Spent a week in USSR back in the 70’s (student exchange program). Kissed the ground when I came back to the good ol’ USA
There is a plus or minus to every country. Having had the opportunity to visit but not reside in places other than the U.S., I’ll take the U.S. any day. Granted there are the liberal whiners, the totally biased news media telling what they want you to think or believe here at home but is a damn site better here. Yes, I’ll keep my guns and Bible and ignore the liberal whiners. There is one thing I do miss here is respect for our laws by the very people who created them. When someone like the pant suit hag Hitlary can get away with what she has pulled, I have some very serious concerns. Wish we could go back to the days when out laws really meant something, she would already be doing her extended sentences..
I could certainly identify with a lot of that.
After being retired for a decade in Southeast Asia I miss hunting, I miss just going out on a weekend and punching a few holes in a target with a .22, a .223 or my .44mag. I miss roll casting under the overhanging tag alder in pursuit of a brookie that is sipping flies just up that little stream.
I miss courteous drivers who understand traffic laws and yield to a pedestrian. The public transport is cheap and plentiful here in Southeast Asia, but the buses and taxis all look like they are on their last legs and you only hope the driver doesn't fall asleep at the wheel.
I miss courteous shoppers who actually wait their turn instead of crowding around, just waiting for a chance to step in front of someone who they know was there before them. Confronted face to face they smile, give you a "wai" and behave deferentially. But you know the best choice is to have good locks and sometimes bars on the windows. I lived most of my adult life in small town America where you knew most everyone and you could take someone at their word. Here it is wise to not pay anyone until the product is in hand or the work is fully completed because once they are paid they don't know you anymore and do not pick-up or return phone calls. The Asian mindset is very foreign until you get used to it.
But America is an expensive place to retire. Here I live like a king; back there I would be very average and women wouldn't know me. Here, it is very, very easy if you catch my drift?
I've had my share of hunting whitetail with both a rifle and a bow. There are no trout in these warm waters but I have my memories and I have friends and relatives still working in America. The internet is a terrific resource for those who have chosen life in a different time zone.
I'm getting old and I doubt I will be going back again, but America is a great place to live and work. I hope it continues to be a great place for my grandchildren.
It was still screwed up in the 1980's when I bicycled all over Russia, Estonia, Latvia (with my friendly commie Soviet government "minder" always keeping me in check). Even then you still had to unplug all hotel TV's after use because they would blow up otherwise. When you come in to your hotel after a night out at the finest restaurant (cold peas and a cold bun-less hotdog if you're lucky) you get off your elevator at the nearest floor with a door (they don't do doors on every floor... too expensive) and check in with your floor monitor at the desk she reminds you to remember to unplug the TV after watching. It was that way all over the USSR then.
Don't even ask me about my summer in Yugoslavia in 73.