Do nice things about Houston read here only come from Americans? (West: fit in, townhouse)

[stchiang]

OK. I guess my requests for opinions here may be odd to many people on this forum… First of all, I am not an American nor do I live in anywhere in USA right now. On top of these, I do not have job offers nor am I socially and linguistically sophisticated by western or English standard. So asking about relocating to Houston may give some people here a creepy feeling…Anyway, I will spent quite a article length to first introduce my background, and will shoot questions gradually in the future depending on how you guy are willing to respond.

I think it has lots to do with dreaming the American dream because I grew up in an Eastern Asian country that receives significant American influence. Knowing that it could be very difficult to immigrate to and prosper in USA, I and my family first tried to live in Canada and then became Canadians in the hope that living in Canada for a while can give us a transition buffer (e.g. learn English, be familiar with western culture, stereotype that Canadians are nicer than Americans to get along and make friends) and allows us to have the easier NAFTA work visa.

However, living in Western Canada for four years is a disappointment. Basically we learned English almost by utilizing TV shows from USA networks such as NBC, ABC, PBS (i.e. read closed captions while listening to the shows) because seldom do born Canadians befriend us and help us pick up language in any way. There could be polite and short greetings for the first few times, and next thing you know is that they just want to keep it that way. Even worse is that we lived in the majority-minority city(ies), so even my 70 years old mom had no problems purchasing merchandises by simply using Mandarin when she visited us.

Having said that we live in the majority-minority city, issues are compounded by the local born Canadians’ perception that many recent immigrants arrive here by flying golden jets to drive up the housing cost. So from the treatment I received I can attest that they dislike immigrants (the immigrants here I am talking about is the same as USA green card holders and naturalized citizens; not something like visa holders or even undocumented workers). It seems to me that in USA citizens have a bigger heart to be pretty comfortable with foreigners’ presence as long as they have legal status to remain in USA, so while you may see some negative comments on illegal immigrants in USA, you can read lots of posts teasing and bashing about LAWFUL Canadian permanent residents or naturalized Canadians (I do not even know why I stress that I, as an Canadian, am lawful to remain in Canada) on Canadian forums or news discussions.

Basically the hatred attitude (they will not show this by beating you to death; some jerks might just happen to have a big cough or have a big spit when you walk past them; or have an exaggerated frowned face when you mistakenly sit on their seat on the domestic airplane) comes from working class Canadians (funny thing is I am technically a Canadian, just not the born and raised one). So you think the well educated and elite Canadians are different?? Nah really. Although they do not despise nor discriminate you maybe because you are no threats to them, some of them constantly display bigotry in an unconscious way, which would eventually abrade one’s dignity completely. For example, one of my acquaintances who is an engineer in a small town told me, in the middle of a pleasant conversation, that in Canada engineers need to be very skilled to be employed in the government, which is very different than engineers of Hongkong government who are less good and only deal with politicians. You might think he is some braggarts possessing technical diploma…No, he is a Ph.D. holder from a top Canadian university. My another acquaintance who is a federal government employee comments, also during the course of polite conversation, that civil servants of China and Taiwan are as corrupted but Canadian government has a very rigorous and sophisticated checking mechanism, plus government jobs are cushy and paid well, so NO employees can be corrupted.

Depressing weather, crazy housing costs (a 1500 SF townhouse would cost you around US$500~700 thousand), extremely competitive labour market, prejudiced and judgemental people…I can go on and on and on. Although we do encounter exceptionally nice Canadians (thanks to Kelly the neighbour for your Christmas cookies, too bad you moved away), they are just disproportionately rare. So if this is what I deemed as a more tolerable place to live in for the transition to harsher American lives, I can not imagine what the “American Dream” would be like… I read that Houston is a livable city except for weather, which is not a problem for me at all because where I grew up has the similar climate, and Houstonians are very friendly; so the first and quick question is: do these positive experiences in Houston only apply to sophisticated Americans?? Or whether feeling the good sides of Houston simply depends on your attitude toward life and people (i.e. is it me that resulted in unpleasant living experiences in Canada)? Thanks for all opinions in advance.

