Always had a cheap desktop computer and never thought a phone was worth it. Is there a reason people like me should reconsider?

  • M500@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I live in a foreign country. So international communication is free and pretty simple.

    • Daviedavo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How does this work? If you live in a country then it isn’t foreign… it’s your country. I guess you mean you don’t live in the USA or whatever country OP is in? Just curious how a person could state that.

      • M500@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I’m not from this country so it’s foreign to me.

        You could say you have a foreign friend, but does he stop being foreign once your friends or when he comes to visit? Or is he always a foreign friend?

        • Daviedavo@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Well, sure. I’m not trying to start an argument or trying to talk down to you or anything. I just mean that once you are living in a country then it’s no longer foreign? If you are there on vacation then sure. But if you live there then it is your country. Sorry if it sounds like I’m splitting hairs, but at some point the store down the street or your neighbors aren’t “foreign” any longer, but home. That’s all, just my thought process.

          • M500@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Well I do refer to it as my neighborhood. But I do not speak the local language and I do not know all of the customs.

            Even the style of speech in English is different than it is in America. I’ve been here for about 6 years, but you never really know a country and culture the way you know your own.

            Just last week, my wife brought home a cheap snack from 7/11. OMG! It was so good, I’ve walked passed them for years only to discover they are my new favorite snack. I have been buying so many bags of them. This is the kind of stuff which makes me feel that this is a foreign country.

            In addition to that, there are a number of things I am not able to do here that a citizen can. So in some ways, I can never fit in here. One example, is I cannot hold any professional positions, like lawyer, doctor, or any government position. I can also never own land here.

            • Daviedavo@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Ok, I get it. Again, I wasn’t trying to bust your chops, just couldn’t figure out how the country you are living in is foreign. If the country puts barriers to entry like that ( you have been there for 6 years and they still consider you foreign? That doesn’t make sense to me) then I understand why you consider it foreign. Just curious, and you don’t have to answer this, is your wife a native there? Does not marring a native not give a person some standing?

              • M500@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Yeah, my wife’s a citizen of this country. I just recently got residency, but those restrictions still apply.

                I just don’t have to renew my tourist visa anymore and I don’t have to fly out and back into the country trying to every 3 years.

                It also lets me get employed by a private company without the need of a work visa.

                But I still can’t hold professional jobs. I actually was looking into going to med school at one point to be a doctor here.

                School is cheap here, then I found out that even if I go to med school here I’m not allowed to practice medicine.

                It’s actually a bit annoying, but now there is one less doctor in this country.