Things U Love & hate about abroad

That was a great post Cheer....thanks for posting!!

Sunitha, I agree with u to the 'T'. Like no human is perfect, no country is perfect too, every country has it's merits & demerits, it's important to accept reality & not to belittle any country for that matter for it's imperfections.

Totally off topic, have any of you'll watched the movie 'Sicko'?? I did & would definitely recommend that as a must see. The shocking reality of health care in the U.S was an eye-opener.

Cheers!
Ragini.

 

a very nice thread
What i hate to the core1>
--Medical faciltites..Last month my 4yr old boy had small boils on his back,chest and un his hands..since i cudnt get the appt form the doc i was advised to visit the nurse practitioner..On seeing him she told ,my son has chikenpox ..He already had his chickenpox vaccine and i was 100%sure that it was not chickenpox since ha dno symptoms of it..so i took him to another doc and u know what he said??allergies due to some insect bites or change of food or due to playing in the beach..I was really very much confused...So i called up his pediatrician in india and he asked me to apply teatree oil..His boils r all gone..till this day i donno what is the reason of his boils..But its ridiculous that they r not able to make out diff b/w an ordinary boil or chickenpoxboil in this so called super(number 1 rich)country:idontgetit:
2>culture..,im really very much irritated on seeing the teenagers behavior in this country...the filthy lang they use and the scene they create in the parks..
Its tooo much..
3>Some of the desis(not all)who talk rubbish and mock at india forgettign the fact that they were born and brought up there.. ..
4>My kid is deprived of his thatha,patti and all other realtives' warmth and affection..i really feel guilty sometimes when my kid askf for his thatha and patti..Its been 4 months since we moved to US and ive already started thinking abt goin back to india..
5>public transportation..


Now coming to the things i like abt being in abroad
No pollution
strict traffic rules
Highly organized ppl


Cheers
Ramya

 

Dear Ramya

Welcome to this thread.Sometimes,I wonder if only people like you and me who have been here for a short while(in my case going to be 3 yrs but I still think that is a short time) feel this way about the U.S. and its culture.Even after 2 1/2 yrs here,I find the teenage culture here very intolerable.I think a lot has to do with the general culture itself. Marriage is just a convenience in most cases,divorce is very common.The mother marries someone else,the father marries someone else.The child will call them as 'mom' and her husband,'dad' and his wife and the child kind of tries to mingle with both families,trying to search for an identity of his/her own.When a child grows up seeing this,what else can we expect from that child.

Sex at a very young age is very common,infact in some cases,if the teenager is not dating someone,the parents are worried about it!!!:icon_frown: Also,in their quest to find a perfect mate,they date so many people and it does not stop with dating alone,it usually ends up in a physical relationship as well.Then they become pregnant.Once they are pregnant,they don't know who is the father of the child.Sometimes they do DNA tests for 20-25 men to find out who is the father of that one child,isn't it ridiculous? I find these so very difficult to accept.

 

abroad = US only??

there seems to be a lot of US bashing here.

where as what is hidden is plain homesickness.

land of great contemporary philanthropers fingers are not enough to count them
Bill Gates, Warren buffet,Oprah Winfrey, Bono, and :
(all are born and raised in the (much despised ??) american culture and are imparting the same culture to their offsprings/proteges too (So there must be something which most of us are missing))


