Hypothetically Speaking.
Sep 1st, 2008 by B.
Say you had the opportunity, all things being equal (salary to cost of living ratio, housing, benefits/perks, etc.), to live in either Singapore, Great Britain, Dubai, Malaysia or The Netherlands … which would you pick and what would your criteria be for making the decision?
I would choose the Netherlands.
I have no real insterest in going to or living in Asia or the Middle East (my husband would love to see Japan, but not live there - otherwise he’s in agreement with me here), so Malaysia and Singapore as well as Dubai are out.
That leaves Great Britain and the Netherlands - and I’ve always been partial to the Netherlands from having traveled there previously. I love the country and I love the weather.
I’d pick Dubai, because my husband played there and told me how great it was. Not fair! My second choice would be The Netherlands so I could continue seeing Europe!
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the netherlands if i had kids because i think it would be safer. Singapore has horrible air quality and malaysia, well, i’d be worried about being a westerner there. Dubai if it were just me and Sparky because i think it might be hard on the kids, but i’d have to research that and not GB because, well, not different enough.
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I’d give Malaysia a shot. Mostly because of all the commercials for it on CNN International. OK, kidding aside, because it’s probably the least Western out of the non-European choices available (these are all based on my gut feeling — I’ve never been to Singapore, Dubai or Malaysia, so I have no real basis for comparison) and therefore the greatest change of pace.
Oh, I would be boring and say Great Britain. I really miss living there and would go back in a heartbeat. Although, the Netherlands are appealing too.
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I’ll be boring too, then. Great Britain. I love living on the continent, but living here has made one thing painfully clear. I freaking SUCK at languages. I just want to have my life back. My life where I can do everything in English. In a country other than the United States. And that country would have the cheapest flights back to visit my family in the US.
If it was only going to be short-term for sure, then I would very seriously consider Singapore instead of GB. Also English-speaking (well, Singlish anyway), and it would afford the opportunity to more easily travel Asia. The downside is I would certainly never see my family while living that far from the States d/t the cost of getting there. Also, I would probably find sticking out like a sore thumb very frustrating. So I probably wouldn’t want to go there permanently.
Third choice: Netherlands. But I don’t want to learn Dutch, which is why it’s 3rd.
Dubai sounds cool but I wouldn’t want to be stuck in the Middle East. In Malaysia we’ve got the sore thumb problem again, plus some tensions. So those are no-gos. I’d go back to the US before those places.
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Count me in as boring too, I’d pick Britain as well……..I don’t think I’d ever want to go anywhere near the Middle East…Too dodgy, & while the other places might be interesting to visit, I don’t think I’d want to live there…..Aside from the fact that everyone/thing is English speaking in the UK….You’d still be fairly centrally located enough to travel around wouldn’t you?
Does this blog have anything to do w/ the fact that a move might be on the horizon? Good luck!
Wow, there’s not a lot of love for the Orient, is there? If it were just me making the decision, my order of preference would be: Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia, GB, with The Netherlands bringing up the rear. I’ve never been to the first three, making them a sexy proposition in my book (Singapore having the added bonus of English being its official language). But then you have to factor in what’s best for the kiddos and the whole thing gets murky…
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I never realized Singapore had poor air quality… I’d heard that about Hong Kong but I guess I just assumed Singapore was ok in that department.
Malaysia-I have heard nothing but absolutely wonderful things about Kuala lumpur and I hope to get there to visit. It is an incredibly international city and very modern. Most people speak English and I believe it is even used at the schools there.
I would go there in a heartbeat. Instead I stay here with my Wurst.
(Although I will preface this with most of my information being from a friend who is in the hotel management business and lives there frequently on and off)
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cliff1976, your comment about the CNN International ads made me laugh out loud. You realize, Malaysia is Truly Asia?
Speaking of Asia, I think living there would be fantastic for a while. Think of all the travel opportunities. The pressure to learn the languages may actually be less than in European countries because in Singapore and Dubai, at least, there’s lots of English spoken. (Not that this is always a good thing - learning a new language is a great idea, but let’s be honest, it’s hella difficult and if you’re only planning to be there a few years, it’s hard to get motivated to master an entirely different alphabet.) I imagine the expat communities in Singapore and Dubai (and maybe Malaysia?) are really strong as well, which could be a positive or negative depending on how you look at it. It’s probably easy (and in some ways essential) to meet other expats and get enveloped in that community, but more difficult to meet the locals.
On the other hand, living in predominantly Muslim countries could be really challenging for a family full of women (oh, right, and Jim!). Fascinating, but challenging on an everyday level.
