Why US and Canada (cities) suck. | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Why US and Canada (cities) suck.

Lightcycle said:
Yeah... I'm going to trust the people actually making a real go at living in these areas, as opposed to listening to someone visit a place for a couple of weeks and then comes back to tell everyone how North America sucks and how their vacation spot is so much better than back home in every single way.
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Canada has the best artwork ever

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Priller said:
I'd agree with this except with a big, "Yes, but..."

The 'but' is that sometimes the green bits of grass better match what's important to you, and the brown bits matter less. I've lived and/or worked in many places across the US and Canada, and found pros and cons with each. We lived on an acreage outside Vancouver, and I've lived in a tiny downtown condo in Toronto. I've worked in a variety of places in the US, typically for months up to a year, and certainly for long enough that the tourist rush is long worn off. While there's a lot of truth to the saying, "No matter where you go, there you are," in terms of looking for a place as a source of happiness and a solution to life's problems, there's also preferences that some places suit better than others.

In our case, we moved from the rural Lower Mainland to old Hamilton, 15 minutes away from steel mills, and most people think we're nuts. But for us, we couldn't be happier because we love our neighbourhood (very front porch rather than backyard, if that makes sense) and there's lots of cool stuff we can walk to. Pertinent to this forum, the only thing I miss, literally, is the motorcycling roads, and that includes weather. Way better tracks here, though. The Lower Mainland is a track riding wasteland.

It's far from perfect, but the flaws are far outweighed by the pros for what we're looking for in a place to live. Now I just need to figure out how to stop needing to travel into Toronto so often...
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BTW, glad you came back to GTAM.
 
How long before the penny drops......
 
I'm following a thread on another forum that is discussing the rampant and brazen street crime in Barcelona; Gangs attacking and robbing people in broad daylight.
 
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85K100 said:
I'm following a thread on another forum that is discussing the rampant and blazon street crime in Barcelona; Gangs attacking and robbing people in broad daylight.
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The thing I was constantly warned about was pickpockets, but I had 0 trouble anywhere(apart from the confusing subway system in madrid)
 
I was also warned about pickpockets and other petty crime in Barcelona, but had no issues. Probably a lot comes down to blending in. If you look like an invitation to be pickpocketed, it may just happen. I look like a German/Scandinavian tourist, but there's lots of those in Spain.
 
ToSlow said:
Dude is there anything you haven't done or owned or do? You gotta be a 100yrs old
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Didn’t own it, was stationed there for a year.

I spent 25 years in telecommunications. Got to see and work where I wanted. It almost killed me, but I really did try cramming 40 years of living into 20.
 
Mad Mike said:
It’s not that easy. Locals know how to identify westerners, do as much blending as you want - the bad guys know you keep money in the ATM. And the better guys expect you to have money when it comes time for facilitation fees to be paid.

Most Canadians that leave, including me, return to the green, green grass of home.
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My inlaws lived and worked in Saudi arabia before they had kids. Similar to Dubai in recent times, interesting cultural experience, loads of money, happy to move back to Canada when contract was up.

A family member spent most of his life working for a large corporation around the world. He spent about a decade each in Tokyo, Kuala lumpur and Nairobi. He decided to retire in Nairobi and come back to Canada for three or four months a year. He loves golf. He can play golf almost every day of the year if he wants. Very low humidity and every day you can wear shorts or pants. Obviously, living there is much different and there is staff, private guards and hostage training (don't ever call the cops, just pay as they always release you but cops are likely to shoot you in an attempt to get the bad guys). If riding bicycles was your passion, it's hard to find a worse place to live. If you don't mind being in a sealed vehicle between secure compounds, there is a lot of positives.
 
Evoex said:
I spent 20 years of my life not living in Canada (so half). There's a lot to shake your head at, a lot to be disappointed about and a lot to hate. Grass is not always greener.
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I knew it!

I always thought you were spanish or something then I saw the mangiacake last name and was super confused.
 
GreyGhost said:
A family member spent most of his life working for a large corporation around the world. He spent about a decade each in Tokyo, Kuala lumpur and Nairobi. He decided to retire in Nairobi and come back to Canada for three or four months a year. He loves golf. He can play golf almost every day of the year if he wants. Very low humidity and every day.. .
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Wife and her family lived in Nairobi back in the mid to late 90s.