Brooke Astor:
<st1:state><st1lace>New York</st1lace></st1:state> fixture Brooke Astor dies
Philanthropist, civic leader gave away nearly $200 million; she was 105
The Associated Press
Updated: <st1:time minute="57" hour="17">5:57 p.m. ET</st1:time> <st1:date year="2007" day="13" month="8">Aug 13, 2007</st1:date>
<st1:state><st1lace>NEW YORK</st1lace></st1:state> - Brooke Astor, the civic leader, philanthropist and fixture of <st1:state><st1lace>New York</st1lace></st1:state> high society who gave away nearly $200 million to support the city's great cultural institutions and a host of humbler projects, died Monday at 105.
Although a legendary figure in New York City and feted with a famous gala on her 100th birthday in March 2002, Astor was mostly interested in putting the fortune that husband, Vincent Astor, left to use where it would do the most to alleviate human misery.
Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1998.
"Money is like manure, it should be spread around," was her oft-quoted motto. There was a lot to spread: Vincent Astor's great-great-grandfather John Jacob Astor made a fortune in fur trading and <st1:state><st1lace>New York</st1lace></st1:state> real estate.
Brooke Astor gave millions of dollars to what she called the city's "crown jewels" — among them the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the <st1lace><st1lacetype>Museum</st1lacetype> of <st1lacename>Natural History</st1lacename></st1lace>, <st1lace>Central Park</st1lace> and the Bronx Zoo.
Funded many small projects, too
But she also funded scores of smaller projects: Harlem's Apollo Theater; a new boiler for a youth center; beachside bungalow preservation; a church pipe organ; furniture for homeless families moving in to apartments.
It was a very personal sort of philanthropy.
"People just can't come up here and say, 'We're doing something marvelous, send a check,"' she said. "We say, 'Oh, yes, we'll come and see it."'
Astor's imprimatur on a program or project helped generate support from other philanthropists.
'The most important thing in life'
The Vincent Astor Foundation was created when he died in 1959. Vincent Astor had no children; he left his widow $2 million plus the interest off $60 million and endowed the foundation with an additional $67 million. It gave away approximately $200 million by the time it closed at the end of 1997.
"I grew up feeling that the most important thing in life was to have good manners and to enhance the lives of others," Brooke Astor said in a 1992 interview with The Associated Press.
She decided that since the money was made in <st1:state><st1lace>New York</st1lace></st1:state> it should largely be spent there. She also persuaded the trustees to give away principal as well as interest so most of the money would be spent in her lifetime.
"I'm afraid that, to old John Jacob Astor, spending principal would seem like dancing naked in the streets," she acknowledged.
She lived a full life
Personal philanthropy can be quixotic, but Astor's giving was informed by her knowledge of the city, its institutions and its real needs. And while she had always been comfortable, she was not always rich.
At age 16, she was pushed by her mother into marriage with J. Dryden Kuser, whom she had met at a <st1lace>Princeton</st1lace> prom. The marriage ended in divorce 10 years later.
Her second marriage was to stockbroker Charles "Buddie" Marshall. Her son Anthony, from her marriage to Kuser, took <st1:city><st1lace>Marshall</st1lace></st1:city>'s name. During her marriage to <st1:city><st1lace>Marshall</st1lace></st1:city>, Astor wrote articles for various magazines and joined the staff of House & Garden, where she was feature editor for several years.
<st1:city><st1lace>Marshall</st1lace></st1:city> died in 1952. A year later, she married Vincent Astor, the eldest son of John Jacob Astor 4th, who died in the sinking of the Titanic.
"Vincent was a very suspicious man," she recalled. "The fact that he had total confidence in me to run the foundation made me want to vindicate him, show him — wherever he is — that I could do a good job."
She 'wears us out'
Hers was a hands-on approach, personally going over applications and then going out to meet the people who ran the programs and see what they were doing.
"Even in the worst drug areas, I don't hesitate to go right in and see people," she once said.
Astor Foundation director Linda Gillies, several decades younger than Astor, once said Astor "wears us out."
"Often," Gillies said, "we can't keep up with her."
Astor wrote four books: "Patchwork Child," a 1962 autobiography; "The Bluebird is at Home," 1965, a novel; the autobiographical "Footprints," 1980; and "The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree," 1986, a period novel.

 

Ofcourse,Blondie,Abroad does not mean U.S only.Since most of us who are replying in this thread are in the U.S.,we can only compare with that.

Yes,we know a lot of good souls exist here,but we do have a lot of good souls all around the world too,maybe they are not millionaires or billionaires like these people whom you have mentioned,but even with little or no means,they help others.

