What do you love/hate about your SO's country? :D

[GrandSupreme]

In international LDR's we get to experience another country on a much more personal level than say, a normal tourist would, so naturally we'll pick up things we both adore and despise about it

The things you love can be anything from architecture, food, social norms, any little thing

For me I mainly love my SO's country (Belgium) for a number of reasons:

-number one HAS to be the food! Cheese croquettes and fries are amazing, and speculoos are the biscuits of gods (also the innumerable amount of pastries and snacks readily available is NOT a bad thing ;P)
I also love the 'everything fresh' attitude towards food, which is a refreshing change to the fast food/ready meals culture in the UK.

-I love Sinterklaas (Kinda like Father Christmas, but he comes from Spain, gives out chocolate, and has an group of blackfaced guys with him) I have even gotten used to Zwarte Piet, to which my SO commented "You're officially Belgian now"

-The easy going attitudes to sex/same sex relationships, I feel that here in the UK we are taught to be ashamed of sex and wary of gay couples, and its refreshing to see a gay couple on TV without a huge press frenzy (And my SO has yet to complain that they show bare breasts on TV any time of the day )

-The directness of the Dutch/Flemmish. In the UK, you are almost expected to tell white lies about stuff, and the tell it like it is attitude fits in well with me

Anddd the things that annoy me

-My biggest annoyance is their flippant attitudes to racism, its not uncommon and it is even considered funny to address a person of minority by a racial slur, and is done on TV, people of importance, basically everybody. Racist jokes are considered a norm, which makes me twitch ;P. My SO's friends however are alot better than others but I must admit, it took A LOT of time to be somewhat OK to being addressed by random people as "de neger" (the black one ;p)
Alongside the racism, I have also gotten used to being spoken to in French as a first point of contact, as almost 99% of the black Belgian population are originally from French speaking African countries. The look of surprise I get when I explain, I don't speak good French and I'm also not African will never stop being funny

- Dutch circle parties. My god, I lose the will to live during these thank goodness there is at least cake to make it easier! This link will explain circle parties much better than I can https://www.invadingholland.com/the-...e-party-guide/

[kittyo9]

I haven't been to Peru yet, so this is all based on experiences through him, but...

Don't like:
- The crime rate. People get mugged and steal things a lot. My boyfriend has had his phone stolen twice in the time I've known him.
- I am a target for crime because I am fair-skinned and light-eyed.
- Corruption. I guess I'm too used to being in the United States. There are known corrupt leaders in the Peruvian government and they don't do a thing about them. They keep getting voted back in.
- The poverty level. I like affluence. I like the opportunities my parents have garnered for me. I don't like when there's a huge divide between the wealthy and the poor, which is what happens in Lima. My boyfriend isn't completely poor, but his family basically has no income other than what he makes.
- The school system. My boyfriend goes to one of the most prestigious schools in Peru, and it's a public university. Public universities are actually better than the private universities, and they're free, so there is huge competition to get into them. But even this "awesome" school is awful to me... the teachers don't teach enough (or sometimes at all). They don't care about their students. Most of them are people who work two part-time jobs and have no higher education than a Masters degree (although there are some with doctorates). Teachers will fail their students for petty reasons like "you write too small" (true story).
- The way everyone gets screwed over. My boyfriend is on a national sports team in Peru and was supposed to be paid each time he ranked well in international competitions. He's never received a dime. The president of the sports federation pockets the money and refuses to fund any of their competitions because he doesn't like their trainer.
- "Developing country" = the US hates letting these people in = my boyfriend has been turned down for a visa twice now.

Like:
- Peru has a really diverse environment. There's the coast, where the developing cities are; the mountains, where the people you typically associate with Peru are; and there's the jungle, where the Amazon leaks into the Peruvian North. In addition, the climate in Lima is quite unique: it's a desert, so it never rains, but it's humid all the time. It almost never gets below freezing and rarely above 90 degrees.
- Peruvian Spanish is one of the purest Spanish dialects spoken.
- They have lots of potatoes.

I'm sure I'll find more things to like about Peru once I go there, but for now...

