I am starting this string to see if others can share there experiences in foreign lands. How they live. How things are different, what they miss about Pakistan, etc. I have been in US since 1989, but still miss Pakistan every day.
About Auto experience and other things in US.
The cars in US are really cheap.
Just to give you an example, A Car like 1996 or 1997 Corolla or civic can
be bought here for around than $ 1700 or $1800 or 1 Lakh Pakistani rupees.
That model year Corolla or Civic in Pakistan I know usually runs for 7 or 8
lakh in good condition. So you can imagine how cheap cars are here, plus
job is a titles are just title here, but some operational positions like mine require 4-year
College degree here and pay anywhere between $3,000 to $4,000 per month,
depending on area and state, this is what an average american makes here,
but again, the cost of living here is also very high. The average house
costs about atleast $1,000 plus food, bills, and other expenses, an average
American can not save here. The Average Bank Balance in US is believe it or
not, just $3,000 to $5,000 US dollars. Most Americans are heavily under
debt. They spend their whole lives just to keep paying off debts, like
House Mortgage Payments, which Again as I have mentioned cost $1,000. The
Average house costs about $150,000 to 200,000 US Dollars. So, it takes
about 30 Years for an Average American to pay off a house, suppose a person
at age of 25 or 30 buys a house on mortgage, by the time he finally pays it
off, he or she is already 60 years old, almost about to retire. So, your
whole life you work here to pay off loans. There are alot of Positives and
Negatives here. Positives are that you can find a job, now it takes about 5
months to 8 months to find a job, it used to easier, but day by day life is
getting hard here too. But anyway, you can get a job here and live
decently, but you have to keep paying off loans, etc. all your life here.
Its how their system is set up.