I hope I don’t get any Dutch hate mail for saying this, but Holland seems too similar to Germany if you’re looking for a change.
I am a huge Anglophile. It would really depend on where int he UK you’d move, though.
Hrm. Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai are all a little iffy for me, mostly just because I detest hot weather. And I’ve heard that the treatment of women is better for foreigners than it is for locals. That just rubs me the wrong way. I really like England - I think I could live there. And I’ve never been to Holland, but I’d enjoyed reading the signs at Schiphol airport (it’s like German spelled all weird!) and I think I’d enjoy living near the sea.
I wouldn’t mind visiting the Asian cities, I just think that living there might be too much for me.
My first choice would be the Netherlands because it’s beautiful, Amsterdam is a lovely city, it’s liberal, and great for kids.
Second choice would be Great Britain because of the proximity to the Continent and all the cultural experiences on offer.
Asia doesn’t appeal to me at all for day-to-day living. I’d love to visit those places but I’d stick with Europe for the culture, architecture, and people.
I’d probably have to go with Great Britain or the Netherlands.
Maybe I’d live in Singapore if I knew it was short-term–it certainly sounds interesting and is supposed to be fairly open and is really close to all sorts of interesting Asian locations, but I think after a while the heat/humidity and the cultural isolation would get to me. That and it sounds as if the King there is fairly reasonable, but it always seems to me that absolute power always has a higher degree of arbitrariness to it.
Malaysia sounds like a really cool place to visit, but I can’t ever imagine living there–especially if I were a western woman. While I think I could deal with it in the short-term, I think I would find islamic culture a bit oppressive after a while.
I can’t make up my mind what I think about Dubai. on the one hand, all the TV commercials and all the people I’ve talked to who’ve been there make it sound like a kind of beach paradise where there’s nothing to do but shop or lie in the sun or boat or (according to CNN) play golf or whatever, which sounds like it’d get a little dull after about two weeks. On the other hand, I occasionally hear these odd stories that come out of Dubai like the french teenage boy who was raped and had plenty of evidence to pin it on the perpetrators, but had lots of legal problems (how did it go again, did he have the whole thing turned back around on him somehow?). A bit more exciting perhaps, but I’d be praying for dull over that kind of excitement any day.
Um, that’s me up there, not sure how I ended up as “Anonymous.” Apparently I’ve forgotten how this crazy internet blogging thing works.
Never been to Dubai or Singapore, but based on what I’ve heard, I’d rule them out unless you’re after lot$ of buck$.
I’d definitely go for Malaysia. Tropical climate can be a bitch, but you’ll live the surroundings - the world’s oldest continuous rainforest in Teman Negara national park, the beaches, the islands, the chance to explore other regions of Asia. Like one commenter said, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
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If we were just talking visiting, sure, Asia would be tops. But if you went to live there, the exoticism would wear off after a couple of years just like it has in Germany, and you’d be left with a smoldering pile of communication issues and cultural isolation.
Then it’s on to the next country on the world tour, for those who like that approach!
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Every party has a pooper…
I know puhlenty of teachers who have taught in Dubai; all had armed military escorts from the front door of their homes, to the Dept. of Defense schools where they taught and right back to home when the work day was over…NONE of them would go back right now.
Really, really REALLY think about it, and do some MAJOR research, if Dubai is on your short list.
I’d go to the Netherlands or Japan.
I’ve spent time in Singapore, Malaysia, and GB. Only been in airports in Dubai and Netherlands. My personal choice, however, would be easy: Netherlands. Just for the quality of life/lifestyle. I only hear good things. And yes, it probably would be similar in many ways to germany (as an American). Singapore might be #2 for me. It would definitely be a cultural experience, but it is also very westernized as far as Asia goes. I think you could basically get what you wanted out of it there, or avoid what you wanted at the same time.
I know really nothing about Dubai.
For some reason I just can’t see myself living in England. There’s something that just grinds on me there. I don’t know. The people, the humor, the crowdedness. I don’t think I’ll ever live there. no offense to anybody.
Malaysia would be far and away the most third-world-ish, and I can’t speak for Dubai on this, but of the others by far the biggest culture shock. I laugh at those commercials too, because on my long trip through countries in SE Asia, Malaysia was my _least_ favorite. Definitely not “truly Asia”!
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Dubai, Malaysia or Singapore. If given the choice, I would choose a location where I was really foreign and nothing was familiar and try that hat on for a few years. Also, I find that the stranger the surroundings, the more interesting the expat lifestyle.
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