I'm a Black Expat AMA

[Wiseborn]

General Travel advice.

If you decide that you want to visit a city but don't know where to stay or what to do. Kayak has Heat maps for shopping, Nightlife etc. You check out a area of town and get a hotel in that area.

Also snapchat has a similar feature people post snaps of where they are/ where. you can search snaps then if their public you can see what the person snapped what they were doing and probably what they look like, You can hang out where some fly chicks hang out.

Also especially in the third world consider only getting a hotel for two nights incase you don't like the place unless you're staying at a well reviewed international chain hotel, If the place is janky a bad hotel or a hotel in the wrong location can ruin a trip.

 

[Wiseborn]

More Language Learning Hacks:

If you're a gamer and you play non sport games on Playstaion or Xbox you can change the language and practice hearing the language. Since you already know the words you can play games and learn something at the same time.

 

[Wiseborn]

Defeat the NEET's

NEET is a term that means Not in Education or Employed

150 years ago there were very few able bodied NEET's they would be peasant farmers or manual laborers and 50 years before that Black or white they might even be in some kind of semi servitude status.

There's a lot of talk of dudes going to "third world countries" and ëxploiting" women. Most of those women especially outside of Asia is women sent by their families to get money. There's no welfare or make work government job systems for lazy women (or Men) in most countries school isn't free and families find out quick if their child as the right aptitude and attitude to be a productive member of society. And even if they made mistakes or their parents had determination has had many people make it at least to middle class status.

If that isn't the case for NEET's that's where the goofy tourist comes in. If you meet a chick unless she's seconds over 18 and she doesn't appear to have a job and especially if she has a child assume that she's the hoein' and either way she's defenitely a NEET and the worse thing about a NEET chick is that unless she's exceptionally beautiful the local dudes won't want to deal with her outside of piping her once or twice.

Now the nice thing about developing countries societies is that they beleive in family because they have to. They stick together so unless there's a famine or a war or some major ecological disaster no one actually starves especially not a girl If a chick in the 3rd world is actually homeless there's something majorly wrong with her. If you think about it maybe you've seen tourists in your city. Did you deal with them? Probably not, Unless you're in some kind of job where you deal with a lot of tourists you won't want to deal with them. The locals in the country you visit feel the same way.

I say this to say that generally the majority of the people that you deal with as a tourist or even an expat will be scammers They are generally trying to get money out of you and the government literally does everything possible to facilitate this. I mean the Government will actually train people on how to sell shyt to tourists This is how they try to achieve poverty reduction. The Jamaican government operates a Hotel where students learn how to operate a hotel. There's even schemes where they can get loans to start a business to sell shyt to tourists. And that's the people who are legitimately providing a product or service to you a Man or a chick who ain't selling shyt that wants to meet you is almost always a scammer unless you're talking about a farmer or someone who lives in a rural area who hasn't seen a foriegner before. Obviously that's not the case in any Touristy area. Steer clear of any chick with no job and if you engage understand that she's engaged with several other tourists before during and after you leave.

 

[Wiseborn]

If you decide to build a house overseas find out the amount the materials cost. Literally go around to Home improvement companies (if they have them) and find out how much a yard of Concrete is. How much is a lumber by foot. How much is bricks and how much does a eletrictrian and a Pipe fitter gets an hour.

Needless to say find out the exact cost of the land and have at least two lawyers, two real estate agents and a project manager and engineer. You need two lawyers and real estate people to check to see if the other one is telling you the truth.

You can possibly get by without an engineer If the Project manager is expeirenced and not a crook but I'd go with one because you'd want to know if the land that you're building on is sound and that the structure is sound too. Because a janky PM will build you some bullshyt that you'll have to fix later.

Ask as many expats as possible who they reccommend.

There's tons of channels partially devoted to homebuilding by brehs in the DR

 

[Wiseborn]

Free game on saving money overseas.

Like I said several times what is up in america is down overseas.

Actually you can save more money if you use a credit card overseas than cash.

For one you can track your spending easily easier to get another credit card than cash, Places that don't take credit tend to be janky and not offer returns so generally you don't want to spend money there. If someone does steal your credit card you have way better credit protection than if someone took cash from you.

Also you can get cash back, Travel points, special deals, increased insurance, the credit agencies will give you the best excahnge rate etc.

I find that the Chase rewards is the gold standard for Credit Cards, but the Amex suite is decent too.

Chase also has a bank and if you use credit (always use the local currency if they ask you) if you don't want to use credit in Latin America say Debito. and corriete literally means Current but in context of banking it means Checking. and Ahorros means Savings 90% of american banks offer free checking and a good card like a Schwab or Chase will not have international fees so if you're not getting cash back on points on international spend then the next best option is Corriete not Ahorros.

 

[Wiseborn]

If you decide to build a house overseas find out the amount the materials cost. Literally go around to Home improvement companies (if they have them) and find out how much a yard of Concrete is. How much is a lumber by foot. How much is bricks and how much does a eletrictrian and a Pipe fitter gets an hour.

