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Thought you might like to hear our impressions of moving to Scottsdale from Europe about one year ago (we arrived on 21 July 2012). With the caveat, this comes from the perspective of having lived in Europe for 35 years although having grown up in California!
As always, there are pros and cons but overall we are thrilled with having made this major move (I'm still in transition with lots of traveling back and forth to Europe) but my family absolutely loves it in Scottsdale. I'll try to list what's been great and not so great from a somewhat European perspective which I hope doesn't offend our US friends.
Number one on anyone's great list: the weather. The glorious blue skies and stunning sunrises and sunsets has to be number one on anyone's list of benefits. Being exposed to so many sunny days is great for anyone's psychological well-being. Dining "al fresco" in winter says it all.
We were fortunate to be able to buy in DC Ranch which is a beautiful master planned community. We couldn't have made a better choice. We love this community and the incredible "on-brand" architecture of the Thompson Peak Parkway area (thank you DMB). Lots of opportunity for walking and bicycling and backed up against the McDowell Mountain preserve for hikes and views.
We've been surprised by the rich flora and fauna of the desert. It's a singular beauty which we had not before experienced. It's absolutely incomparable to anything we'd experienced before. Hiking up to Tom's Thumb and elsewhere in the preserve is fantastic.
Quick access to Sky Harbor and (increasingly the convenient) Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport for flights has been great. Thank goodness for the direct flight to London which we have used extensively.
The fantastic service industry compared to Europe is wonderful. Buying furnishings for our home has been a pleasure. Thank goodness for a few non-boring furniture shops (Bungalow/Brady Gray/Restoration Hardware/Eclectic Home/Global Elements aka Charles Grover Interiors). Most of the stuff in furniture shops is so 'dated' compared to Europe. In particular, the outdoor furniture is so overpriced and out of date compared to European offerings.
We have come across so many "faux Tuscan" furnished homes - we wonder how this trend started (we understand it's fading now). Why would anyone purposely choose heavy Tuscan furniture in an environment that is noted for its desert light eludes us.
We love the Happy Hour offerings where food portions are almost the same as European dinner portions for very little money.
Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter: Zinc, North, True Food (generally, Fox restaurants)
The concentration of services and businesses in the Air Park area.
Market Street and its Christmas fairy lights (yeah Armitage).
Great supermarkets within a few miles. AJs is great. But we are surprized how difficult it has been to buy foods that are not hugely sweetened or enhanced artificially somehow (perhaps we need to go to Whole Foods more often). Most foods are so processed they are almost unrecognizable (compare a real Greek Yoghurt to what passes for Yoghurt in a US supermarket). All Americans should read http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/ma...pagewanted=all to realize what they are being fed.
Lack of competition and monopolies in most audio-visual services. Hugely expensive fixed and mobile telephony/Internet compared to Europe. In France, I had 15 service providers to choose from. In the US, essentially no choice and huge monthly costs (albeit it has been reliable).
Expensive public utility costs compared to Europe.
Public transportation very poor compared to Europe.
Surprisingly expensive internal flights in the US (didn't expect that). Most European airlines vastly superior to their US counterparts.
Robot cold calls even when you're on the FCC's do not call list - and if you hang on to ask them who is calling they hang up on you. Amazingly abusive practices. How is this tolerated?
Lots of women with obviously way too much plastic surgery.
Medical care and billing practices. My impressions are that the health care sector in the US is "out of control". The US is listed quite a ways down the health care league internationally despite outspending everybody per GDP and I can appreciate that now. I once received a bill for $8500 with a discount offered of $6500 if I payed immediately! I've seen too many instances of things like this. How do American's tolerate this sort of misbehavior by a sector?
Angie's and Craig's List have been helpful.
Pervasive banal pop music. Has nobody here experienced more contemporary lounge/chill/relax music? It has barely changed since I left 35 years ago.
People proudly walking around chatting with bluetooth headsets. In Europe, you'd be instantly branded an idiot for doing that.
Beautiful cars destroyed by tacky chrome "pimp wheels".
