i did a stint in sydney and hong kong, 4 months and 1 month, respectively, about 20 years ago (so, HK before handover). and a couple weeks in ireland-type thing

i did a stint in sydney and hong kong, 4 months and 1 month, respectively, about 20 years ago (so, HK before handover). and a couple weeks in ireland-type thing a few years ago. was cool, very cool, but it was just kind of like a combined vacation/work/party thing - in part b/c those places are pretty gd cool. i would have liked, and still might like, to go to a country where the native language is not my native tongue (English), and where there are not _too_ many expats around, else you just end up chillin with them all the time. my teams were brits, aussies, some americans, all temp or perm expats from virginia, philly, mexico city, various places in uk and au, etc. i was a java dev-type at the time, and in terms of work, it felt just like being in america.