[CynicalQuixotic]

There was a really great thread about this a couple of months ago: https://members.lovingfromadistance....ur-own-country

ETA: Also,

Peruvian Spanish is one of the purest Spanish dialects spoken.

What do you mean by this? Just out of curiosity.

[kittyo9]

What do you mean by this? Just out of curiosity.

Most Spanish-speaking countries/areas have some accent besides what you would learn in school if you were learning Spanish. Peruvian Spanish (well, at least in Lima-- there are many accents in Peru, but the urban accent is common on the coast) is typically regarded as having a neutral accent, or no accent, which tends to make it clearer and more easily understood, as well as preferred for international business. Dialect might be the wrong term here.

Something else I like about Peru:
- There is a lot of undeveloped land where native people still live.

[CynicalQuixotic]

Most Spanish-speaking countries/areas have some accent besides what you would learn in school if you were learning Spanish. Peruvian Spanish (well, at least in Lima-- there are many accents in Peru, but the urban accent is common on the coast) is typically regarded as having a neutral accent, or no accent, which tends to make it clearer and more easily understood, as well as preferred for international business. Dialect might be the wrong term here.

Something else I like about Peru:
- There is a lot of undeveloped land where native people still live.

There's no such thing as "neutral/no accent". Everybody has an accent, whether they want to admit it or not. It's a pretty deeply culturally engrained myth that reinforces a hegemonic language standard--which is Castilian Spanish, I think? I think it's interesting that Peruvian Spanish is considered easily understood, though. I dated a Peruvian guy for a couple of months and listening to him speak Spanish was like listening to water--it was all vowels. I loved it.

"Dialect" is also a bit of a loaded term in linguistics, because it has a connotation of incorrectness and low prestige because it differs from the culturally-endorsed standard. The technical term is 'variation', although I think most people continue to say "dialect" with no negative connotation intended.

[kittyo9]

There's no such thing as "neutral/no accent". Everybody has an accent, whether they want to admit it or not. It's a pretty deeply culturally engrained myth that reinforces a hegemonic language standard--which is Castilian Spanish, I think? I think it's interesting that Peruvian Spanish is considered easily understood, though. I dated a Peruvian guy for a couple of months and listening to him speak Spanish was like listening to water--it was all vowels. I loved it.

"Dialect" is also a bit of a loaded term in linguistics, because it has a connotation of incorrectness and low prestige because it differs from the culturally-endorsed standard. The technical term is 'variation', although I think most people continue to say "dialect" with no negative connotation intended.

Thanks for the lesson. I can always count on you.

[Dziubka]

Re: Dialects
There is a "standard variety" for pretty much every major language. It doesn't mean that it's neutral or anything, but I think it's totally ok, for someone who's not a linguist to see that as "no dialect".
Also... it might be different in American linguistics or Academic culture, but I've never heard dialect to be considered loaded or degrading and I've been studying linguistics for 4+ years. After all it's dialectology not varietology. When talking about different local varieties, dialect is a perfectly acceptable term. Especially if you want to distinguish from Sociolects.
/Linguist nerd

I basically said it in the thread that CynicalQuixotic linked to.
I study Slavic/Polish Studies, so it's a lot more than my boyfriend's country. Poland's a funny little country and I could go on for ages about what I love and hate about it.
Polish people have at least 5 different locks at their doors and preferably an alarm as well.
I once locked in my boyfriend's dad because I didn't know there were locks that if you lock them from the outside with a key, you can't open them from the inside anymore. He had to jump off their balcony (thankfully they live in the ground floor, so he's still alive and well) and let himself in from the outside. He didn't mention it (bless him!) him I was still mortified when I found out.

