Here's a link to a blog I follow with an interesting post that attempts to answer the question (as definitively as I've seen and much better than I could have answered), "Why don't expats hang out more with locals?"
http://delhibound.blogspot.com/2010/08/friendships-expat-and-locals.html
If you're an expat or a local, I highly recommend checking out the link and sharing your thoughts.
Similar to what she mentions, I've been involved in more than a handful of conversations that start with the question, "So how do you find India?" or where I ask, "What part of India are you from?" The reality (or probably more my opinion than reality) is that if you don't have something in common besides geographically being in the same spot, there's likely not a meaningful and lasting friendship on the horizon.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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Hi John, thanks for sharing. Indeed an interesting thought. I ended up replying with a rather unusually long comment and had to actually post it on my own blog here since it disallowed me for the length.
ReplyDeletehttp://sforsarang.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-take-on-debate-expat-and-locals-from.html
Thanks John!
ReplyDeleteIt was a post a long time in the making ... I wrote it awhile ago, but sat on it because I wasn't sure how it would be taken.
(Isn't reality most often your opinion? it's "your" reality)
I think too that part of the issue in all of this (and I didn't mention it) is so many expats are "on their way out" ... it takes about a year to settle in, right? Then the second year often means that you only have ONE more year before you go on to your next location ... that may have ALOT to do with it as well.
I blab ... thanks for the shoutout!
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