I've lived in China, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Mexico. Here's an interesting thing about living in a foreign country... It really doesn't correlate that well with the fantasies people have bout those places. Yeah, Thailand has amazing beaches and fantastic food, but there are things you'll face living there that no tourist has encountered. Stuff like bureaucracy, cultural attitudes towards foreigners, minor inconveniences, etc.
It's definitely interesting, and I loved living in all those aforementioned countries. But knowing what I know now, I'm currently looking to move to... Bulgaria. Mentioning Thailand and Mexico get me sighs and "You're so lucky," but Bulgaria just gets me blank stares.
What is it about Bulgaria that does it for you? And yeah, I know what you mean about seeing the cracks, when you live in a place too long they start becoming much more noticeable.
There's a bunch of reasons, some logical, some intangible... Among them: low cost of living on a foreign income, ability to establish legal residency there, super-fast Internet (I work online) , very walkable cities, fantastic food and locally-grown produce, and proximity of parks and trails for running. The culture also feels both easy to approach and fascinating and different.
It's really hard to pinpoint what makes me want to stay in a place... It's like people, really: some people you just "click" with, others you know are great but just don't connect somehow...
I'm assuming you're living there now and know all of these things from experience? If so, I totally get what you mean, and it's definitely hard to just pick a place to live based just on what you see online or what people say.
I visited a few years ago and loved it. I'm heading there in two weeks to confirm my impression and make the final decision whether I want to live there. We'll see. You're right, it's really hard to know if you'll like a place or not, especially for living there. A lot of places are awesome for a few days, but live there long enough and it becomes a totally different place. So just researching online doesn't give you the full picture.
I've lived in China, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Mexico. Here's an interesting thing about living in a foreign country... It really doesn't correlate that well with the fantasies people have bout those places. Yeah, Thailand has amazing beaches and fantastic food, but there are things you'll face living there that no tourist has encountered. Stuff like bureaucracy, cultural attitudes towards foreigners, minor inconveniences, etc.
It's definitely interesting, and I loved living in all those aforementioned countries. But knowing what I know now, I'm currently looking to move to... Bulgaria. Mentioning Thailand and Mexico get me sighs and "You're so lucky," but Bulgaria just gets me blank stares.
What is it about Bulgaria that does it for you? And yeah, I know what you mean about seeing the cracks, when you live in a place too long they start becoming much more noticeable.
There's a bunch of reasons, some logical, some intangible... Among them: low cost of living on a foreign income, ability to establish legal residency there, super-fast Internet (I work online) , very walkable cities, fantastic food and locally-grown produce, and proximity of parks and trails for running. The culture also feels both easy to approach and fascinating and different.
It's really hard to pinpoint what makes me want to stay in a place... It's like people, really: some people you just "click" with, others you know are great but just don't connect somehow...
I'm assuming you're living there now and know all of these things from experience? If so, I totally get what you mean, and it's definitely hard to just pick a place to live based just on what you see online or what people say.
I visited a few years ago and loved it. I'm heading there in two weeks to confirm my impression and make the final decision whether I want to live there. We'll see. You're right, it's really hard to know if you'll like a place or not, especially for living there. A lot of places are awesome for a few days, but live there long enough and it becomes a totally different place. So just researching online doesn't give you the full picture.
Ultimately, you gotta take your chances...
Exactly. Wish you the best in confirming your first impression!
Thank you! :)