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HisHolidayGift -> RE: Have you ever relocated? (11/26/2012 1:41:37 AM)
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Here's an odd fact, throughout human history including present day, more than 1/3 of all people have never been more than 20 miles from where they were born. Even with modern modes of travel, we're just not nomads anymore (for the most part). There are huge population densities in places like Tokyo, New York and Mexico City which are small so there's no need to range further to get what you need.
I haven't left the continent yet, but I've relocated for love or business more than once including living in Mexico for a while (lovely country with wonderful people, but you can't get a thing done on a Sunday to save your life). I had fun learning the new language there through immersion. They gave me alot of leeway but sadly that's less because of my (nice enough) 'wiggle' and more because Americans are largely regarded by the world as incredibly stupid, and our educational standard makes it statistically true. They were patient with me because they expected me to struggle much harder than I did and were quite surprised when I picked up enough of the language for the neighbors/locals to realize I wasn't an 'American TV Bimbo Slut Girl' as it was eventually explained with much hilarity over some mescal. Even despite the expectation of stereotypes, they were never overtly rude or crude, except this one guy, but hey, for a whole city, that's not too shabby. I did have a small head start because I grew up in the southwest, so a few words and phrases were just a part of living nearby, stuff like asking for the bathroom or ordering food I already knew and I grew up hearing it spoken, not in the home, but in the city so it was easier to pronounce words I'd heard before even when I hadn't known what they meant. Plus really, the people there are just very nice and open, civic minded and friendly, they may not be able to speak to you, but they'll gleefully go get all the schoolchildren in their neighborhood who have taken English classes if that's what it takes to talk.
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