[CynicalQuixotic]

Re: Dialects
There is a "standard variety" for pretty much every major language. It doesn't mean that it's neutral or anything, but I think it's totally ok, for someone who's not a linguist to see that as "no dialect".
Also... it might be different in American linguistics or Academic culture, but I've never heard dialect to be considered loaded or degrading and I've been studying linguistics for 4+ years. After all it's dialectology not varietology. When talking about different local varieties, dialect is a perfectly acceptable term. Especially if you want to distinguish from Sociolects.
/Linguist nerd

The negative connotation on 'dialect' really could be an American thing, or at least an Anglophone thing. My American English linguistics teacher and my textbook, which was written by a slightly dotty New Zealander named Miriam Meyerhoff, were very adamant about using 'variation' instead of dialect, but who knows. I never found the word particularly problematic until I was in this class. I guess I am a bit too didactic about the standard language myth, but it is something I believe in really strongly. Language is one of the last areas where it's completely socially acceptable to judge people very harshly, and I think it's eye-opening to realize that everyone has a regionally-influenced accent and this very lauded ideal of a non-accent/standard way of speaking doesn't really exist. Then again, this probably isn't the time or the place for this kind of discussion.

/also a linguistics nerd

[lucybelle]

- Peru has a really diverse environment. There's the coast, where the developing cities are; the mountains, where the people you typically associate with Peru are; and there's the jungle, where the Amazon leaks into the Peruvian North. In addition, the climate in Lima is quite unique: it's a desert, so it never rains, but it's humid all the time. It almost never gets below freezing and rarely above 90 degrees.
- Peruvian Spanish is one of the purest Spanish dialects spoken.
- They have lots of potatoes.

I've only been to Peru once, but just wanted to comment. Lima is beautiful, but when I was in Peru in July, in Puno it was so cold that people were dying. Talking to some locals there, they do blanket drives every year to try to give out blankets to people so they don't freeze to death. While I was there, I stole blankets from the other hostel beds and slept with a water bottle filled with hot water. It was really cold!

I think Peruvian Spanish is awesome. If you want to learn good Spanish, learn Peruvian Spanish. Obviously each country has their own accent, but Peruvians speak very clearly and have almost no slang. In Costa Rica, you could be fluent in Spanish and not understand a tico talking. That's how much slang there is here. In southern Spain, people cut off the ends of their words. Argentinians over pronounce "ll"s. Chileans-- are impossible for me to understand Nicaraguans drop their words. But in Peru, everything sounds the way it should. I asked some people to tell me some of their slang and they couldn't think of any words. That says something about the "purity" of the language.

The potatoes are awesome

---

I could write a book about things I like and dislike about Costa Rica. But the main things I like are..

The climate- no AC nor heat required. Ever. Though I do use a fan daily.
The nature- I love seeing macaws fly over me while I go walking my dog.
The quirks- yesterday I saw a man riding his bicycle with a huge bag full of gutters (my SO said he had probably stolen them off houses). Shit like that just makes me laugh.

Things I don't like...

It's expensive- everything is double the price that it is in the USA and wages are half. That's what you call a 3rd world country.
Closed minded people- it's almost like CR is the USA in the 40's. If you are a handsome, white, Catholic, non-immigrant, straight guy- you're good to go. Anyone else is shitted on constantly.
The corruption- it's so common no one even thinks about it. I think almost every ex-president has been arrested for embezzlement or something similar. *sigh*

[DemonxOisin]

In Costa Rica, you could be fluent in Spanish and not understand a tico talking. That's how much slang there is here. In southern Spain, people cut off the ends of their words. Argentinians over pronounce "ll"s. Chileans-- are impossible for me to understand Nicaraguans drop their words. But in Peru, everything sounds the way it should. I asked some people to tell me some of their slang and they couldn't think of any words. That says something about the "purity" of the language.

I´ve never heard a Peruvian speak, but I can second that about people from Spanish speaking countries changing up the language a lot. Dominicans are something else, and Uruguayan "ll"s and Castillian "z"s make me cringe. I learned Spanish from a bunch of Chilangos (México City), and I´ve picked up a lot of the slang. I was talking to an Argentinian a while ago, and there was almost a language barrier there because of that :P