Paperwork. While most Americans would think that living in Europe is bureaucratic, in fact, it's just the opposite. I have never had to fill out so much paperwork in my life. It's the land of disclaimers drawn up by lawsuit-adverse corporate lawyers. Nobody reads them, they just sign them and then battle it out later when things go wrong.
Electronic banking is far behind Europe. I hadn't written a check for 10 years until I came to the US. So surprised that many businesses have no ability to accept direct bank transfers.
The service industry in the US compared to Europe is streaks ahead. In France, we once broke our garage door. It tooks me two months to get it repaired. In Scottsdale, it was repaired the same afternoon and that was a Sunday!
Overall, we're super pleased we made the move but there have been a few surprises!
Thought you might like to hear our impressions of moving to Scottsdale from Europe about one year ago (we arrived on 21 July 2012). With the caveat, this comes from the perspective of having lived in Europe for 35 years although having grown up in California!
As always, there are pros and cons but overall we are thrilled with having made this major move (I'm still in transition with lots of traveling back and forth to Europe) but my family absolutely loves it in Scottsdale. I'll try to list what's been great and not so great from a somewhat European perspective which I hope doesn't offend our US friends.
Number one on anyone's great list: the weather. The glorious blue skies and stunning sunrises and sunsets has to be number one on anyone's list of benefits. Being exposed to so many sunny days is great for anyone's psychological well-being. Dining "al fresco" in winter says it all. Yes the weather here. That's one reason we did not move back to France for retirement. The other one is our daughter and grand kids.
We were fortunate to be able to buy in DC Ranch which is a beautiful master planned community. We couldn't have made a better choice. We love this community and the incredible "on-brand" architecture of the Thompson Peak Parkway area (thank you DMB). Lots of opportunity for walking and bicycling and backed up against the McDowell Mountain preserve for hikes and views.
We've been surprised by the rich flora and fauna of the desert. It's a singular beauty which we had not before experienced. It's absolutely incomparable to anything we'd experienced before. Hiking up to Tom's Thumb and elsewhere in the preserve is fantastic. Right. Even living in Houston for 30 years, we never expected to see so many flowers in the desert.
Quick access to Sky Harbor and (increasingly the convenient) Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport for flights has been great. Thank goodness for the direct flight to London which we have used extensively. We don't travel by plane anymore but it is a good thing to know that the direct flight to London is a good thing. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future we will use it.
The fantastic service industry compared to Europe is wonderful. Buying furnishings for our home has been a pleasure. Thank goodness for a few non-boring furniture shops (Bungalow/Brady Gray/Restoration Hardware/Eclectic Home/Global Elements aka Charles Grover Interiors). Most of the stuff in furniture shops is so 'dated' compared to Europe. In particular, the outdoor furniture is so overpriced and out of date compared to European offerings.
We have come across so many "faux Tuscan" furnished homes - we wonder how this trend started (we understand it's fading now). Why would anyone purposely choose heavy Tuscan furniture in an environment that is noted for its desert light eludes us. I had a hard trouble finding furniture here that I like. I don't like heavy furniture and I don't like modern furniture. The trick was to find something in between.
We love the Happy Hour offerings where food portions are almost the same as European dinner portions for very little money. No happy hours in Europe, at least not I know of.
Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter: Zinc, North, True Food (generally, Fox restaurants) I really miss fine dining restaurants here in the West Valley. You being in Scottsdale probably won't. But Scottsdale is over an hour away from us and that is too far for us.
The concentration of services and businesses in the Air Park area.
Market Street and its Christmas fairy lights (yeah Armitage).
Great supermarkets within a few miles. AJs is great. But we are surprized how difficult it has been to buy foods that are not hugely sweetened or enhanced artificially somehow (perhaps we need to go to Whole Foods more often). Most foods are so processed they are almost unrecognizable (compare a real Greek Yoghurt to what passes for Yoghurt in a US supermarket). All Americans should read http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/ma...pagewanted=all to realize what they are being fed. Lol. but true. I miss my Houston supermarkets especially Central Market. There is a Whole Foods Market on 101 and Scottsdale Rd but again an hour away from my place and it's not as good as the one in Houston.But overall when it comes to service in the supermarkets, it's better here than in Europe. Here they bag your groceries and even bring them to your car if you want to. Forget about this in Europe. You don't bag your groceries yourself quick enough for them to get to the next customer. And don't expect them to give you a bag to put them in it. And you are lucky if they say Hello to you. I am talking here about my own experience.