We get to hear of the people whom you have mentioned because they,well have a lot of money.Either they became celebrities and earned a lot of money or they earned a lot and became celebrities.Once you become a celebrity,charity kind of goes hand in hand,whether they want to do it or not.Any little charity that is done will be publicized and that is exactly what they want,isn't it?

 

Hello friends,
this really is an interesting thread and good topic. It shows the things that many people like and dislike about both their home countries.
I for one, am a very easy going person, who adopt to the place and people, climate and other things. I take every thing as an experience, good or bad and try to see something worthwile in them.
Many of you might be surprised to know that Indians are slowly apeing the West in many wrong things- skimpy dressing is very common nowadays. Children do not give respect to elders (parents included), talk back etc. But ask them to work and they just cannot tolerate that. They love to spend money happily that their parents earn with difficulty. Peer pressure! Junk food, boy friends and outings with them- wht not? Even living together is happening here.
Just enjoy the life there, unmindful of the minus points!

 

Dear Sunitha,

I mentioned Gates,Buffet and Winfrey and posted the obituary of Mrs.Astor not because they are multi milionares nor because they are celebrities but because they intended to spend all the fortune that they have amassed within their lifetime doing /sponsoring charity and not leave them well protected in trusts for their offsprings/relatives.

They went on record saying this and also put in action what they said.(yes it is another thing that they named the foundations and charities after themselves but can we not grant them this small vanity. Ideal would have been names like "Better World Foundation", "Building Bridges " or some thing of that sort. As far as names go "Habitat for Humanity" is my favorite and slowly Jimmy Carter is becoming one of my admired former Presidents) And not everything they do is publicised in the media. It is only the like minded that know of all of their works.

If I had to mention celebrities who do charity then as you said this post space will not be enough. But MS. Jolie does require a courtesy mention:-D

Varloo,

Phew!!! at last a post from someone who is able to throw an experienced view point on this topic from the side of a mother looking on the younger generation in the home land. (not as homesick young adults who find themselves transplanted to another continent and this yearning throws a rosy glaze on the lands they came from)

About teenage sex and irresponsible behaviour thanks for mentioning that this is universal behaviour and not limited to certain countries unless you mean US only when you said "apeing the west". Ex. the cell phone photos of indian teens in the middle of sexual act. Yes they are residing in india and also taking pictures of themselves in the act and also broadcasting them for the whole world to see.

 

Blondie,
That was an excellent write up on philanthropists! I read business week every week and catch up lot of news around the world. and I hats off to those great souls who give money for such a good causes and to colleges to improve the educations.
Tulasi

 

Dear Varloo,

Just like you to take part in this thread and throw in a different angle to the on going scenario.

Like already said, there is good and bad everywhere. Just because we love one kid, it does not mean that we reduce our love for the other or divide a given amount of love between two kids. We love all our kids in the same amount and in same way, whether they are perfect or not.

It is not easy to fall in love with an adapted country. It is even more difficult if one did not come here of her own free will, but had to follow the hubby and comply. As time passes, we begin to appreciate the new country too and adapt ourselves. It does not by any means mean that we love our own country any less.

Varloo, it is true, things are changing in India too. How many young under age and teenage girls are taken to the nursing homes for abortion and the like in India, do any of us know ? But it happens, believe me . Ofcourse, the permissiveness in the western countries are more because their value system is different. No parent, east or west, like to see their offspring going out of bounds. But then, it happens. How we deal with it in our country and how they deal with it in the west are different stories. But even in India, in certain societies, believe you me, they are getting there.

Blondie, I like your ability to give very solid examples to underline your arguments. You really are very informed.

L, Kamla

 

Hello ladies,

I was browsing through this thread and it makes for interesting reading. I have been in the US for over 6 years now and have gotten used to life here but whenever I go back home I come back with a yearning for everything Indian. Of course I like America and have got used to conveniences like efficient public services, courteous people, great weather (in CA), greenery everywhere etc. But the downside is being away from family and friends, missing marriages and get togethers and having to do all the housework by myself here!
Anyway living out of India is a choice we have made and we should make the best of it.

Cheers,
Mythraeyi