I see we have moved on from bagging ALL western women to bagging American women. :raspberry:
Is this an attempt to show yourself as a complete idiot? Taiwanese women receive 13 pages of kudos for how western women just haven’t understood the situation because “my wife is XXX” and “my gf doesn’t do XXX”. Which is good, you’re standing up for your woman and I admire that.
But it is somehow very easy to demean an entire country’s worth of women in a quick sentence or two. All women have good and bad qualities. Some are cultural that we or you may not understand. Others are due to circumstance. Others are just a choice people (ALL people) have made.
I have never said ALL western men are XXX. And you will never hear me say that. If I ever do, feel free to call me on it, I’m sure my Aussie hubby would be pissed off to no end.
But until then, why not try to leave an opening in the generalisations. Maybe try using words like “some american women” or “some western men.”
Yes, I sometimes get approached while walking down the seedier streets of Chiayi. It’s a pretty standard routine “GI, you han-some, I lo-vu you, you wan good time. Come inside. You like Susie, you take Susie A-me-ree-ca.”
Seriously, from my experience I’d have to say that marrying for a ticket off the island is not that common. Most Taiwanese women don’t really want to leave family, friends, work, language and culture, but are willing to do so for their husband and kids.
In fact, I think that foreign men in Taiwan are just as likely to marry a local lass for the convenience it gives, especially with regard to visas and work/business opportunities.
Right. My wife warmed up to the idea of marriage when she understood that I wouldn’t be leaving Taiwan anytime soon. (She’d like to someday retire in Italy with me, but since I’m Canadian, I doubt that was her motivation…)
Taiwan is definitely not a third world country- people are coming here to make money or find a better life for themselves. In time, some people find their soul mate here and end up staying or marrying due to this reason. The other option is to move back home and take the significant other with you. Getting a green card or an ID is an extra and not the determining factor for monumental decisions such as marriage. This is the modern times, people don’t think like those Full Metal Jacket days.
Right. My wife warmed up to the idea of marriage when she understood that I wouldn’t be leaving Taiwan anytime soon. (She’d like to someday retire in Italy with me, but since I’m Canadian, I doubt that was her motivation…)[/quote]
My wife was never too warm to the idea of living in New Zealand. It had taken some time to get her to think about it.
The best thing is having a relationship that can survive in either Taiwan or your home country.
[quote=“Bassman”]
My wife was never too warm to the idea of living in New Zealand. It had taken some time to get her to think about it. [/quote]
Really, Bassman? Took my wife to the South Island on holiday last February and she was ready to sell the house, quit the job, leave her relatives here and become a sheep farmer! We both thought it was great. Few places more beautiful on Earth.
[quote=“Bababa”]I apologize - I was speaking about the situation in general, not talking about individuals, who of course have all sorts of reasons for acting the way they do, most not obvious to others.
[/quote]
Apology accepted. I still maintain that you are wrong, though, with regard to the “situation in general”.
In my extensive experience (I know MANY foreign men married to local women), the situation is far closer to that mentioned by Bassman and Maoman.
The women we are lucky enough to share our lives with are every bit as worldly and sophisticated as you Western women – far more so, in fact, if you judge by some of the close-minded bitter nonsense posted here. We’re hardly coming along and plucking them out of the rice paddies.
[quote=“citizen k”][quote=“Bassman”]
My wife was never too warm to the idea of living in New Zealand. It had taken some time to get her to think about it. [/quote]
Really, Bassman? Took my wife to the South Island on holiday last February and she was ready to sell the house, quit the job, leave her relatives here and become a sheep farmer! We both thought it was great. Few places more beautiful on Earth.
CK[/quote]
Grief, if my wife sees the countryside in NZ she goes nuts. It’s not for her.
I took her to look at new houses accross from my folks place and she was ready to move. Beautiful modern houses built the NZ way is what she likes about NZ. $360,000 NZ for one of those places, I’ll have to talk with the bank, but my bank sucks.
Yes, few places more beautiful on earth. Middle earth.
You’ve got me interested, Bassman! If I’ve got my exchange rates right, that’s equivalent to just NT$7.5 million. If I could buy a detached house such as you’ve described for that kind of price in a good location in Taiwan, I’d put down my money in a flash. So hasn’t New Zealand been experiencing a property bubble like other Anglo-Saxon countries? I’ve always thought that NZ would be one of the best places to transplant to if I ever left Taiwan, and if one can buy a decent home there at such a reasonable price, that makes it even more appealing. Where in NZ is that? What size are the houses and, very importantly, how large are their gardens?
I think my wife would be happy enough to go and live in the West (and has very fond memories of the time she spent as a graduate student in the US), though she’d miss her family terribly and might start pining to return to Taiwan after a while. However, as she’s always known very clearly that I’m more likely than not to stay in Taiwan for the rest of my life (unless I opt for that retirement in NZ), I seriously doubt if my passport was one of the reasons that prompted her to want me as a husband.
This is bloody expensive compared to what it used to be about 5 years ago.
It all depends on the exchange rates.
These are all in the little England of the south - Christchurch.
here’s one for you, not sure how much though It’s right near my folks house and I have driven past it often. There are just too many places around like this. Check the Harcourts site. You’ll be packing your bags in a week.
[/quote]