Lack of competition and monopolies in most audio-visual services. Hugely expensive fixed and mobile telephony/Internet compared to Europe. In France, I had 15 service providers to choose from. In the US, essentially no choice and huge monthly costs (albeit it has been reliable). That's what I understand from what my niece and her boyfriend are saying. Lot cheaper than here in the States.
Expensive public utility costs compared to Europe. Too long a time I left to be able to compare.
Public transportation very poor compared to Europe. Oh yes. Same in Houston. Very poor.
Surprisingly expensive internal flights in the US (didn't expect that). Most European airlines vastly superior to their US counterparts.
Robot cold calls even when you're on the FCC's do not call list - and if you hang on to ask them who is calling they hang up on you. Amazingly abusive practices. How is this tolerated? I know, but still less than if you were not on the do not call list.
Lots of women with obviously way too much plastic surgery. Lol !
Medical care and billing practices. My impressions are that the health care sector in the US is "out of control". The US is listed quite a ways down the health care league internationally despite outspending everybody per GDP and I can appreciate that now. I once received a bill for $8500 with a discount offered of $6500 if I payed immediately! I've seen too many instances of things like this. How do American's tolerate this sort of misbehavior by a sector? I answered to this in another post.
Angie's and Craig's List have been helpful.
Pervasive banal pop music. Has nobody here experienced more contemporary lounge/chill/relax music? It has barely changed since I left 35 years ago.
People proudly walking around chatting with bluetooth headsets. In Europe, you'd be instantly branded an idiot for doing that. Lol ! I don't, I am too old for that.
Beautiful cars destroyed by tacky chrome "pimp wheels".
Paperwork. While most Americans would think that living in Europe is bureaucratic, in fact, it's just the opposite. I have never had to fill out so much paperwork in my life. It's the land of disclaimers drawn up by lawsuit-adverse corporate lawyers. Nobody reads them, they just sign them and then battle it out later when things go wrong. Yep, nobody reads it because it's just there to cover their butt.
Electronic banking is far behind Europe. I hadn't written a check for 10 years until I came to the US. So surprised that many businesses have no ability to accept direct bank transfers. Not sure about this one.
The service industry in the US compared to Europe is streaks ahead. In France, we once broke our garage door. It tooks me two months to get it repaired. In Scottsdale, it was repaired the same afternoon and that was a Sunday! True. Getting something repaired in Europe on the same day or even the next day, don't count it. It stinks. Week-ends are sacred. Nobody works on week-ends. And then there are the long week-ends when there is a Holiday involved.
Overall, we're super pleased we made the move but there have been a few surprises!
For me it is the contrary. I grew up in Europe. And moved to the United States. I understand very well what you are saying. There are pros and cons in every Country. I wish the Countries would take the good from every other Country and put it together and apply in their Country. Hope I make sense.
Pervasive banal pop music. Has nobody here experienced more contemporary lounge/chill/relax music? It has barely changed since I left 35 years ago.
This has not been my experience. I've been impressed by the wealth of decent rock stations here, and it's great to wander into a store and hear Led Zeppelin on the speakers. Back in the UK all you'd hear is "urban" trash and electronica.
You can get the proper, full-fat, blue Total Greek yogurt in the larger Fry's stores, but it's not with the other yogs. They usually have a little 'natural choice' section with wholesome foods, and there'll be a chiller cabinet there with it in. Whole Foods usually has it too. Otherwise, the Voskos brand of plain Greek yog is passable by the time you've drizzled a bit of honey and added nuts or fruit. Don't bother buying any of the others; I've thoroughly done the research for you.
I quite like the music, though. Every supermarket I go in is only playing stuff pre-1985, which makes me happy.
Last edited by observer53; 07-31-2013 at 11:36 AM..
