What makes a country eastern or western European? (place, moving, English)
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I also enjoy eastern europe more than western europe
eastern europe feels EUROPE, western european especially places like the UK are like the US (at times in the UK I have to remind myself I am in Europe, the british really try hard to be like americans) and adopt all that PC, multiracial, feminist, whatever movements Americans come up with!
What's wrong with feminism? Or a multiracial society? They are just ideas. YOU, if you don't want to be a feminist, don't, be what you like. It's a free country after all. If a multiracial society is peaceful, then it's good. If an or several ethnicities become an outcast underclass, it's bad.
The PC-crap has gone too far in places, but luckily not here, and I will strive to keep it that way. Western Europe is not UK, mostly we don't even care about them.
What's wrong with feminism? Or a multiracial society? They are just ideas. YOU, if you don't want to be a feminist, don't, be what you like. It's a free country after all. If a multiracial society is peaceful, then it's good. If an or several ethnicities become an outcast underclass, it's bad.
The PC-crap has gone too far in places, but luckily not here, and I will strive to keep it that way. Western Europe is not UK, mostly we don't even care about them.
there is nothing wrong with any of that, but the whole PC, you HAVE to accept others, you HAVE to be a certain way and so on is going too far i think
there is nothing wrong with any of that, but the whole PC, you HAVE to accept others, you HAVE to be a certain way and so on is going too far i think
Well, yes, you should accept most lifestyles, that's what freedom is. But I get it. Nobody should impose any standard models of thinking or behaviour, that's going too far. But I don't see that too much in Europe. Some countries are better, some are worse.
there is nothing wrong with any of that, but the whole PC, you HAVE to accept others, you HAVE to be a certain way and so on is going too far i think
I see your point...feminism isn't problematic if it was about voting rights, or the idea that women are as smart as men and should have equal rights. However these days feminism = "all men are rapists"...basically bitter and loud, opinionated women - which is 80% or so of the western female population. Multiracial societies are also not a problem though "multicultural" simply means that as a tourist you won't be able to experience the culture of the country you're visiting. Visiting New York to eat a "real italian pizza" doesn't make much sense to me...
However, I also agree with Ariete that western europe isn't the UK. The UK these days is getting very right-winged in combination with being an american copycat. You should visit Italy, Monaco, Sweden, Austria etc. and see that they're also very 'european'.
I see your point...feminism isn't problematic if it was about voting rights, or the idea that women are as smart as men and should have equal rights. However these days feminism = "all men are rapists"...basically bitter and loud, opinionated women - which is 80% or so of the western female population. Multiracial societies are also not a problem though "multicultural" simply means that as a tourist you won't be able to experience the culture of the country you're visiting. Visiting New York to eat a "real italian pizza" doesn't make much sense to me...
Some people from the... ahem... East tend to think this way as a matter of percieved self protection of their society. But what you say is simply not true. I live in a country with one of the highest gender equality in the world, and nobody shouts "rapist" or are all bitter and loud. If you want to be a girly girl in sexy clothes, nobody's stopping you. If you pose for Playboy, nobody cries that it's degrading, and we definitely don't have a feminazi police here looking for every step you take. If I say women are lousy at ice hockey or football, I'm allowed to say that. Yes, we DO have some radical feminists, but most people just ignore them.
Feminism means that females have equal rights and opportunities, but we're still not complete. In some areas women still earn less than men, statistics show women still make more homework than men, and a ridiculously low percentage of CEO's are women. 90% of kindergarten teachers are still women, 90% of engineers are still men.
And about immigration, well, even if Sweden and France and such have large immigrant populations, go to a rural village and you'll meet nothing but ethnic Swedes and French who are happy to show the local culture. Ok, you WILL though meet Dutch and Germans with their caravans, but ignore them.
