The 'portable' version is either the ground or a homeless person*. Both are serviceable enough entities to not require throwing away money on a portable spittoon.

Hurt, killed, same difference with our medical system.

American comedy is more about making fun of ourselves. Unless it's the French or Canadians, those are still fair game to rip on.



*Do I really need to say that I'm kidding?

If I was born somewhere other than the USA I would like it to be Iceland or the Faroe Islands.

I live in one of those places that can have a yearly temperature swing of 120 degrees or more (Farenheit, not that goofy Celsius nonsense). We like to joke that our seasons consist of: Cold, Wet, Road Construction, and Football.

But really, the cold season is just that, the cold season. You get used to it and it becomes second nature to you. Your first true winter can be hard, especially for those who've never had to deal with it before.

Then you realize, "Can't come to work today boss, I'm snowed in!" is a viable excuse. Plus, skiing, ski bunnies, hot chocolate, fireplaces, and an excuse not to do anything.

Well, Argentina. A very mixed bag. In terms of landscapes and such we have [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Province_(Argentina)]beautiful , and Buenos Aires itself [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Buenos_Aires]has become a highly sought-after city for tourism from all over the world (I can testify to that, in the last 5 years I managed to overhear people talking in German, Russian, English and Portuguese, those most probably from Brazil, A LOT, just by walking down the street or riding the metro). And I can tell you I love Bueno Aires its a nice mix of ethnicities, culture and architecture, and I would like to believe we are generally open minded and friendly. And by culture, I can Argentina has a very rich production of musicians, writers, comic book artists and filmmakers. And I also like our "personality" and our customs (I know for example, some foreigners were really amazed that our nightly plans involve hitting some friend's house at 11-12 PM, staying a few hours and then entering some nightclub or bar to stay up until 6-7AM) I wouldn't want to leave, but on to the bad...

Now the bad here is corruption, its awful and it has generated an awful lot of extreme poverty. Buenos Aires itself is full of slums and lately the number of people living in the street, dirty and dressed in rags, has been increasing. That's the other side of the coin I can testify to. The current government (in power since 2003) is probably one of the most corrupt we have ever endured, and things here are deteriorating with each passing year, we will probably hit stanflation (we have already been having 20-25% annual inflation for several years now ) soon, and all the government does is pass demagogue policies that are only making things worse. I fear another crisis is looming over the horizon, though of course I have my fingers crossed thatwe may avert such a fate.

And it's funny, I've been recently entertaining the thought of seeking laboral opportunities abroad, if only to stay a year or so, and Canada is my main target. So, maybe we can exchange places? Just for a little while?

Yeah, I can't deny these shifts occur, and they may actually be the rule rather than the exception.

Finland (where I was born) is ok, I guess. Weather here in Nordic countries is what it is, summers could be much longer and the "grey time of the year" (autumn and spring basically) could be shorter. I like my winters cold and with lots of snow though, but maybe shorter than here. People in general drink too much booze here too, and related violence. But overall I like how pragmatic and down-to-earth most Finns seem to be.

Overall, maybe Canada would be my first pick. Maybe the weather isn't that much more tropical than here (at least it wasn't in Montreal last time I was there), but I don't care. In general it seems like a sane country with sane people, as far as I can tell. Ok, the Quebecians with their language quarrels, I guess it is a bit same as with the Swedish-speaking elite minority in Finland.

Maybe Switzerland also, but I get a feeling they are maybe (also) a bit xenophobic. And I don't like Swiss banks making so much money harboring international criminals' assets.

Australia and Germany would be pretty good picks otherwise, but I don't get their anti-gaming policies. Don't they both have some pretty silly gaming censorship practises or something, at least what I read here? I want my Carmageddon with human pedestrians, dammit!

And Germany should finally get over their shame and fear of nazism. Ok we get it, you have bad karma due to Hitler, but it isn't like you are the only country with a dark past. Russians had Stalin which was easily just as bad (yet Russian doesn't have similar laws not to refer to the past, maybe because they were on the winning side, winners write the history etc.), Chinese atrocieties etc. Pretty much all big powerful countries have done at least some atrocities in the past.

Not sure about Norway, but I'd rather not live in Sweden. I just feel it has gone overboard with the feminism thing, as if men should be ashamed they were born as boys. Did they already take the urinals away from boy's toilets in schools, because being able to pee standing is just a testament to the patriarchal society which oppresses women?´

In some other ways too, Sweden seems to be quite heavily on the mind-controlling business of the "public opinion", which I dislike. In other ways though, I presume Sweden is a better place to live than e.g. Finland.


So as Kummeli said, the correct answer is: Känädä!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnWc0_ddn04#t=02m10s

Born and raised in the UK.

Then lived 19 years in the US -- HATED it. Have only been back once since I left a decade ago even though I have a US passport as well as the British one I use -- would never live in the US again.

