Seeing and understanding are not the same...
Bill, you might have seen, but you obviously failed to understand much or perhaps most of what you saw. First, I have met SH several times, and your perception of his motivations, his attitudes and his behavior are not only egregiously wrong, but offensive. Second, your generalizations about the lifestyles of expatriates would be equally offensive if they were not so absurd.
In fifteen years of living overseas, I've found that peoples' motivations vary enormously: sometimes the rationale is economic, sometimes political, and sometimes social, but it's rarely sexual. That is, most men who make the decision to live oversea don't do so primarily so they can screw younger women. This may be a fringe benefit, but it's hardly a motivation for changing one's entire life. Maybe before your next trip you should read a couple of books and arrange to meet a more representative sample of expats. You might also want to brush up your syntax prior to making your next lengthy post.
J Boy, your point is well-taken though I'm not sure I would include defense expenditures post World War II as foreign assistance. I think it's more on the order of self-interest and perhaps a determination on the part of politicians to ensure the survival of the defense industry and the number of jobs associated with it. I doubt, for example, that the Japanese or the Germans view the presence of US troops on their soil as essential any longer.
Maybe it's not possible to generalize accurately about either of these issues, and maybe the reasons that those of us who live overseas do so are as idiosyncratic as the individuals who make the choices. I do think though, that once someone has lived overseas for long enough, though he or she may adapt to other cultures, the individual never "fits in" again. For example, as an American living in Asia, I'm always going to be perceived as an outsider, and will be perceived somewhat in that vein by Americans when I do go home.
Obviously, this is just my point of view and just my two centavos worth of opinion.
:D
GE
Why I live in the Philippines
Well, I will add my 2 cents to this discussion. I live in the Phillipines for many reasons, most have a lot to with how I love I the country. However, there is a separate reason for why I don't live in America. I lived in the US for all of my adult life, and it is a place I truly despise. It used to be great place, maybe as recently at 15 years ago. But times have changed. It is a borderline police state today. The country has the highest per capita incaration rate in the world, by far. Cops everywhere. The government can monitor you communications at will. The smallest thing, from driving after having a few to many, to not having your kid in car seat, can get you in serious trouble. Argument with your wife, maybe you go to jail. Your kid gets sunburned, maybe you are charged with child abuse. Music to loud, disturbing the peace. Say something untruthful to a cop, you go to jail for a long time. Your 5 year old son touches a girl inappropriately, he gets in whole lot of trouble. This list goes on and on.
But the biggest reason that I could not live in the US, is that I am against the US in their war in Iraq. The US destroyed the country and is now occupying it. They claim they are liberating it, but over 80% of the population, in every poll taken in the past 6 months, want the US out NOW. Now I don't want to enter a debate about Iraq. It is just that in good conscience, I cannot live in a country I do not support. Out here, while not everyone supports my views, they at least consider them rational and don't get upset with me for having them. When I express joy at every strike the resistance makes against the US, I don't have to worry about going on some terrorist watch list merely because I have an opinion that is counter to US interests. In war, there are two sides. Who is right and and who is wrong largely depends on where you live. It is very difficult to live in a country at war when you support the other side, even if your support is merely the opinion that the other side is right.
Sic transit moronus Americanus...
[QUOTE=LoveAsian*****s]Your post, however, show that you are the kind of American moron that I was so sick of, that I had to leave. I am glad I just have to debate people like you online, instead of seeing them everyday.[/QUOTE]
LAW:
Isn't it nice that most of the guys who live here are the polar opposites of this guy and that you almost never have to listen to this type of poorly-espressed, semi-incoherent, baseless crap? I don't know about you, but where I live, in Davao, very few of my daily conversations with other expats have anything to do with the US.
Let's try however, to keep the secret of how good life can be here between ourselves. If it gets out, the influx of newcomers may overwhelm us.
:D
GE