Astranea Blog Comments (40)

RE: mail order brides..

@edison324

The Slavic languages have many similar words.

Dobar dan to you, too.

RE: mail order brides..

I'm glad you liked it here.

I was always astonished by people who contact people from other countries in this age (with the internet and all the data available in many different languages) and still - don't even bother to look at the map.

The majority of the population of this planet generally live in ignorance. I can't count the times I've had to explain to Japanese that all European people don't speak English and that every country has its own language. It often went like this:

A Japanese person: "You're lucky! All European people speak English".
Me: "Many people in Europe don't speak English at all or don't speak it well."
A Japanese person: "That's not true. All white people speak English".
Me: "Every European country has its own language and culture. English is a foreign language to us just like it is for you (apart from some countries like the UK or Ireland)."
A Japanese person: ??????????
Me: "Asia is a continent with many different countries and all of them have their own language and culture, right? Chinese speak Chinese, Koreans speak Korean, Japanese speak Japanese. Europe is also a continent that consists of different countries, so Germans speak German, Italians speak Italian, French speak French. English is just a foreign language we learn at school. Some speak it better, some worse, some don't speak it at all, because they don't need it in their everyday life".
A Japanese person: "Now I understand!".



There's also one interesting anecdote. While I was in Japan there were teachers from many different countries and all continents there. Some of them spoke only Japanese apart from their native tongue. For example, Russians didn't speak English at all. Once we were all together on one event and we were talking Japanese among us. And some Japanese approached us and told us: "What kind of pretending is this?! Why don't you speak English when you are all foreigners? Why do you speak Japanese?!". We tried to explain them that some of the teachers in the group didn't speak English (like Russians, for example) and that Japanese was actually our common tongue. But they didn't believe us! They truly thought that we just wanted to look cool.

RE: mail order brides..

Maybe one of the most important reasons why men from richer and more developed countries are looking for women from poorer and less developed countries is that those women are more traditional (for example: cook well, dress nicely, have more feminine attitude) and more modest. Women who grew up in rich societies had the same opportunities as men. They could get good jobs, earn a lot of money, lead more carefree lives and are more protected by law and their societies. So, they became more demanding. Men, however, often want to feel like providers and protectors, they want to feel respected and needed by a woman and it's much easier for them to achieve that with a woman who got used to much less.

I remember when I talked to one American online once and he told me: "I'm an ordinary man, I live an ordinary life, I can't take a woman to expensive restaurants and buy her expensive gifts, I don't wear designer clothes and most women my age (he was 50 at that time) in my area want that. Or if they are not like that, then they don't take care of themselves at all.". Finding a nice woman who will be satisfied with what he has to offer - wasn't that easy for him, so he started searching for women from other countries.

RE: He's Just Not That Into You

Funny, but true, really. You always know when a man is interested in you. If you need to wonder and ask yourself, that means that he isn't.

@Prometheus1

I think that the internet is something completely different. Many people don't take it seriously, they exchange messages with dozens of people, just pass some time and aren't into anybody really... Even if they like somebody - sooner or later they will decide that it's too much bother to do something about it - so they will stay at home and continue chatting with numerous people. So - after a while - even if you were interested in meeting someone in the beginning - you stop feeling that way, because you see that all those endless virtual communications rarely lead anywhere and almost never where you wanted them to lead. Even if they were pleasant (and often they weren't). So, you stay for some fun on blogs and forums or you move somewhere else.

RE: Christmas gifts for yourself...what would it be?

Johnny, I just remembered your story about baking a huge amount of banana bread for your family. If that happens again this year, think like this:

RE: Christmas gifts for yourself...what would it be?

I will first search more thoroughly the shops in my town. If I don't find suitable gel pens, I'll order some online from the nearby city (that way they won't need to travel too far). Although, that's just a small gift - I don't understand why Santa couldn't drop one case in front of my window. I was pretty lazy and useless this year, but still...

I have a great business idea for you! Robert could make the pillows with the photos (or at least nicknames) of CS members and Johnny could sell them online to other CS members. I bet the demand would be enormous! Don't forget to include both of you!

RE: Christmas gifts for yourself...what would it be?

@Johnny_Sparton

If the gel pens aren't quality enough then the painting gets messy.

I'm not sure whether I can find the proper ones in my town, I don't want to travel anywhere due to COVID and I don't like to buy such things online. Sometimes it happens that the pens are old or the case broken - even with the best sellers. I read some reviews on Amazon and I came to the conclusion that it's better to go to a specialized shop than order online. Santa could really help with this matter!

RE: Monikers

@miclee

That's very interesting. It happened to me, too - on other similar sites. People who met me there continued using my forum nickname when addressing me in real life, too.

RE: Monikers

I used to be Maya when I first came to this site.

I had a lot of Indian pen-pals at the time and liked that name. It means "illusion".

I might try some version of it again in the future...

RE: Selfie Mirror...

The internet is fake. Everything is filtered and beautified. It's just the way it is.

People also "travel" in many different ways...