"Services" in the so-called "western" Europe are horrible. Everything is late, not picked up or delivered on time. If they (for instance FEDEX in Portugal) say 2:00 in the afternoon, it means they will pick it up the next day if at all. You must call them to remind them to pick it up and they don't carry any supplies, envelopes, boxes with them, so every time the driver waits for a long time until the package is packaged and forms are filled out by the sender and often the driver has no forms, so they say just use any box... or any envelope. Then they give me two different tracking numbers, one online, another in the hand written form. Regarding GERMAN company of DHL,their website is a lauging stock, nothing on that website makes any sense and nothing works. Even more, it is very much ridiculous the way it is made, and very low quality. DHL often requests to open the sealed envelope to show what is inside... then I already called them twice (at €0.10 per minute as they told me, and wait a LONG time... one time I called them, the scheduled a pick up, but after waiting whole day no one showed up, same happened with the FEDEX, who claimed to read the email of someone at 5 PM only while they close at 7 PM.... so DHL was called again today, no pick up I guess. I waited long enough at 10c per minute. Their banks also a joke, usually one person works, many wait in line for hours sometimes, but everything is done in patient and polite manner, no complaints there and I am patient too. Cash is only available whatever they have, sometimes only 10s and 20s and if you need to withdraw say 5000 € they give you a huge pack of 10 EURO notes... and some 20s. Then their post office... the keys for post boxes are made so you stick it in but can not take it out for 3 minutes at least. When you struggle, they laugh, very friendly indeed. I got lots of time, to wait for WESTERN Europeans to do their job. And never mind their post offices, no forms available in the hall, I suppose WESTERN Europeans steal the postal forms and use as toilet paper perhaps? And watch what change you get in the so much western Europe... they steal and cheat if you don't count. This also applies to France, Italy, Germany etc. If you noticed I described the "level" of DHL, which is a German run company. DHL what a joke. Western Europe, what a joke. I get better and faster service in countries like Romania, Lithuania, even Russia. And I thought USA was bad. That's right. Services went down in USA a lot lately as well.
P.S. After 2 days struggle to have my DHL shipment picked up in Western Europe (light envelope with 2 sheets of paper documents, cost 96 EURO!!! to ship to Asia) finally after I called them a third time, they told me DHL does not pick up in my location. This is after they scheduled a pick up at 14:00 today... and I must pay 10c per minute to call DHL... and when they tell you they will, they most likely will not. Nice, friendly people, but rarely punctual and rarely do what they say or they do it a few days later. No wonder western European economies are going down the drain and already even Baltic Countries caught up in GDP per capita terms with such countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy etc.
Last edited by newtocolumbia; 12-10-2014 at 10:54 AM..
Some movements like feminism exist (in my opinion) because of the failure of goverments to address certain issues. Women in the so called Western world were paid less than men for decades. That was not the case in socialist countries. Whichever gender you were, whatever job you had, you were paid the same amount and lived in the same grey apartament. I wouldn't say that was the ideal approach, but it prevented the inequality that existed in other parts of the world.
There is nothing wrong with political correctness I think but it's funny that some countries think they own the freedom of speach like no one else, and yet when it comes to certain topics (that may be important) they keep quiet
"Services" in the so-called "western" Europe are horrible. Everything is late, not picked up or delivered on time. If they (for instance FEDEX in Portugal) say 2:00 in the afternoon, it means they will pick it up the next day if at all. You must call them to remind them to pick it up and they don't carry any supplies, envelopes, boxes with them, so every time the driver waits for a long time until the package is packaged and forms are filled out by the sender and often the driver has no forms, so they say just use any box... or any envelope. Then they give me two different tracking numbers, one online, another in the hand written form. Regarding GERMAN company of DHL,their website is a lauging stock, nothing on that website makes any sense and nothing works. Even more, it is very much ridiculous the way it is made, and very low quality. DHL often requests to open the sealed envelope to show what is inside... then I already called them twice (at €0.10 per minute as they told me, and wait a LONG time... one time I called them, the scheduled a pick up, but after waiting whole day no one showed up, same happened with the FEDEX, who claimed to read the email of someone at 5 PM only while they close at 7 PM.... so DHL was called again today, no pick up I guess. I waited long enough at 10c per minute. Their banks also a joke, usually one person works, many wait in line for hours sometimes, but everything is done in patient and polite manner, no complaints there and I am patient too. Cash is only available whatever they have, sometimes only 10s and 20s and if you need to withdraw say 5000 € they give you a huge pack of 10 EURO notes... and some 20s. Then their post office... the keys for post boxes are made so you stick it in but can not take it out for 3 minutes at least. When you struggle, they laugh, very friendly indeed. I got lots of time, to wait for WESTERN Europeans to do their job. And never mind their post offices, no forms available in the hall, I suppose WESTERN Europeans steal the postal forms and use as toilet paper perhaps? And watch what change you get in the so much western Europe... they steal and cheat if you don't count. This also applies to France, Italy, Germany etc. If you noticed I described the "level" of DHL, which is a German run company. DHL what a joke. Western Europe, what a joke. I get better and faster service in countries like Romania, Lithuania, even Russia. And I thought USA was bad. That's right. Services went down in USA a lot lately as well.