Reason: off topic
No European experience here; born and raised here and I've never left the country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Great supermarkets within a few miles. AJs is great. But we are surprized how difficult it has been to buy foods that are not hugely sweetened or enhanced artificially somehow (perhaps we need to go to Whole Foods more often). Most foods are so processed they are almost unrecognizable (compare a real Greek Yoghurt to what passes for Yoghurt in a US supermarket). All Americans should read http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/ma...pagewanted=all to realize what they are being fed.
Yes, it's hard to find healthy stuff, especially in decent selections. When you do, it's about double the price or more of the normal stuff in stores. You get to pay a premium for the lack of chemicals, genetic mutant-ism, etc. There are social movements against this stuff, but it's very hard to fight the convenience centric society we have here. People can't be assed to spend some time shopping for healthy things and then the time spent for the work that goes into preparing it. Despite the clear, obvious, overwhelming health benefits to eating the whole, natural foods our bodies spent many millions of years evolving on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Lack of competition and monopolies in most audio-visual services. Hugely expensive fixed and mobile telephony/Internet compared to Europe. In France, I had 15 service providers to choose from. In the US, essentially no choice and huge monthly costs (albeit it has been reliable).
I hate this. People say there's competition because there are different providers. But we are taking about different technologies. There is only one CABLE internet company in an area, ONE DSL company in an area, one SATELLITE company, and maybe one FIBER company. That's four different technologies. And because each one built their own infrastructure, it's ok for them to monopolize it. And no one else is allowed to come in and build their own infrastructure based on the same technology. As a consumer, I don't see that as choice. Sure they all offer the same end goal: getting on the internet. But for me there are no choices. It's a matter of which monopoly you want to choose, because they are all vastly different technologies with different downstream and upstream speeds, with wildly different price points. But again, because they all offer the same end goal, that counts as "competition". That'd be like there being three car companies: one builds internal combustion engines that use gasoline, one that has a hydrogen fuel cell based engine, and then an all-electric car. I doubt people would see that as actual competition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Public transportation very poor compared to Europe.
Well it's like that almost everywhere here. Infrastructure is a lot newer here than it is in Europe. Places really only go back a few hundred years at most. And those are on the east coast. Since stuff is newer, and there's so much room to spread out, most cities and towns tend to sprawl. There's plenty of space for it. Unfortunately, that means we a personal-vehicle based society. Especially in a place like Phoenix. Thankfully though, I found our travel times in Phoenix to generally be one mile per minute, regardless of time of day, distance, and direction. Even driving 35 miles across the valley several times during the week we visited. It hardly ever took more than half an hour. Here where I live in Silicon Valley, the only times you get 1mi/min is late at night during the week, or weekend early mornings and weekend late nights. All other times, count on 2-3 minutes per mile. Combine that with the sprawl, and it gets head-bashingly aggravating and tedious very quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Medical care and billing practices. My impressions are that the health care sector in the US is "out of control". The US is listed quite a ways down the health care league internationally despite outspending everybody per GDP and I can appreciate that now. I once received a bill for $8500 with a discount offered of $6500 if I payed immediately! I've seen too many instances of things like this. How do American's tolerate this sort of misbehavior by a sector?
Most don't. But we are a profit driven society, and the biggest money makers have the law makers either bought and paid for, or they spend zillions of dollars on people to stand around in Washington all day "lobbying" for their profit-based cause, while the other side can't afford either strategy. So he who has the most money ultimately makes the laws. I'd gladly pay some higher taxes for a system like they have in the UK. That's aside from businesses screwing each other. A good sold to a customer goes for $xx. That same exact good sold to another business goes for $xxxxx. Just because they're a business (i.e. they have lots of money). Fairness isn't exactly promoted and encouraged here. Here, sadly, fair has to be legalized and then routinely inspected and regulated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Angie's and Craig's List have been helpful.
After 13½ years of driving the same busted old piece of crap, which is now 16 years old, I can't sell it to a dealer. They won't take it. So in the next month or two when I can finally buy a better car, I'm going to have to give Craigslist a shot. I hope I don't end up experiencing any horror stories that I've read so many of. I've been renting a room in a house for 4 years now, and found it through Craigslist, which was a quick, easy, good experience. But I've never been on the seller side before....
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Beautiful cars destroyed by tacky chrome "pimp wheels".
