I've been in Korea for five and half years now. That's right. I'm pushing six years on this overcrowded little peninsula, though it seems more like two. At this point I've become quite comfortable with the place. I have a grip on the language, I know all the crazy food, and I think I have a good understanding of a culture that is, at times, ( Read more... )

I'm curious as to how 'integrated' people feel in their new lives abroad? In particular if you live in another country where you speak a new language..

Do you mostly hang around with other expats and read books in your native language or are you fully immersed in the new culture? If so, how did you do it?

x-posted

Wow, I'm so overwhelmed by the many ( Read more... )

 As an American living in Austria, I find that I am really living in two worlds.  One is Austria, land of Apple Strudel and Mozart, and the other is that of the Turkish immigrants in Austria (my fiancé is Turkish).  The two interact, of course.  The Turkish must enter the Austrian world for work and school, and often find that their children have ( Read more... )

After getting tired of answering the following two standard questions (I am Indian born and for the first time in my life of living abroad, come across as a local - Malaysia, so the initial questions make sense to be asked):

1. Why don't you speak Malay?
2. Oh how come you don't speak Tamil? oh you speak Indian then?

I found something where being a ( Read more... )

Hi folks ( Read more... )

I was just curious how long those of you in this community plan to spend in the country where you are living now. Is it a short-term or long-term stay and why? If you plan on leaving in the next few years, would it be to return to your home country or to go to a different country? How integrated do you feel where you are living?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/03/29/AR2005032901051.html

( full text for the link-shy )

everything seems so normal. i theoretically understand that i live in a country other than my native one, but i feel completely NON-foreign. or at least, i feel like my surrounding environs are non-foreign. so, what i am wondering is this: WHY ( Read more... )

So I just moved into a new appartment and am in the process of furnishing it... I have all the basic appliances and now am starting to look at furniture. My question is, do I make my home reflect the culture and country I live in or the culture and country I come from and identify with? I've been debating it back and forth and can't make up my ( Read more... )

How can one define what is Self and what is Other with respect to cultures? I mean, it's not simply a matter of identifying what you do and think the same or differently than some semi-idealized cultural norm. Every culture has variation (or weirdos, depending on how you see it) within itself, and it would be difficult to argue that someone who ( Read more... )