P.S. After 2 days struggle to have my DHL shipment picked up in Western Europe (light envelope with 2 sheets of paper documents, cost 96 EURO!!! to ship to Asia) finally after I called them a third time, they told me DHL does not pick up in my location. This is after they scheduled a pick up at 14:00 today... and I must pay 10c per minute to call DHL... and when they tell you they will, they most likely will not. Nice, friendly people, but rarely punctual and rarely do what they say or they do it a few days later. No wonder western European economies are going down the drain and already even Baltic Countries caught up in GDP per capita terms with such countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy etc.
That is Southern Europe in a nutshell. You should come to the Nordic region. Everything runs quite smoothly here. I am pretty sure Norway has the best banking system in the World. It is fast and very easy to use. The American system is a more or less a joke (intermediary banks, excessive bank charges/fees, slow clearing process, etc.). Many American companies still accept cheques... is this 1990?
ATM's are mostly used by old people here. A debit /credit card is much more convenient. I hate coins and small bills.
I have used DHL, FedEx and UPS here in Norway. I prefer DHL as they got the best distribution network. Still, other carriers are far better for domestic shipments.
You prefer DHL? Wow. I just was turned down business by DHL in Portugal, also in USA DHL was more of a joke and their websites are bizarre machines to turn a potential customer into a hater of DHL. I almost never liked DHL, never used them much and UNLESS the recipient begs me to ship via DHL and gives me their DHL account number, I will never do biz with DHL. No matter where, Portugal, USA, Norway, Japan etc.
I never almost use ATM unless I need a quick cash sometimes. I prefer cash all the way, and I love banknotes for what they are, piueces of art quite very often and educational pieces as well. Coins are also pieces of art quite often than not. I hate €uro for destroying so many beautiful paper currencies or as they call them "banknotes".
I would move to Norway (cold though and they say it is boring), but being at a small budget I must live in cheapest and safest of places, right now on Pico island in the Açores (Azores). Planning a move to Japan shortly. Love the Azores though! Very very friendly people, no crime, safer than Japan, people do not get angry or upset here. Superb climate within 50s to 70s year round, superb views. Well developed for my taste, except the extreme cases when SPEED is essential. Ah, yes, so regarding Norway, I've read they confiscate kids from people with slightest problems, they seem to do it across the "western" Europe. After Portugal and Japan I plan on moving to either Russia or Uzbekistan either Kazakhstan and Romania, Bulgaria. Those are the places of the future, strong family cultures and feminine women. Portugal is quite still good at it.
Regarding USA accepting personal checks, why not? It is convenient. I wish Europe had personal check system.
Ah, yes, so regarding Norway, I've read they confiscate kids from people with slightest problems, they seem to do it across the "western" Europe.
Links please? Or no need. That is complete and utter horse manure.
Around 7000 kids in Norway live with foster parents for whatever reason. 70 lives in orphanages. 70!
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