When i moved to Korea 20 years ago, i was, and thought of myself as, pretty cosmopolitan. I could function in a couple, very different European languages, i had lived for brief periods in a couple different countries and i had travelled extensively, not just on vacations but on business in ways that required more than tourist's passing familiarity with a place. Relocating as a long term expat is so different in extent to amount to a difference in kind. As a cosmopolitan, one exists in a kind of a cocoon of homogenous global culture that in effect insulates one from the real local thing. When you are boots on the ground "behind enemy lines" with no transplanted suburban American base in which to refuge, culture shock will set in and hit hard at some point. Most people recoil and try to find a substitute cocoon. Here it's the big US bases that, unlike most places in the world, are pretty readily accessible to ordinary citizens w/ US passports, and various expat organizations. These are all OK as long as one doesn't become dependent on them as a crutch to avoid full and deep involvement in the local culture. The key to that is language, and your first priority ought to be acquiring or perfecting a reasonable degree of fluency in the local lingo.
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