Anywho! Back to México! :3

Love:
-The slang/accent lol. Órale! Los defeños hablan la jerga super padrisimo, wey. Huevos
-The whole attitude of the place. Everyone is a bit more laid back, and SO MUCH FRIENDLIER/AFFECTIONATE. You can smile at people in the street and they will smile back. People greet each other with a kiss (even if you are meeting for the first time). And people don´t really judge you by your "worth" to them, they are just friendly regardless. One of the first times I hung out with Miguel, it was with his Karate school, a tight knit group of kids who have been friends since preschool. Almost none of them spoke English. But we all had an awesome time hanging out together! They just welcomed me into their group automatically. And this has happened multiple times since.
- I can´t believe I left this until third on my list: FOOD!!! I would move to México for the food alone, and never look back muahaha.
-The men are the sexiest thing on the planet to me. I´ve had a Méxican fetish for as long as I can remember xD
- It´s sooooooo cheap there. For example, you can buy enough Tacos Al Pastor (The delicious ones!) to absolutely STUFF an average person for dinner for 3 Canadian dollars, and a haircut is 2-4 dollars.
-I´m sure I will come up with many more later

Hate:
- Corruption: Everything involving politics is such a pain when freakin everyone is corrupt as all hell. Also, the fact that all four presidential candidates are not suitable to lead a country.
- The drug war: It´s stupid, and it needs to stop. Too many people are dying for no reason because of it.
- Animals are possessions that work for you. There is no such thing as preventing animal cruelty, as it is a fact of life there. My horse is lame? Beat that shit to the ground until it dies, because it is my only source of income.
- Multiculturalism is a foreign concept to them. Everyone is Méxican there, with only the rare exception. I´m from Toronto, where it´s very rare to meet someone who´s not at least second-generation-from-somewhere-else.

[MadMolly]

I love how neat everything in Canada is! In Auckland and NZ in general, the roads go all over the place, all twisty and hilly and makes no logical sense... the public transport system here is shit too. Over there it's so easy to get around!
I also love how pretty everything is. Vancouver is the coolest looking city ever, and Edmonton has the giant park in the middle of the city.
There's a wayyyy bigger selection of food at the supermarkets, and everything is just BIGGER in comparison. It's pretty cool.
Everyone is really friendly and when they hear my accent they go crazy! Haha!

Things I DO NOT like:
Remembering that Canadians drive on the right side of the road. Constantly freaked me out. Also walking on footpaths or escalators - I'd automatically step to the left to move out of someone's way, but they'd step to the right, had so many awkward moments.
TIPPING. Goddamn. I still can't figure out who gets tipped and how much and what for. *headdesk* Why don't they just pay their servers better like they do here?? Wahhh!
The coffee is so confusing. I like to order a trim flat white... that just doesn't exist over there.
The milk tastes gross compared to NZ milk.
They add tax onto things when you pay... here it's included in the price. Got stung a few times!
It's a little more socially formal, by which I mean if I walked around with no shoes on I'd probably get stared at. New Zealand doesn't care too much about that sorta thing; No Shirt? No Shoes? No Problem!

[Tooki]

She is in Estonia!

LIKES

*The basics and most food is really cheap. 3 euros can feed you well. $3 gets you nothing in Australia.
*The Old Town in Tallinn is gorgeous. It is SUPPOSEDLY one of the largest and also entact Old Towns in Europe.
*(In my opinion) the country is well run. Even given the Eurocrisis, the economy is still growing (though slower) and they have the lowest GDP debt out of the OECD countries. I wish we had the same thing in Australia.
*The climate. Summer is the perfect temperature (Around 25C on average) and it's sunny for ~20 hours a day. Winter is FREEZING but I love the atmosphere that it creates at Christmas.
*The amount of English speakers and the quality of them is pretty good amongst the younger generations.
*The women are HOT. The average is very high.
*Alcohol is dirt cheap. And they stock a lot of the less commercial Russian Vodka (WHICH IS ACTUALLY NICE)
*It FEELS safer than Australia. I wouldn't dare walk around the Melbourne CBD on a weekend night, but I did it a lot in Tallinn and you usually forget what time it is. Girls walk around together at all kinds of times without much fear.
*Travelling is VERY cheap. You can get coach tickets to Riga for ~15 euros (At a quality that you would never get in Australia). Ferry tickets cost ~20 euros one way to Helsinki (And it can cost less than 10 euros if there is a sale).
*The Food is GREAT! And they have Boost Juice there .