It's really, really, really bad. What I hate more though is the grotesquely giant trucks and SUVs. I'm talking about the ones with with enormous lift kits requiring a ladder bolted to the side in order to climb into, along with bulldozer sized tires (the ones you can hear 3 blocks away). It makes me want to hurl. That's to say nothing of the extreme safety and visibility hazard these things pose to other drivers. If we could get rid of those, I'd be ok with the tacky, chrome, pimp wheels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Paperwork. While most Americans would think that living in Europe is bureaucratic, in fact, it's just the opposite. I have never had to fill out so much paperwork in my life. It's the land of disclaimers drawn up by lawsuit-adverse corporate lawyers. Nobody reads them, they just sign them and then battle it out later when things go wrong.
God the paperwork. Yeah it's stupid, given that nobody reads anything. And it sucks that everything is so one sided. Again, it's about money. The common person can't make a contract with a company that says "I can change this contract at any time, with or without notice." No company would accept that, because they have zillions of other customers who will just lay down and take it. Meanwhile, any company is free to make a contract with exactly that wording, and no one is going to say otherwise because what are they going to do? Everyone draws up the same type of contract, so all you can do is pick the least of all evils and bend over.
What's the credit system like over there? Over here, during the last 10 years there are waaaaaaaaaaay too many people erroneously believing they have any business looking at your credit. Renting a dwelling, leasing a dwelling, applying for a job, getting a cell phone, getting car insurance, etc. For me, unless there's a direct, actual, bank-based loan involved (buy a car, buy a house, etc.), no one has any business having their dirty little nose in my credit. No, it's not an accurate predictor. But, that's how it is. How was the experience in Europe with this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Electronic banking is far behind Europe. I hadn't written a check for 10 years until I came to the US. So surprised that many businesses have no ability to accept direct bank transfers.
I don't understand this either. My biggest problem though is the really weak and sickeningly slow ACH system. Automated Clearing House. When you want to electronically transfer something to or from your bank account, it takes 2 business days. Sometimes 3. The whole back and forth communication between A and B takes this long. This is 2013 for christ's sake. I don't see why this can't be instant. Site/bank A connects to B, B and A verify info with each other, A then sends/gets funds to/from B. Whole process takes 5 seconds. BAM. DONE. The End. I'd like more e-banking pervasiveness too, but, I'd really like the system to be sped up first. It's ludicrous right now.
We've been surprised by the rich flora and fauna of the desert. It's a singular beauty which we had not before experienced. It's absolutely incomparable to anything we'd experienced before.
Hiking up to Tom's Thumb and elsewhere in the preserve is fantastic.
Definitely. People see "desert" and imagine it to be a wasteland. In reality, it's anything but. One of the most intriguing things is how something like a big rainstorm completely changes the appearance of the everything. Spring in the mountains around Phoenix is beautiful. On a simple morning hike, it's not unusual to see vultures, coyote, snakes, lizards, hummingbirds, and all sorts of other random creatures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Most foods are so processed they are almost unrecognizable.
And what do you know, the majority of Americans are either overweight or obese.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Public transportation very poor compared to Europe.
But, with only a few exceptions in the States, our cities aren't comparable to any European cities either. That doesn't include Scottsdale (twice the size of Boston on its own, but with only a fraction of the population). Phoenix proper, is 500 square miles, IIRC. Scottsdale is twice the size of Boston, but with only a fraction of the people. Mesa is twice the size of Philadelphia. Population "density" in Arizona is something of a misnomer.
If that's not enough for you, the entire cities of Zurich or Paris would fit into the combined land area of Phoenix South Mountain Park, North Mountain and Squaw Peak preserves, which are in the middle of the city, and have a population of zero.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Surprisingly expensive internal flights in the US (didn't expect that). Most European airlines vastly superior to their US counterparts.
Actually, that's not usually the case. This seems to be something that Europeans don't really "get" about the States. It's one thing to look at a map, but it's another to look at the mileage between cities, and people who don't spend a LOT of time traveling in the US always seem to be surprised at just how big everything is. I undertstand you lived here before but after decades of dealing with dense population and short distances between cities, it's a big adjustment to deal with the wide open western US.
