That probably won't work out well for you and you may want to rethink.
Most American expats are very used to being in the specialized or valued class where they reside, and major crisis' with suddenly difficult times and/or resources for locals tends to create hostility/shunning/marginalizing towards "outsiders"; and trust me, YOU are an outsider still.
This is in all sincerity, things turn on a dime:
1 I have a co-grandparent to some of my grandbabies who relocated to northern Thailand 3 years back including a Thai girlfriend and supporting most of her extended family, wide expat community, successful work there and a house; he was back here visiting grandkids etc like he does regularly when it hit the fan in Wuhan, and said girlfriend a week later basically said don't return until who know when, no work or food in town and patrols, and she was back in isolated hillfarm compound with family.
2 I have a nephew who refused to return from Shanghai as the lockdowns there expanded. He has spent the majority of years since mid high school either joint learning or teaching in China with only fairly short legs in the US- diplomatic, biz, economics, language degrees now. Told his parents who had secured a very difficult to get ticket and transport for him from Stateside that he was hunkering down in his apartment and had food for a month, not to worry. They haven't heard anything from him (an extremely engaged and loving only child btw) after about 5 weeks in and most between was minimal. He may be just cut off techwise due to all the censoring, but.... yeah.
Do NOT think you are immune to being Othered and assume life will continue being good for you in whatever country you are in. Tribalism is real.
I left 5 years ago. I speak the language. Most every business in a mile radius knows who I am because it's not a tourist area and probably 4 other expats. There's plenty of food. Expat communities are where you get othered, because you live in an othered area by nature. I appreciate what you're saying, but from day one I've spent my time living as a local instead of living among them.
Great post and thanks for the links, especially the 2nd one. I'd encourage people to take a look at the Figs. 1 & 3. Of course those results don't control for any other confounding factors, but does show a significant reduction (1 and 2 orders of magnitudes) between countries that administer the BCG vaccine and those that don't.
All three of those places have far more social cohesion than the United States does, especially the Japanese. Of all the most densely populated areas, Japan is probably the safest.
Reading his posts, it's clear he DOES have connections which enable him to be safe in these areas.
This travel advisory, is of course generalized as most people do not have his level of comfort in another nation.
That probably won't work out well for you and you may want to rethink.
Most American expats are very used to being in the specialized or valued class where they reside, and major crisis' with suddenly difficult times and/or resources for locals tends to create hostility/shunning/marginalizing towards "outsiders"; and trust me, YOU are an outsider still.
This is in all sincerity, things turn on a dime: 1 I have a co-grandparent to some of my grandbabies who relocated to northern Thailand 3 years back including a Thai girlfriend and supporting most of her extended family, wide expat community, successful work there and a house; he was back here visiting grandkids etc like he does regularly when it hit the fan in Wuhan, and said girlfriend a week later basically said don't return until who know when, no work or food in town and patrols, and she was back in isolated hillfarm compound with family. 2 I have a nephew who refused to return from Shanghai as the lockdowns there expanded. He has spent the majority of years since mid high school either joint learning or teaching in China with only fairly short legs in the US- diplomatic, biz, economics, language degrees now. Told his parents who had secured a very difficult to get ticket and transport for him from Stateside that he was hunkering down in his apartment and had food for a month, not to worry. They haven't heard anything from him (an extremely engaged and loving only child btw) after about 5 weeks in and most between was minimal. He may be just cut off techwise due to all the censoring, but.... yeah.
Do NOT think you are immune to being Othered and assume life will continue being good for you in whatever country you are in. Tribalism is real.
If China really is blaming Americans for spreading this, Americans in China really do need to get out.
good post, TY. updoot
I left 5 years ago. I speak the language. Most every business in a mile radius knows who I am because it's not a tourist area and probably 4 other expats. There's plenty of food. Expat communities are where you get othered, because you live in an othered area by nature. I appreciate what you're saying, but from day one I've spent my time living as a local instead of living among them.
Great post and thanks for the links, especially the 2nd one. I'd encourage people to take a look at the Figs. 1 & 3. Of course those results don't control for any other confounding factors, but does show a significant reduction (1 and 2 orders of magnitudes) between countries that administer the BCG vaccine and those that don't.
All three of those places have far more social cohesion than the United States does, especially the Japanese. Of all the most densely populated areas, Japan is probably the safest.
Reading his posts, it's clear he DOES have connections which enable him to be safe in these areas.
This travel advisory, is of course generalized as most people do not have his level of comfort in another nation.