Tell us about your city/country (crime, home, neighborhoods)

[hkgal]

I live in Hong Kong, which in 1997 became a Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong sits at the mouth of the Pearl River delta on the South-Eastern coast of the Chinese mainland. I live in the 'New Territories' which is named so because it was ceded to the British later than the rest of HK. I'll just give you some fun facts about life in Hong Kong:

*Almost everybody, except the privileged, live in high-rise apartments. The concept of free-standing houses is almost non-existent. A large portion of the population live in government housing, built over the last few decades in order to house a rapidly increasing population and avoid the growth of urban slums.

*Likewise, only about 5% of the population own a car. You don't really need one here as subways, trains, trams, ferries, buses and taxis cover almost every corner of Hong Kong. Anyhow cars are ridiculously expensive to run with gas about 4x the price in the US.

*Huge tracts of Hong Kong is covered in national park. There are two extremes here - the concrete jungle and then the mountains and the countryside. Much of the land is uninhabitable due to the terrain, hence the vertical city. There is almost no flat land in Hong Kong.

*The population in Mong Kok, Kowloon is the densest on earth. There is nothing like walking down the street on a balmy night among hundreds of thousands of people. It can get a little frustrating sometimes but for the most part I love it.

*There is almost zero violent crime here...no idea why. It's got the be the safest city I've ever been to.

*There are lots of hiking trails, beaches, parks, bike trails, villages, etc. People who stopover and stay in the city think all of HK is concrete but there is a lot of natural beauty.

*There are more than a quarter of a million foreign domestic helpers here, mostly from the Philippines, living in HK. Many middle-class and wealthy families employ live-in domestic workers, often more than one at a time. It's pretty standard for larger private apartments to come with maid's quarters.

*Where I live I can get on the train and be in Kowloon or China in 30 mins. If you are a HK resident you get an open entry visa so I often go over for the day. Likewise Macau is only an hour away by fast ferry.

*A majority of the population pays no tax. There is no sales tax and income tax only applies to the richest 5-10% of the population. The government makes most of it's money through property and business taxes.

[BRAZILIAN]

I am brazilian and I live Rio de Janeiro one of most beautiful city of world.
We have much natural beauties like beach, mountain, etc...
We are a country with nice people, we have not earthquake, hurricanes, volcano, etc... we live peacefully with all people around the world. There is nothing to worry about.
Any people who visit us love our country because we are welcomer.

[hurley89]

I was born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Theres 7 independent cities that make up Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach is the largest and easternmost one with about 480,000 residents. It sits on the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and boarders the Atlantic Ocean. We have numerous tributaries, lakes, and salt marshes. WATER is EVERYWHERE!! So much so that our area has FOUR underwater tunnels. We're home of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the longest bridge tunnel in the world. Our local economy is very dependent on water.

Virginia Beach is a HUGE tourist destination. We have miles and miles of beaches, hotels, motels, gift shops, and restaurants. We have the biggest pleasure beach in the world, and a pretty cool boardwalk that along the beach. We host the East Coast Surfing Championship, and the American Sand Soccer (football for all you Europeans lol) Games. We host one of the few American Music Festivals, and get a lot of great national music performers. Seafood is HUGE here, especially blue crabs. Lot of outdoor festivals like the Neptune Festival. Most things culturally involve the beach one way or another. Very laid back people, and flip flops are allowed to be worn in November.

It's very suburban, and a bedroom community to Norfolk, Va (Largest navy base in the world) which is the area's "city" city. Virginia Beach is not very urban at all, although we're currently building a "Town Center" and so far has two "high rise" buildings.

Most people live in a single house with a yard, an apartment, condo, or townhouse. No public transportation, every drives a vehicle or takes the HRT bus.

We house 3 military bases, which contributes to our city's high transient nature. People are almost moving here and moving out, which makes my city very diverse. The people here are from all walks of life, but the city's still pretty conservative and republican.

Even though it's in the South it does'nt feel very southern at all. It's not as fast paced as New York but not as slow as Alabama. Historically The NE point of the city is the site of the first English colonists (who settled jamestown) landing in the new world. In the same area is the Cape Henry Lighthouse.


Our climate is pretty mild for the most part.

The summer months of july and august are oppressively hot and HUMID. Usually in the high 80's and 90's and soemtimes over 100 degrees F. The air can get so thick, you feel like you can cut it with a knife. Sometimes it's hard to breathe! You go outside and you can feel the lotion melt off your legs!We get a thunderstorm almost every afternoon in the summer that usually lasts for an hour or so. We get hurricanes every now and then but they're rarely as bad as in Florida. We're overdue for "the big one" though.

Winter can be quite cold, but most of the time the day high isnt below 40 degrees F. We do get a cold snap on occassion, and sometimes it will snow but its never more than an inch or two. When it does get cold, it gets COLD because of our proximity to so much water. To add to that the wind from the water in the winter is bone chilling.

Spring is CRAZY. One day it will be 50 degrees F and the next it will be 80 degrees F. It rains alot in the spring, especially in April. March is really windy. May is pretty pleasant. Spring time isnt as humid as the summer, but we do get thunderstorms in the spring. It's like when the season is changing, everythings clashing and everything just random temperature wise. Spring came way late this year

Fall is cool and crisp towards the end but the earlier part is still pretty warm. Temps range from 60's to 70's usually.