[chris_ut]

I think that Houston is very accepting of people of all backgrounds.

[nikku]

I can tell you this for sure, one of my good friends here at work is from Hong Kong and he really likes Houston and has a lot of Asian and American friends. There is a significant Asian presence in Houston, one that seems to be well integrated into Houston society. But I'm an American, so take that for what it's worth.

[Mom2Feebs]

Houston has a plethora of Ph.D.s from Asia, as well as other parts of the world. This is a great place to be, especially if you fall in that category. You will not feel unwelcome!

[georgecogirl]

stchiang,
I am also an American who married a legal immigrant. I think you'll find the U.S. like all other countries. Some people will be warm and open and others will be cold. Houston is very diverse so you won't have to be the first to break those waters. As far as the spitting and coughing--that is ridiculous! For the other things, a lot of people don't take the first initiative. Many times I have found people of all races and nationalities are very cold at first and when I extend the first warm gesture they blossom into great friends. I am not sure if you intended it but your post seems to be a pity me post...everything that happens to you may actually not have anything to do with your ethnicity. Maybe you miss your family and friends and the culture back home so much that you are perceiving it that way. I know that as I am transitioning to Houston that I miss my friends and family more than I am finding fault with Houston. But it still interferes with liking Houston for Houston.
I wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide and lots of friends where you land.

[EasilyAmused]

The spitting thing is nuts.

But you will have areas that you will get a cold shoulder if you are "not known." But no blatant rudeness.

[RCH99]

I know I'm off-topic, but I couldn't help but be impressed by the writing skills of someone who learned English by simply watching American television in Canada, relative to those that seemed to have learned little in that sense after 12 or 16 years of "skoolin".

[stchiang]

A quick thanks to all the responses (and a compliment) so far.

The reason I started this thread is that I do not want to make the same mistakes I made in Canada. To me, many posts on this Houston section just seem too good to be true, particularly on the aspect of social life. To prevent a disappointment due to false hopes, I just have to gather more information from different perspectives before I make another significant decision. And the major concerns arising from the living experiences in Canada happens to be whether we can fit in a place socially.

I admitted that my first post sound whining and I am partly responsible for my misery in Canada. However, I do hope there are places in U.S. different than it so that I can have better chance. One interesting thing I want to explore is to know how different it can be between Vancouver and Houston, and the reasons for that. I always suspect and hope that there are differences in terms of levels of social interactions; and these differences may have lots to do with the factors of: 1) weather, 2) city affordability (cost of living + job security), 3) I hate to say this, but heritage. I guess it is difficult to cultivate a cheerful atmosphere that allows people to express themselves if the environment has cold weather + expensive cost of living & weak job stability + British dominance (so you have to be particularly careful of your etiquettes and in reading people’s minds, it might cost your jobs or friends if you do not behave adequately). On the contrary, Houston has a warmer climate, may be more affordable, and certainly be more diverse and accepting (I have this stereotype perception that people of Spanish heritage tend to be more exuberant; and not to mention the African-American community…..am I right about this?)

I have not come up with some intelligent and concise questions to follow up. Will think harder and ask later. Thanks again to people taking time to respond. And I particularly appreciate people who are willing to comment critically.

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by RCH99

I know I'm off-topic, but I couldn't help but be impressed by the writing skills of someone who learned English by simply watching American television in Canada, relative to those that seemed to have learned little in that sense after 12 or 16 years of "skoolin".

Me too!

[beanball]

There's no place on this earth that's perfect, but from what I can see Asians don't have many problems here. Chances are, there's a decent sized community of people here already from wherever you're from so that will help.

I wouldn't really call our Chinatown(s) "nice" in terms of tourist attraction, but a lot of asians I know like the area. It's probably possible to navigate that area and do your shopping, etc. in your native language.

I'm part asian and have many asian friends and I've never heard anyone complain about racism or anything of that nature. I'm sure it happens, but nothing too serious. If you go read the Chron.com website comments, you can see that "nativist" types (people who worry about "watering down American culture" whatever that means) are more focused on immigrants from our southern border than asians.

I can't guarantee you'll like it here, but it sure sounds like nirvana compared to where you are.