She went to school there for a bit. They're Anglo-Indian, so half. Lots of Indians there, and when she has a tan going on, she looks like everyone else. Her younger half sister has a white mother. She's less than 1/4, so she looks very white. She had a hard time there because of it. She tries pretty hard to identify with that less than 1/4 part of her heritage...

They lived on a compound. They had a dead body in the bushes on their way to school that had been there for a while... she told me if a car hits a pedestrian, the driver leaves quickly, or gets out and runs, as they'll pull you out of the car and beat or stone you.

One of her school friends was a reporter (years later). She was pregnant, and got shot and killed at Westgate mall when Boko-haram shot the place up.

Different world... yeah, give me a secure compound any day.


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matt365 said:
Wife and her family lived in Nairobi back in the mid to late 90s.

She went to school there for a bit. They're Anglo-Indian, so half. Lots of Indians there, and when she has a tan going on, she looks like everyone else. Her younger half sister has a white mother. She's less than 1/4, so she looks very white. She had a hard time there because of it. She tries pretty hard to identify with that less than 1/4 part of her heritage...

They lived on a compound. They had a dead body in the bushes on their way to school that had been there for a while... she told me if a car hits a pedestrian, the driver leaves quickly, or gets out and runs, as they'll pull you out of the car and beat or stone you.

One of her school friends was a reporter (years later). She was pregnant, and got shot and killed at Westgate mall when Boko-haram shot the place up.

Different world... yeah, give me a secure compound any day.


Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
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You've got similar issues if you hit livestock. You need to pay but the owner doesn't need to be reasonable with their demands and may want payment in blood.

The born and bred Mzungus I met there were reasonably well integrated but they were definitely born into a wealth and privilege that separates them from the masses. They were far better accepted than the expats but definitely still separate.

I will say, my expat family member are not and never will be integrated with native kenyans. They are both fluent in Kiswahili (and Malay and Japanese) but their friends are expats and co-workers. Driving compound to compound means you almost never mingle with randoms

I was in Westgate mall when I visited. Solid meh from me. I don't want to go to another culture and pretend I am in North America.

During construction of their house, the guard they hired had to go back to his village to get more poison arrows. Different world.
 
GreyGhost said:
My inlaws lived and worked in Saudi arabia before they had kids. Similar to Dubai in recent times, interesting cultural experience, loads of money, happy to move back to Canada when contract was up.

A family member spent most of his life working for a large corporation around the world. He spent about a decade each in Tokyo, Kuala lumpur and Nairobi. He decided to retire in Nairobi and come back to Canada for three or four months a year. He loves golf. He can play golf almost every day of the year if he wants. Very low humidity and every day you can wear shorts or pants. Obviously, living there is much different and there is staff, private guards and hostage training (don't ever call the cops, just pay as they always release you but cops are likely to shoot you in an attempt to get the bad guys). If riding bicycles was your passion, it's hard to find a worse place to live. If you don't mind being in a sealed vehicle between secure compounds, there is a lot of positives.
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In the late 70s and early 80s, telco, big computing, transportation, energy infrastructure was booming around the world… Canadians were big in those sectors. Saudi, most of the Caribbean and wealthier parts of Asia and Africa were building telecom Networks. Nortel, Motorola, IBM, and Unisys folks worked together on those projects. Most came back to Canada.
 
Mad Mike said:
In the late 70s and early 80s, telco, big computing, transportation, energy infrastructure was booming around the world… Canadians were big in those sectors. Saudi, most of the Caribbean and wealthier parts of Asia and Africa were building telecom Networks. Nortel, Motorola, IBM, and Unisys folks worked together on those projects. Most came back to Canada.
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Father in law was an accountant. He strongly suggested that they rename the rather large expense that they called "tips" prior to his arrival.
 
sburns said:
Just got back from Europe (Barcelona and Madrid), and thought of this thread, very true man, very.
Plus the people, are just generally nice and easy going.

Back to reality....
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the change is worse in the winter
 
bigpoppa said:
the change is worse in the winter
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Yeah, if you been to Europe in Winter they really know how to do up Christmas, even if you don't celebrate, it something to enjoy. Markets at most squares, city decorated like crazy (London was insanity).

I usually like to go to Spain in Mar or Apr weather is better, more stuff going on, the heat in July was crazy, lots more time inside this time around, but surprisingly not very busy. Most of Spain apparently goes on vacay around this time.
 
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