DISLIKES

*Estonians are very introverted by nature. (Hundreds of years of untrustworthy occupiers does that). They appear icy at first, and it takes a while for them to open up to you. It can sometimes come across as rude depending on the person.
*A lot of the niche products are not stocked or are more expensive than in Western Europe. (Electronics and whatnot)
*Estonian 'service' is dreadful. Good luck getting help off someone .
*There is APPARENTLY a noticeable level of racism amongst the populace, but I didn't notice it myself. That said, I was there in winter and I go quite pale. And it is more so amongst the Russian minority than the ethnic Estonians.
*Although they speak good English, good luck getting a response outside of the service industry. I look 0% Estonian but yet most people would try to converse with me in Estonian.

[kteire]

He's from Ireland, freaking adore that country

Love:
-The accents!! So dreamy. Not as big a fan of Dublin accents, but I'm slightly biased haha.
-How friendly everyone is!!
-The hilarious phrases they use. Like in Cork, if you ask someone to do something and they say "I will ya" they mean no. And if they say "Hi howareya" it just means hi, they don't want to know how you are! And my favourite "Few naggins, be grand!"
-The climate, I love that it never really gets properly cold in the winter, and never too hot in the summer! And all those myths about constant rain in Ireland are just not true haha.
-The scenery, I mean, it's Ireland! So many amazing places to see
-I lived there, so it feels like a second home to me. I'm actually a bit sad he's moving over here, because whenever I feel homesick, I feel completely better going to Ireland.
-THE FOOD!! Oh man, I've had the best steak, milk, and cheese of my life when I've been there. SO good.
-Cork. Quite possibly tied with Paris and Montreal for my favourite city!

Don't love:
(can't say hate, that's too strong a word for anything I dislike there haha)
-The politics. I mean, come on, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both suck, and not one Irish person I know sees a difference between the two. And the government's kind of ruining the country with misuse of the taxes.
-The healthcare system. I can't get sick there without health insurance.
-The fact that 90% of the service work force are foreigners that don't speak English. I am most definitely in favour of immigration, and am far from a xenophobe, but I'm getting sick of going to a restaurant and not being able to order without pointing to what I want on the menu, because the server barely speaks English. It gets frustrating. And I've been made very sick several times from a server not understanding that I can't eat gluten.

[Malaga]

He lives in England.

What I like:
- London! Impossible to not like it.
- Pubs! I absolutely love everything about them. The setting, the food, the ale, the culture.
- Tea! I'm a big fan of tea, proper tea not the herbal dreck people here think is tea. Plus it's so nice not having to explain that I don't drink coffee as I do to people here who go all OMGwhut at me
- Everyone is super polite and friendly in their own way, even if a bit reserved, but it's just how I like it.
- I love people watching, and people there definitely have an elaborate social system. Very interesting to observe.

What I dislike:
- They're just soooo self-obsessed as a nation. That's rich coming from a Balkanite like me, but at least we recognise all of our boasting is just attempts to compensate for being fairly insignificant on the international scale.
- The royals. I think they're show ponies and remnants of the colonialist era. Maybe saying dislike is a bit harsh for this one, but I don't understand the fuss and couldn't care less about them.
- I dislike everything about their politics too, especially foreign affairs.

[Anja]

I haven't actually been to South Africa yet. Obviously I love my boyfriend and want to be where ever he is. However I have been told that South Africa is a very dangerous country, lots of crime. We are a mixed race couple, and I am lead to believe that most South Africans still do not accept this so we will probably be subject to a lot of criticism. my boyfriend is originally from very poor parts of South Africa and his family live in townships. He has told me he wont be taking me to meet his family in the townships as its too dangerous to take a white person to. He is banned from the UK though for 5 years and I just cant wait that long. So I will need to go to south Africa and I guess we can just stick to the tourist areas where it is safer. A shame I wont get to experience real African culture that I want to.