> If you add it up over 10-15 years the opportunity cost of living in the US is over $1M for most people.
And you get the opportunity of living in the U.S. I certainly think this is worth >$1M over a lifetime.
I like living in the U.S. I like having a car, and the associated freedom to take a day trip anywhere in the Bay Area. I like living in a suburban neighborhood where's there's trees and greenery, and yet stores, restaurants, and other conveniences are all nearby. I like being able to work on exactly the same stuff I do for fun and yet get paid for it. I like that I'm surrounded by some of the best & brightest immigrants from around the world in my job. I like my "horrible western diet", which basically consists of being able to eat whatever variety of food I feel like. I can have Mexican for lunch, fresh fish for dinner, Belgian waffles for breakfast the next day, Indian food for lunch, and Chinese for dinner. Is there any other country where you'll get similar variety?
Whenever I've visited other countries (notably China, but also Germany/Austria/New Zealand), I've always felt that they were nice places to travel, but I certainly would not want to live there. Well, except New Zealand. I could imagine retiring there, but I'd hate to waste my 20s and 30s there.
Happiness is knowing what you want, going for it, and having the courage to say "Nope, I don't think so" when people tell you you ought to want something else.
You know, you can have a car in other countries as well. In Jakarta you can have a car and driver for less than the cost of a car in the US.
Personally, I think everyone should live in a different country for at least one (1) year. You'll gain a lot of perspective on your own country in the process. Just like learning another language teaches you more about your native tongue, so living in another country teach you about your own culture. Combine the two (new language, new country) for a serious eye opening.
For example, the Thai language has no words for "yes" or "no". There are no yes/no questions in Thai.
Only after being removed from pervasive US media do you recognize how much hollywood movie content is US centric and self-referential.
Honestly, if you love living in the US, go live somewhere else in the world for one year. You'll either love the US more, or you'll decide that you enjoy living somewhere else more than you anticipated. Either way, you'll have gained invaluable life experience.
What is the basis for your claim that "there are no yes/no questions in Thai"?
(It does seem that binary questions aren't treated the same way in Thai as they are in English -- the conventions for how you say yes and no are different in different cases -- but it doesn't look at all as if there are "no yes/no questions". For that matter, even in English there are some binary questions to which "yes" and "no" would be peculiar answers. For instance, questions that implicitly make an offer ("Would you like one of these?") usually have to be answered more politely.)
Actually, I speak fluent Thai, there is no word for Yes or No. There is ไม่ which is a negation word, and ใช่ which basically means "correct"/"right", not "yes". The Thai question format is generally:
Q: Hungry? หิวไหม
A: Not hungry. ไม่หิว
A: Hungry. หิว
There are other question indicator words, but the one you're referring to is for "correct or not" type questions, e.g.
Q: This road, right? สอยนี้ใช่ไหม
A: Right. ใช่
A: Not right. ไม่ใช่
Alternatively, for a lot of statements you can just respond with the polite ending words, ครับ for men and ค่ะ for women.
The question, "would you like one of these?" in Thai would be, "เอาไหม่"... literally, "want?". The correct response is then either: ไม่เอาครับ or, เอาครับ ... that is the polite form for "do not want", or "want". There is no other way to respond to that question (except without the polite ending).
Those things you describe are all yes/no questions, so it is not true that there are no yes/no questions in Thai. And what you've described are ways to give (for particular classes of question) answers that mean just the same as "yes" or "no" would for the corresponding questions in English.
It's interesting that English has a category (call it "standard binary questions, answerable with yes or no") that doesn't correspond exactly to anything in Thai. But from what you've said it seems entirely wrong to describe that situation by saying that Thai has no yes/no questions.
My wife is Thai, and I manage to speak thai a bit. I took several months of thai lessons. I confirm what has been said before. There is no yes/no word in thai. Those examples on those sites are just bad translation for beginners.
For example the word "chai" that they give for "yes" is more close to "true" when you agree with what has been said.
"Chai" is just a particular answer that can be given to a particular question. You can't use it as a "yes" answer to all question.
He didn't say that! He said he wouldn't want to waste his 20s and 30s there. Different people want to do different things with their lives. NZ doesn't suit his chosen 20-to-39 lifestyle.
Obviously the national laws and economy do play a role, but it's a smaller role then the local economy/politics. Consider rural Kansas, vs. the Bay Area.
The Bay Area is great but you apparently missed out on the great places in Germany/Austria when you visited them.
And it's easy to miss out on the great places, they are few and far between, and they are spread out all over the world.
No offense but that's as silly as not moving to Australia because of organised crime. If you're going to become a cropper by either means you're doing something drastically wrong.
Holy crap, you need to get out more if you think that the Bay area is somehow magical because you can have a variety of foods, work with smart people and take day trips to fun place.
I live and work here and frankly its no better or worse than many other places I've lived or worked.
And you get the opportunity of living in the U.S. I certainly think this is worth >$1M over a lifetime.
I like living in the U.S. I like having a car, and the associated freedom to take a day trip anywhere in the Bay Area. I like living in a suburban neighborhood where's there's trees and greenery, and yet stores, restaurants, and other conveniences are all nearby. I like being able to work on exactly the same stuff I do for fun and yet get paid for it. I like that I'm surrounded by some of the best & brightest immigrants from around the world in my job. I like my "horrible western diet", which basically consists of being able to eat whatever variety of food I feel like. I can have Mexican for lunch, fresh fish for dinner, Belgian waffles for breakfast the next day, Indian food for lunch, and Chinese for dinner. Is there any other country where you'll get similar variety?
Whenever I've visited other countries (notably China, but also Germany/Austria/New Zealand), I've always felt that they were nice places to travel, but I certainly would not want to live there. Well, except New Zealand. I could imagine retiring there, but I'd hate to waste my 20s and 30s there.
Happiness is knowing what you want, going for it, and having the courage to say "Nope, I don't think so" when people tell you you ought to want something else.