Lived in Thailand for 9 years - love the Thais and really enjoy the Thai lifestyle (relaxed!), but can't live in a Third World country for the rest of my life, there are just too many problems (and yes, I'm aware it's technically no longer a Third World country, but it will be in thought-process for at least another 25 years -- until the younger generation begin to take over).

Plan on moving to Spain next year - my all time favorite country, and will live a few months of the year in the UK, which I still miss every day.

Still incredibly proud to be British though, no matter where I live :)

ADDITION: - Would also consider Canada, or one of the Scandinavian countries - liberal and during my last trip to Spain I met boatloads of Norwegians and Swedes - some of the nicest people I've ever met!!

I'd pick the US again. I love my country and wouldn't want to trade its annoyances for a different set. :)

^ This

There are plenty of Countries I would love to visit but would not want to live anywhere other than here.

Thanks for the reply Tychoxi, it sounds like an amazing country and I hope the problems there do get better. If I was in a position to switch I would seriously consider it. I'm taking Nursing right now but I wont be done for awhile.

I really like this thread, listening to people who live in another country and comment on their own country is interesting.

I don't know why but the post was not showing what I originally wrote. I wanted to thank you Tychoxi for taking the time to tell me what you country was like and the only part that showed up was that last part. lol I'm terrible at the intricacies of forum posting.

The main and most powerful party, the UDC, is xenophobic and populist the extreme. its poster campaigns keep shocking abroad, because they would not be tolerated in other democracies. Its scapegoating of foreigners, and descriptions of them as criminals, rapists and (when they're muslim) islamists, is just tear-jackingly infuriating and frustrating. But that party, thanks to extremely opaque funding systems (a law to make these more transparent was recently rejected) has like ten times more financial power than all others, and is such extremely good at hammering expensive propaganda.

And swiss banks don't just harbour worldwide criminal funds (and refuse transparency too). You seem to forget about the ww2 nazi accounts and the wealth stolen from deceased jews. And perfectly legal accounts from several african dictatorships.

But apart from that it's a cool place. I recommend it, Direct democracy (possible in a tiny scale such as switzerland) is a nice things : we get regularly to vote for precise pragmatic questions. Also, that country needs cool people. And let's not exagerate, there's already an awful lot of amazingly great people in it. They just don't always suffice to beat the majorities, but heck, in which country do they ?

The US that was, not what is, otherwise anyplace that allows for individual freedoms, even if they aren't democratic.

I love my country, care about it deeply, but the most important right I had [and the thing the colonialists fought most to get here] was the right to self determination. Without this right, the constitution would have been just another philosophical work, as no nation would have been there at the time to implement it.

I still can choose, but how happily can I make myself a 'criminal,' just because I am not going to have an over zealous group of interests write into law that I must wear a piddly thing like a seatbelt? Is but one example, but time and tax dollars could be spent much more wisely than shoving things down the throats of regular people.

I am tired of revenue streams being created to cover up the lack of tax revenue that they have, as the result of flawed policies in other arenas.

Get back to allowing the people to be, businesses to be, and don't get in the way of things that worked; this doesn't [look at deficit!]

In a way, I feel it is again a bit unfair to compare big countries (like US) to small countries in e.g. Europe. I guess it would be easy for me to also say US, if I get to cherry pick which state to live in. That's a bit like saying that you'd live in Europe, and not specififying whether you mean Bulgaria, Spain, Germany or Norway.

But then, I already selected Canada, which is a rather big country too... I have no idea how different the regions inside Canada are, ever been only to Montreal area.

But at the moment I'm fine living in Finland, not considering moving.

Pretty much the same for me, except I live in Chicago area. Not as much diversity and culture as in New York, but still more than enough.
I guess if I had a choice of starting anew in a differnt country. it'd would be Canada since it has advantages over the US. But like so many other people in this thread, I'm perfectly happy where I am right now and have no desire to leave the area I live in

I may be in the minority here, but I can't see NYC/LA/Chicago/etc as being representative of America. To me, those massive cities are...for lack of a better word...soulless. The places where you are afraid to walk alone at night, the places where you can live next to someone for 20 years and not even know their names, the places that are a jumble of everything, the places where there's only concrete as far as the eye can see, etc., aren't what America is.

If all a person has ever seen of the US are those cities, they get the wrong idea, IMO, of what constitutes this country. Go to Yellowstone, go to the Rockies, go to the Arches and the mesas, go to the windswept plains and you'll get a better picture of us. Sure, we might be a little distrusting at the start (and yes, there's bigots and racists, but you'll get that anywhere there are people), but once you become our friend, you'll not find friendlier people around. Ones you could trust to watch your home when you go on vacation or ones that'll stop to help you fix a flat.