Re: Discussion.
 

I also see this when back home, especially when in the local pub with people I grew up with. They need a shot of valium if they are heading south of Scotch Corner (a trip to London takes weeks of planning), they all live within a few miles of their parents but they are happy with that and I have no issues.

On the other hand, I get the feeling that some are waiting for me to fail and come running back home to be greeted be a chorus of 'I told you so'. It still amuses me as to the look on their faces when they ask which countries I've visited...it goes back to Shivas comments on how they have a completely distorted view of the Middle East and Africa.

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I split up with my ex after she cried every day in our new place. We had moved from Fareham to Southampton.

Her sister refused to speak to us for months and said that I was splitting up the family by taking her sister away from them all in Gosport...."Fareham was far enough away" - I kid you not.

I get the whole staying close to home and I get that I've never been like that...but christ alive if I end up back in the village I grew up in and there are all my old primary school friends still there I'll have to leave.

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So it's not just me who gets the feeling some people back home want me to fail!!! I was talking with one of my mates at the weekend saying I will more than likely be staying for another couple of years and he just couldn't understand the attraction and I should move back to my home town!!!

Yes I may fail out here but at least I gave it a dam good go!

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Why would you fail though mate?

**** what they think anyway pal. Most people (as has been said) are clueless. I told a pal I'd been to Kuwait, he hadn't heard of the country.:blink:

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When we first moved out it was amazing the amount of people that wouldn't visit as they though the Middle East unsafe. At that time was the end of the Bosnian War it was great point out that they were closer to Bosnia than we were to Gaza!

And ditto on the places been; watching reactions when you "casually" drop visits to places like Baghdad or Tehran into a conversation is petty minded but fun...

Good point - I think we all experience that to some extent. I dont know what you call but but its that "I didn't, couldn't, wouldn't do it but how dare you be successful at it". Typical UK attitude, easer to look for something to knock down rather than address the real issues. And to be fair preventing that "running back home" from happening also acts as a massive motivator for me sometime....

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I left home at 16 as a gobshite to join the Army and got my first experience of living overseas (Wales). I could not understand the locals, They generally did not work, they could not drive, most of them resented us being there even though without our money running through the cigarette and beer shops the place would of been a ghost town. I spent most nights after a hard day avoiding the locals in the Naafi bar drinking beer and talking about girls. 20 years later and nothing has changed except I am now somewhere sunny.

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I don't think I will fail and even if I had to move back to the UK when my contract finishes this year, I would still view moving here as a success!

I was talking to one of my mates about maybe moving into the Middle East office permanently and they didn't know where the Middle East was even though I live in Dubai! I really do worry for some people!!!

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More patient and forgiving with my kids, less tolerant of twats. Partly as a result of age, but mainly as a result of having to deal with a higher number of twats on a daily basis.

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Oooh, what was the 'site rule infringement' this time?

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Now I realise why I dislike the UAE ! It is like Guildford ! Thanks to the poster from Newcastle for pointing that out !

I really did feel more comfortable in Nigeria !

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OK this time I'll explain. There was a new joiner spamming the board this morning, they got banned and posts removed IAW site rule 9. A N Other poster quoted one of the spam posts so that got deleted. Two other posters infringed site rule 15 and got deleted.

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Maybe because I've only just moved to the ME and most of my time as an expat has been in the FE but I've found that I have grown a lot more patient , more open minded and more tolerant of others . I'm definitely a lot more easy-going now than 15 years ago . Maybe after years in the ME I'll be more uptight , can't see it though . In KSA right now and it's fairly relaxed .
I'm also married with kids now , that changes you .
When I first left the UK I used to take a lot of drugs and drink a lot . I don't do that much now . When I left England I was an angry naive young man , travel and exposure to new cultures and places has corrupted me and made me wiser to the ways of the world . The longer I spend away from the UK the less I find I have in common with people there . No surprises there though .

The thing is with questions like this is that you can never really say how much of all this would have happened anyway .

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Thanks for the update, but haven't you just violated rule 15?

I'll get my coat.

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You're correct, tough to say how much you may have changed regardless...I'll just have a look at my mates in 5 years and see what I might have ended up like.

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The rules of this bored are exactly that..."Site Rules" They are not f**#King Queen's Regulations.
......Just saying :D..not criticising anybody..I am just making an observation and I have checked.. there is no site rule that says I can't make an observation! :D