the Brazilians.

 

Mixture of trepidation and tremendous excitment. excuse me while i, ahem, adjust my trousers.

 

That is the paradox of Brazil. I am missing it, but life is less bleak because I know it is there. One day I shall return. Soon I hope!

 

I know, sometimes, sitting here i think of the outback sunsets or the blissful calm the New Zealand forests. I'm desperately sad not to be there, but happy that i have been and plan one day to return.

 

Such sweet sadness:-)

[Phi for All]

I don't know where to begin.

 

It's... just... completely upside-down. The madness. The MADNESS!

You should post your pics of the Brazilian broccoli forests. And tell him about parachuting in with nothing but your sandals, a broken Swiss Army knife and a pot of Hollandaise.

[Sayonara]

BROCCOLI!!!!!

 

http://www.sayonara.info/blog/2005/08/paragliding.php

[Sisyphus]

Can I ask what's so great about New Zealand?

[Mokele]

If I had the choice, and could still do my work? Either Borneo or Papua/New Guinea. Both are great climates (tropical rainforest with mountains), both have plenty of carnivorous plants and reptiles. Sadly, I don't think there are any major research universities in either, plus PNG still has tribes that engage in cannibalism and headhunting.

 

Mokele

[Bettina]

I haven't given this any thought so I'm treating it as if I had to leave the USA in a hurry. So with that, I would pack a quick bag and head to China. We had some Chinese exchange students and I got to know them very well.

 

China is mostly atheist but tolerates non violent religions so if I wanted to taste religion, I could be a Buddhist. China is beautiful, devoid of the "bad" religions and with its million person army I would feel protected.

 

I know its freedoms are limited, but I'm not in want of anything special.

 

Bettina

[Phi for All]

I was going to say the UK but you all are leaving....

 

Can I emigrate to Phiforallia, where the roads are German, the food is Indian, the communication system is from the US, the women are Brazilian and the cost of living is comparable to Paraguay? All the property is beachfront and housekeeping is paid for by the government.

 

If I had the choice, and could still do my work? Either Borneo or Papua/New Guinea. Both are great climates (tropical rainforest with mountains), both have plenty of carnivorous plants and reptiles. Sadly, I don't think there are any major research universities in either, plus PNG still has tribes that engage in cannibalism and headhunting.

Besides the rainforests and mountains, how is this different from your place?

[ecoli]

I was going to say the UK but you all are leaving....

 

Can I emigrate to Phiforallia' date=' where the roads are German, the food is Indian, the communication system is from the US, the women are Brazilian and the cost of living is comparable to Paraguay? All the property is beachfront and housekeeping is paid for by the government. [/quote']

 

Hey, can I move there too? You just described my paradise.

[Pangloss]

China is mostly atheist but tolerates non violent religions so if I wanted to taste religion' date=' I could be a Buddhist. China is beautiful, devoid of the "bad" religions and with its million person army I would feel protected.

[/quote']

 

(cof)

 

Oh my.

 

You guys aren't gonna let this one slide are you? I'm counting on SFN vets to help Bettina out here. In a friendly way, please.

[Aardvark]

Can I ask what's so great about New Zealand?

 

It's about the size of Britain but contains climatic zones stretching from glaciers to rainforest. The most venous creature is the wasp. The beaches, mountains, forests and rolling countryside are beautiful. There are natural hot springs on some beaches so you can dig your own hot pool in the sand.

 

The cost of living is about as low as possible for it to be in a first world country. Most of the electricity comes from geothermal and hydro.

 

You can walk around the back streets and along the docks in Auckland at 2AM and feel perfectly safe. If you look puzzled or lost random strangers will come up to you and offer you directions.

 

All land claims and disputes between the Maori and the European settlers have been settled.

 

Everyone there loves rugby and the fishing is absolutely great.

 

It's probably about as far away from the Middle East as you can get.

 

Other than that, not much.

[YT2095]

If I could take my Lab with me, then it would definately have to be in the Swiss Alps.

I love peace and quiet with great scenery.

[mike90]

One of my friends went to New Zealand a couple years ago and said it was absolutely fantastic for a lot of the reasons already mentioned. So I'd have to add New Zealand on there as a close second.