So, what does it feel like to breathe free air again?
Invigorating…
By the way, an apology…
I just noticed that some more radio interviews seem to have disappeared from the web. This one was on the Gary Null show a few years ago. I just saw that it had been removed. It joins a growing list: a Money Dots interview in 2008, another small interview on Dollar Daze in 2009.
What on earth could I have said that was so upsetting?
I have no idea. But I apologize because these shows were listed on my credits on this blog and their disappearance from the web makes me look like a liar….
A few random observations:
The concept of customer service is overdeveloped in the US…. and underdeveloped most other places.
A barbecue on coal is for wimps. Real men barbecue on wood fires.
Avoid changing money outside a bank and always check your money.
Always get a receipt.
32 hectares can mean 32 square meters of road frontage.
Try to avoid driving a car directly through a rice field.
There are a lot of Americans buying homes abroad. A lot.
Don´t say too much to the person in the expat group who brings up the Zionist lobby. Tell them you love it… or better yet, say nothing. He/she could be an informant.
Welcome back wherever you are. I was starting to get worried.
Gene O
Hi Gene –
Sorry for being away from the blog. It’s hard to blog when wandering around. The internet is developed fairly well around here but I’m never sure about security, so I avoid writing until I know for sure the net is secure.
Did you read a recent piece on Google and online information? All those little chats with your employers, family, friends, doctors get filed away in their logs. They claim it’s all raw data and no one is monitoring it, but just the existence of logs like that is frightening.
My first expat meeting (and I think my last) had a lot of people expressing these kinds of concerns.
Where I am, real estate sales to American nationals ticked up sharply in the last six months, it seems. And what was unusual, said a real estate agent present at the meeting, Americans were flying down for two weeks, buying almost at once, and going back. That sounds like a very worried bunch of people.
The kind of people who are buying?
A man who runs a web business based in the US while he lives abroad.
Two other owners of small businesses who moved here because they like the friendlier and slower pace of life. One is now in the relocation business.
A single mother from New York who wants to be able to afford a maid for her very young daughter while she works. She can’t afford American private school tuition on her income.
A couple who’d met in another country and then moved here.
A single father struggling with medical bills for his only child (sick in the US).
Several readers of magazines/newsletters like Escape Artist, International Living, and Sovereign Society, who credited the notion of moving abroad to them (this isn’t a boost for the newsletters – it’s just an observation. Full disclosure: two of those magazines are owned by or affiliated with my co-author… or his associates).
The strongest general reason for leaving the US seemed to be government intrusion into privacy.
After that there were concerns about increasing taxes and living costs. These weren’t rich people trying to shelter ill-gotten millions. These were hard-working middle class families terrified that they weren’t going to stay in the middle class any more.
Or you can pull a Jeff Knaebel…
– NonE
hi NonE –
yeah…
the state isn’t worth that much effort..
pay it no mind is my motto.
Ignore it like you ignore a flea, nasty people, bad bosses, stupid journalists, aggressive police,
Duck ‘n Dodge..
then get out of Dodge
l
Yes. It all comes down to whether your aim is to advance civilization or to be left the hell alone. I can’t say that I have a coherent argument for choosing one over the other, but I will say that I think both perspectives have merit.
– NonE
Civilization has advanced quite enough and it managed to do it without me. It will have to go the rest of the way, also without me.
I am fond of my family, some friends, my blog readers, the heroes of arts and sciences, and “humanity” ….theorized as the unknown worker…
The rest of the world I am indifferent too, as long as they don’t do anything to endanger the circle I love.
I have no desire to enlighten people. I only want to wipe the dust of their land off my feet and go where I can’t hear their voices.
They can lie, steal, cheat, and justify it all with second hand bon mots to their hearts content.
I’d sooner sell jaggery in a bazaar in basavanguddi..
Hi Lila,
Nice to see you’ve landed. How to you get connected with expat groups? Do they tend to (or are encoraged to) form an enclave?
Hi Jeff –
there now – my buddies are back.
I’m not trying to be mysterious. Not telling you where I am simply because I’d like to finish my business plans here before going public.
I’m not rich and well connected enough to go incognito. We jane doe’s have to fess up to our id’s in order to function.
Some day..
re expat groups. I only went to meet a particular person who, I was told, had similar plans and might have worked with me. She didn’t show up.
I think expats like to form these groups on their own steam. But I wonder if they don’t get used by the government. I mean it’s a nice way for the state to keep tabs on people..collect. emails and so on.
So my after thought was well maybe, it’s not such a good idea. You know my reclusive tendencies..
There’s been some rain and I’ve been a bit holed up. Then I wandered in the countryside where English was absent..which made it a bit tricky.
But it confirmed that I’d like to be close to a city. You’re never sure about what exactly work till you try it. Burying yourself in a mountain escape is simply a fantasy for people of modest means. You need the internet just to get things done..
Works much better if you’re a billionaire I suppose. You just helicopter to your private island, and hand your company over to your second in command. Since my second in command is me and I’ve never been on a helicopter, I need to stick close to the concrete jungle, which turns out to be rather nice in these parts.
I’m no where cheap unfortunately, so this is all costing quite a bit, but you can’t make a change without that.
I chose safety and security over dirt cheap and/or glamorous and adventurous.
Not everyone’s preference, but I think when you can’t afford to make a mistake (and I can’t) that’s your best bet.
I must say I am amazed by what people expect. There are some people who really think that you can get the standard of living in the US at third world prices..that’s a bit unreasonable….if not downright spoiled..
But anyone with realistic expectations who does their homework shouldn’t be in for any drastic surprises.
Thanks, Lila. Hey I know music is a subjective affair, but I ran across this short clip the other day and in reading your post, it made me feel perhaps a bit of the euphoria you may have experienced in realizing a goal. Enjoy (I hope):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDy7mf4hAOM
Regarding your parting point:
You were pretty harsh on the Zionists in LOE — and with good reason. After that, surely a scathing comment here or there can’t do a whole lot more harm. Moreover, it seems as though fear of “informants” and political blacklisting is the lobby’s most useful (and likely proudest) asset. If we participate in self censorship, aren’t we playing directly to their strengths and ensuring that they stay maintain their dominance?
Andrew said…If we participate in self censorship, aren’t we playing directly to their strengths and ensuring that they stay maintain their dominance?
Or, us little people may practice C.Y.A.
In the event the power structure last a little while longer.
Not everyone is willing to risk a bashed in skull to disobey the Collective as it spirals downaward to self-destruction.
I wouldn’t blame anyone for failure to openly and fully resist, especially without due cause as so few others are willing to do the same.
What’s the point?