Again our weather is reallt bizzare and can change to the total opposite in the same day! One time i remember it was very warm out. A cold front pushed through and snowed that same afternoon. It's crazy lol.


I love where I live though, mainly because of all the WATER! I love the beach, i love to swim, fish, go boating, canoing, kayaking, tubing. Me and my friends all go to the beach in the afternoons and lounge around, drink, eat, fish, and swim.

I can go on and on about Virginia Beach. I love it here

[effie g-tad]

Originally Posted by pigeonhole

What sort of job do you have that is not portable to another country or even another part of France more atuned to your needs ?

Well, it's a long story and off topic, anyway.
I'll just give you a hint : it may sound self-deprecating, but fact is I have one of those typical French jobs where one is well paid to do next to nothing (see where I'm driving at...) , if I headed to Roissy, I'd be obliged to "roll up my sleeves" (as a fellow Frenchman you see what I mean) for a meager salary, because I have no specialty to speak of...but thanks for caring anyway, I appreciate,there is a real community spirit on USCD!

i second your last sentence, first.

and then i would hope for a closer and deeper consideration given to europe's people(s) as they are paying an enormous price for a unification in progress. and too many people have come under unfathomable pressure.

that's not what tourists in a hurry to visit and sightsee usually want to detect.

btw. i live in beautiful southern bavaria, in one of europe's oldest cities.
great past, culturally alive, and yet seen as a place hardly attractive for intellectuals and artists. and such does have consequences, mooseketeer, you will understand, i trust.

[GrammasCabin]

I live in a little cabin on a remote island in southeast Alaska. It's springtime here, the whales are coming home, the king salmon are heading for the river, the deer are browsing on new blueberry brush in my yard, the bears are waking up and munching on roots and the kids are out of school this week to work on their parent's fising boats. My world is busy with getting the woodshed refilled, smoking salmon, harvesting medicine roots & greens and planting my vegetable garden. It's been a long winter but was worth the wait!

[hurley89]

Originally Posted by GrammasCabin

I live in a little cabin on a remote island in southeast Alaska. It's springtime here, the whales are coming home, the king salmon are heading for the river, the deer are browsing on new blueberry brush in my yard, the bears are waking up and munching on roots and the kids are out of school this week to work on their parent's fising boats. My world is busy with getting the woodshed refilled, smoking salmon, harvesting medicine roots & greens and planting my vegetable garden. It's been a long winter but was worth the wait!

That's awesome! I've always wanted to visit Alaska! I don't know if I could handle the cold though

[BigCityGuy]

I was raised in one of the Best Cities in the World, New York City. To be more specific i grew up in the boro of Manhattan but lived in the Bronx for a year. Manhattan as we all know is 22 sq mi island. Reaches density of up to 70,000 or more. One of the Most Urban places in the World. It is the largest city in the US. And 3rd or fourth Largest city in the world depending on how you look at it. Theres so much to tell but im not im just going to post a website that sums up everything.

Manhattan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[dgfurman]

I'm from the US, and have lived in various parts of the US, and Europe, but currently I'm in Cartagena, Colombia.

There are plusses and minuses to living here. B/c it's located on the Colombian coast, in the Caribbean, it's hot and humid all of the time. The winters (dry season) are very pleasant, but the summers (rainy season) are brutal.

It's a nice place to visit as a tourist, b/c the city itself is historical, in that a wall was built around the city as a fortress, to keep invaders at bay. This protected the city, and so most of the colonial structures are still standing. It's quite picturesque. And of course, there's the ocean, the beaches, the local people, and wonderful tropical fruit.

The problem with living here tho is if you are used to organization (like in the US or Germany, let's say), you will not find it here. And you will get forever frustrated with the inability to get things done, fixed, documented, etc, unless you grease a few palms along the way. Also, the lack of amenities (parks, museums, sports, variety of food, etc) makes it tough, esp. with little kids.

Things have really improved in the last few yrs, and finally we have a mall, which has a kiddy play area. And the grocery stores are selling lemons for the 1st time ever since a few months ago. So like I said, it's a great place to visit, and you can really sloooooooow life down here a lot, but if you're used to everything functioning "properly", and the conveniences of modern day living, this may not be the place you want to live.

Btw, not all of Colombia is like this. Some areas, more impoverished, are worse. Others, with more affluent people, are way better - like Bogota, and Medellin. Medellin is absolutely WONDERFUL! Stunningly beautiful countryside, a 70-80 deg. F all the time, lots to do and see, great shopping, lots of cool parks for the kids....

[Funny_74]

I live in a little town in the South of Germany. We have a lot of nice landscape, shopping possibilities, inquiring neighbors :-) and even a very good Baseball Team (Heidekoepfe) and an American Football Team (Highlanders).

Winter is getting cold here, some seasons we have lots of snow and some we don't have it, it's just cold. Summer is getting really nice around 90°F in July and August.

[delany]

Hello,

I lives in Brussels the capital of Belgium

Officiële website van de Stad Brussel - De webcam op de Grote Markt van Brussel