To be fair when comparing airfares, you have to compare very busy routes that aren't subject to as much price variation. Second, you have to compare cities with similar distances. For example:
LHR-CDG is 214 miles. JFK to WAS is 215 miles. Both are $135US, R/T. Same price per mile.
I fly back and forth to my house in WI, about 1500 miles, for $350 almost any day of the week, $257 if I'm paying attention, and as low as $228 (once in a while even cheaper). That's the same distance between LHR and SVO. LHR-SVO is about $350. Roughly the same price per mile. If you do more comparisons between similar city pairs, you will find very similar airfares. I've done this for a long time, and I'm telling you that overall, the price per air mile is pretty close.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Medical care and billing practices. My impressions are that the health care sector in the US is "out of control". The US is listed quite a ways down the health care league internationally despite outspending everybody per GDP and I can appreciate that now.
Look back at your food comment. The majority of our adult population is committing slow suicide by eating crappy food, and way too much of it, then sitting in their cars, on their couch, at their desk, and pretty much everywhere else, without lifting a hand to lose a pound.
The majority of our population lives a permissive lifestyle then seeks help after the damage is done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BacktotheUSA
Pervasive banal pop music. Has nobody here experienced more contemporary lounge/chill/relax music? It has barely changed since I left 35 years ago.
There are some of us out there! Chill music and jazz are all that I play all day and in the car too. Satellite radio channel 53, plus some custom stations I have on internet radio.
Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I certainly didn't intend this to become a thread on US vs Europe health care but obviously this touches a nerve. Just for the education of anyone moving from Europe to the US and your bills aren't going directly to an insurance agency, you need to quickly learn a VERY IMPORTANT PHRASE: "self-pay". It's a concept alien to those from elsewhere but basically it entitles you to a significant discount on health care bills. And if you pay within 30 days, there might be even more discounts. Never pay a health service bill until you call them up and ask for these kind of discounts. This isn't like shopping in the supermarket - the sticker price is not the "final price".
Good thing I didn't mention the wacky g*n culture/trigger happy police which I'm sure is another taboo subject in AZ ;-)
Anyways, a few more reflections/afterthoughts based on the thoughtful comments:
Yes, generally very good restaurants with great service, at least from our experience in the Northern Scottsdale area. Love dining by heaters/firepits in winter. Draconian drunk driving laws so much like the UK and increasingly other parts of Europe.
Yes, the overall choice and service (bagging your groceries for you) in the supermarkets is fantastic compared to Europe. And the opening hours are great. You don't even think about whether they're open.
I was surprised the way credit cards are used in the US. In Europe, the requirement to enter a PIN code when you use your card is pervasive. I don't think I've come across that in the US yet.
The influence of the major US credit reporting agencies is surprising. When we arrived we had zero credit history in the US context despite having 40+ years in Europe buying houses/paying bills. It was like we didn't exist and made things like getting a mortgage and mobile phones, etc, sorted difficult. They wouldn't believe the social security number I gave to them until I scanned the card and sent it to them. Everyone advised us "you must take out loans" to establish a US credit history. Which is what we have done.
My goodness what aggressive billing practices exist. We were reported to a collection agency when they got our postal address wrong and the bill was returned. It's always your fault.
Arizona refused to accept my 35 year old Swiss drivers or expired California driving license as having any validity (strangely they accepted German licenses). So I had to redo my driving test!
Will have to do the mile-to-mile comparison on the flights. You might be right on that. It's true, most Europeans have no idea of the distance scale they are dealing with. We're used to an environment where you can go 20 kilometers up the road and if they don't speak another language, it is probably a different accent.
The local car/truck culture IS amusing. I didn't think anyone drove Hummers anymore until I came to Scottsdale. And the mobile phone usage while driving - wow. That's illegal in many European countries.
Yes, Internet radio has saved us. Used to like Pandora until I discovered it's only valid in a few countries. Switched to Spotify and couldn't be happier. And the UK's Sky News is now on Apple TV with their latest software release. The Brits in the family are very very happy.
In Scottsdale, you need "an alarm permit".
Appreciate the comment about taking the good from every country and trying it in your own context. So true and an opportunity for clever business people and those who remain open minded!
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