Needless to say find out the exact cost of the land and have at least two lawyers, two real estate agents and a project manager and engineer. You need two lawyers and real estate people to check to see if the other one is telling you the truth.

You can possibly get by without an engineer If the Project manager is expeirenced and not a crook but I'd go with one because you'd want to know if the land that you're building on is sound and that the structure is sound too. Because a janky PM will build you some bullshyt that you'll have to fix later.

Ask as many expats as possible who they reccommend.

There's tons of channels partially devoted to homebuilding by brehs in the DR

A honest handyman/ mechanic will tell you where and how much the materials cost and you can decide what he should make an hour. If he buys the stuff himself he should tell you before he buys what it will cost he may be able to get some used equipment cheaper but if he doesn't tell you the cost of the materials it's likely he's cheating you.

 

[Wiseborn]

Be a Culture Vulture

One reason expats fail and move back to america is because they don't learn the history and culture. Some things that you think of as wierd there's usually a good reason on why they do what they do and usually they have a similar culture to yours for example I got into a minor argument with my girl about her buying some pork Hot Dogs. generally whenever I had a "real Girlfriend" They usually stopped eating pork. I don't touch pig and either a girl gets wierded out by the fact that I don't eat it or they end up agreeing with me.

Shorty is in the latter camp in fact when I explained that ADOS people don't like to eat it because it reminds us of what they fed us in slavery she said they classic But that was hundreds of years ago talking point and I went on a tanget that whoever owned her ancestors benefited from the free labor and the money made if not fukked off is probably still earning interest.

Anyway she talked about Churriscos ( I know I'm misspelling it) but basically it's fried Chitlin's people all over Colombia eat it as a snack.

One of the reasons that she's in the That was back in the day about slavery is that although reparations is not on the horizon she did go to school for a dramatically reduced rate and she has a relative who's married to a Congressman in Colombia Afro Colombians have elections where they have to elect a certain number of Afro Colombians and Indigenous Colombians and although the Indians protest for more "tangibles"specifically for Indians they do get something. And the Afro Colombians in the Pacific region are poor But they do own the land that they live on So a "poor" Afro Colombian can own his own land tax free and can grow his own food to sustain themselves. Not hating or playing the Diaspora games but the land that we did get in america was stolen from us. Geoge Floyd's great Grandfather owned several acres of land down south that was stolen from him. If Brother George had that land he probably wouldn't have been in the situation where the race solider killed him.

Learn the history and the culture of any place that you plan to visit unless you literally plan to never leave the resort areas.

 

[Wiseborn]

I have a regular visa the only reason I'm in the DR is because I came to the states to handle some tax issues and to close out some business and to get documents that they would not give me at the embassy (The embassy is good for nothing) The world was locked down at that time so I had to get a special flight out (When you hear of them evacuating americans like they just did in Mozambique) understand you have to pay BIG MONEY for that. that ain't free.


I came to the DR because it was literally the only country that was open after I took care of all the business I could take care of in the states at that time.

I do have a retirement visa in Kenya and Tanzania though, but I'm trying to ride out Covid before I make my way back.


I'm single and most of my family as passed away.


I may go back to the states if I get some kind of long term illness but other than that I can't see it now, but I rule nothing out.


The freedom is the biggest upside the ability to do what I want when I want, To feel how white folks feel i.e not being scared of the cops and having people cater to you.

The biggest downside is the freedom. To have no responsibilities to not have anything to do you find yourself sleeping in every fukking day and then you have to get up to run to the store before curfew (in Covid times) in regular times this is negated by living in big cities where things are open late.

I support myself through my retirement checks and VA disability and savings but it's also dirt cheap.

Yes there's a language barrier in the DR because even if you speak spanish they speak a different slangy ass Spanish here. In Africa Kenya especially they all speak English.

The locals treat me great.

I see this is a very popular thread.

To address the breh who asked me offline, There's no real advantage to getting a Dominican cedula (ID card) Granted it technically makes sense but because the way the DR is set up with people willing to help you out (for a Propina/ tip of course) for the average breh going back and forth there's no real need to get a Cedula, You can rent a place get lights turned on and a back account in someone else's name or on your own. Other than not paying an overstay fee there's no real reason that you have to have a cedula.

 

[Wiseborn]

More game on dealing with women:

She Doesn't need your money!!!

People especially decent looking women aren't "poor" in the same way an american is poor. If an american is on their ass it means that they have literally no assets and no family and friends that are willing to help them out. In fact there are tons of americans that have a couple stacks worth of stuff or cash but are so far in debt that they're trapped into a cycle of poverty.

That is almost never the case in the 3rd world. Very few people have a credit card so they're almost never in debt. They're cash poor they can't by a new Iphone on credit but they have some money, friends and family a skillset and usually They own land. My Main in th DR is a maid who wants to be a teacher and or sell juice, When I get to the DR I will get her a Price smart card so if she chooses to open a juice stand she can get fruit cheap. That will help her more than giving her a hundred dollars. She owns some land but she doesn't have the money to develop it. She's thinking of selling it and I told her to hold on it it.

