Top Things I Learned While Visiting Expat.Com's Country Forums

Love lives in Jordan- so many love posts on the Jordan forumn

After visiting Expat.com's Sweden forum, I have lost any interest in visiting that country.  This is the most negativity I have encountered on any Expat.com country forum.

Monika E L from Canada wanted to find work but "hit a wall."  Employers kept telling her, "You're great but you don't speak Swedish. Sorry."

Posters were waiting six months to a year for a residency visa.  Apparently nine months has been the norm in recent years for the bureaucrats at migrationsverket to process an application.

Jenna has become a "toxic Expat" in Goteborg.  She says wintertime there is gray with "slush and muck everywhere."  Apartment waiting lists are 2-5 years if you don't have juice.  The job market, she says, is hard even for Swedes to crack.  Sweden is "not all candy and rainbows and unicorns."

Jane, 21, had just moved to Stockholm from Nigeria, and was looking for friends.  Tim Fowler offered her some hope, saying the bars Tudor Arms and The Liffey are good places.

NotesfromtheNorth was less than encouraging.  "Leave now," he told a recent arrival from Canada, "before the rigid system, frigid social life, prolonged unemployment and dark winters derange and extinguish your North American optimism."

Max, an Italian teacher posting from Turin, Italy .. launched a thread a while back looking for work in Sweden.  No one has responded.

Yeractual is disappointed in the phone service.  The suppliers are "useless" with no concern for customer rights.  Tella is "an overpriced near-monopoly service of poor value."

Jo, an Expat from the Netherlands, offered up a bright spot, saying her six-year-old son was welcomed into a school in Rodon .. has adjusted well since arriving last year .. and has no interest in returning to Amsterdam.

A poster from Gothenburg writes:  "At first it's fresh, then the xenophobia and institutionalized racism become more and more obvious."  Swedes, he says, are hard to get to know.

cccmedia in Ecuador

Top Ten Things I Learned at the Lima, Peru, forum...

Lima is the capital and the largest city in Peru.  It's on the Pacific Ocean with Ecuador to the North and Chile to the South.

10.  There is consensus that Peru needs English teachers.

9.  Monolish from Holland agrees, but says such positions don't pay "that much."

8.  Pistachio posts that Internet providers in Lima offer high speeds... 8mb/second.

7.  Bugsy got a job offer as a chef, but didn't know how to go about the paperwork.

6.  Uwwgal answered Bugsy, saying he needed to get his contract approved by the Ministerio de Trabajo and then seek a carnet de extranjera at Migraciones.  Uww called that process "long and super fun."  That could be sarcasm.

5.  Tango 4848 has determined that Peru is a "nest of scammers and liars" and "full beggars."

4.  Alexislat disagrees.  "This country is full of hard-working people who only seek the best for themselves and their families and welcome foreigners all the time.  So be respectful...."

3. Amabilis 2010 from Australia launched a thread titled "Looking for the right family."  He wanted to park his Sri Lankan wife, age 42, with a family for six months while he travels around Peru doing volunteer work.  The wife can cook, clean and teach English and "Singalese," he said.

2. Lin 125 is holding up two cocktail glasses in her avatar photo.  She's "homesick" and looking for someone to hang out with.  A male respondant posted, "With two glasses of liquor and that crazy smile, I don't think you'll have any problem to meet people."

And the #1 thing I learned at the Lima, Peru, forum:

1.  USA Expat PD 23152 -- age 28 and "considering citizenship through marriage" -- wanted to enlist in the Peruvian military.  He explained:  "I want to prove my loyalty to my new land."

cccmedia