Weeksy,weeksy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:39 amTrue true, fair call. It's not that i won't speak to Brits, that would be silly. It's not that i wouldn't go to Brit bars to watch MotoGP or football... but if you go somewhere you've got to immerse yourself in the culture, the language etc.
I think you are coming at things from a sensible approach - certainly buggering off to warmer climates in winter has a real appeal - esp now it has been pissing down in Sussex for about the last 3 months , we are lockdown, and it is miserable! Going for a few months vs going permanently is a big step ( I had no choice).
The negative of two bases is that you will never really be at "home" in either... and so you won't really commit twosome of the important stuff.
The internet / social media etc has made staying in contact with people far easier . Sky and digital TV means you can watch TV from around the world. (German TV was truly awful)
Fitting in with the locals is harder than you would expect - even if you get a basic command of the language, you may never become one of them. If you have shared interested ( I motorcycled and MTBed with some Swiss) it helps but you will never be intimated until you have been there 20 plus years. It does depend on where you are - the French can be very sniffy, the Swiss definitely are - the German's not so ...
And depending on their ability, they may well always talk to you in English!
Ex-pats - kind of hard to avoid them because you have touch points and shared frustrations - and you can get pissed and speak the same language still. CH was a strange place - people were ex pat for a) Money b) career c) running from something. And you need to avoid a) as they are bores c) because they are a little odd.
Mixing with them will happen - and it can be very useful. Some will have been there long term - so they will have local contracts for most things. Just avoid the weirdos and the mad women ...
You have to learn the language - just just hello, goodbye, two beers and "will you sleep with me". Getting to know the locals is a ball-ache - we did in our village in CH. But you realise that the culture is very different - they were brash about money, rude about foreigners , hated the blacks, and had a really small world outlook - but they could also be very generous in trying to help out: if it suited them.
And ultimately, if you are going to stay , you have to let go of your past norms. My sister has been in Oz for 26 years , has finally developed an Aussie twang, but always compares everything in Oz to a rose tinted / chocolate box view of the UK.
Most controversial point: Being an ex-pat / foreign dweller makes you realise that the UK is actually a pretty good place. It is multi cultural, lost of different influences and cuisines, spontaneous, creative, irreverent, innovative. Sure - there are some issue, but then everywhere has issues ... I have done my time in CH and Germany. I loved it and I am glad of the experience - but I am now happy living where I do (but can afford to do so, which may be an issue)