I'm many times richer than her but she owns a piece of the earth that's something I wish I had. Knowledge is more important than money and any advice (like not selling land for a song when she has almost beachfront property in a country where people all over the world are buying up the coastline) is worth it's weight in gold. You want to "help" your girl? Don't buy her a Iphone buy her a solar panel. Fill the fridge with non persihable items.

Home girl doesn't "need" you as much as you think she does she'll be fine once you leave the country remember that.

Most countries have a Obamacare system so when they tell you that they're sick or the baby's sick or her mom's in the hospital trust me she'll have the money she doesn't need it from you.


keep this in mind when you give a chick your what's app and if you don't plan on coming back in a year or two block or change your what's app number.

 

[Wiseborn]

I've addressed the downsides and why you might not want to live overseas now let me address why you would want to live overseas.

If you're a breh and you find yourself north of 40 and you're one of the 53% of brehs who are single know that even if nobody does everyone should thank you. even Brehs working at the Carwash making 43K (the average salary for a breh) That FICA money that comes out of your check finances dudes in Prison single mothers and babies on WIC and Food stamps.

People wonder why they let Mexicans come over the border willy nilly? It's because single Men are literally the people holding up the economy. We do all the things and because there's so many of us we actually power the spending as well. They say that if you count Lexus as a luxury car along with buggatti's than Men by more than 90% of luxury cars. Mecedes Benz says that Men buy most of the cars that women Benz owner have. Never let them tell you that you don't matter. Again Men are the backbone of the global economy. A single Man helps the economy enormously.

If you're the kind a Breh that if you had an accident and couldn't work and couldn't access your money and if you couldn't count on your family holding you down because they wouldn't or they couldn't then you need to consider joining or creating a community somewhere else.

Even with Inflation I could live comfortably on 1100 USD in Cali Colombia, try that in Cali California. That's more than enough and I live a full life. I make signficantly more than that I save over 70% of my income. I don't want to get into specifics of my income but I could save 100K just stacking it not counting any interest payments in a couple of years. I could save myself to touching a million in less than ten years without any investments. The chances of me working in the states and saving my way to a milly is low because my consumption rate is so much higher.

The average cost to own a car is over 3K a year just on gas and regular maintenance like oil changes and break repairs and that's if you do them yourself taxes tags insurance and emissions costs more. Just to break even I'd have to make 5 times what I make now to make even living in the country in the states worth it. I tagged eat steak not catfood and that's real. If you're making less than 70K in any city in the states you better have over 200K in your IRA because if you don't or wasn't told to save breh you might be fukked up when you get old.

And fukk getting old you should see the world Now!!! not when you're too old to enjoy it. You want to retire on the beach or go fishing on a boat everyday it can happen for you if you plan right. That doesn't mean that you have to live overseas but if you vacation in the same spot each year consider buying a house and renting it out when you're not there. You can do this in the states or overseas or both.

The sky is the limit, Think outside the box and stack your chips. Don't pul limits on your life!

 

[Cuban Pete]

Americans and this ExPat word

You mean your a migrant worker? Thats what you are breh. An immigrant. No shame in that

Im fw you though drop more jewels

 

[Wiseborn]

Americans and this ExPat word

You mean your an immigrant? Thats what you are breh. An immigrant. No shame in that

I'd be an immigrant if I officially migrated to a country, I'm more of a long term guest. I'm out of here in a few months.

But I get your point.

The difference between me an what we call an Immigrant is I Make jobs where I am I don't take jobs.

Small but important detail if Mexicans where over in the states not working but spending money no one would say a word.

 

[Cuban Pete]

I'd be an immigrant if I officially migrated to a country, I'm more of a long term guest. I'm out of here in a few months.

But I get your point.

The difference between me an what we call an Immigrant is I Make jobs where I am I don't take jobs.

Small but important detail if Mexicans where over in the states not working but spending money no one would say a word.

True. So you went to Colombia already or still in DR? Havent skimmed through the thread but sounds like a good life

 

[Wiseborn]

True. So you went to Colombia already or still in DR? Havent skimmed through the thread but sounds like a good life

I'm in Colombia. I don't want to telegraph my moves but i'm going back to the states to handle business soon, Then back to the DR then maybe a swing to brazil. Back to the states for the Christmas hoildays then Canada, Europe then back to Kenya.

 

[The D-List Vet]

If you decide to build a house overseas find out the amount the materials cost. Literally go around to Home improvement companies (if they have them) and find out how much a yard of Concrete is. How much is a lumber by foot. How much is bricks and how much does a eletrictrian and a Pipe fitter gets an hour.

Needless to say find out the exact cost of the land and have at least two lawyers, two real estate agents and a project manager and engineer. You need two lawyers and real estate people to check to see if the other one is telling you the truth.

You can possibly get by without an engineer If the Project manager is expeirenced and not a crook but I'd go with one because you'd want to know if the land that you're building on is sound and that the structure is sound too. Because a janky PM will build you some bullshyt that you'll have to fix later.

Ask as many expats as possible who they reccommend.

There's tons of channels partially devoted to homebuilding by brehs in the DR

Breh do you own land and a home in Africa?