What City Suits you?

by EMMA SCIANTARELLI

FROM ISSUE # 162 (June 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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You may have been born in Kathmandu, Pokhara, or Biratnagar, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't mesh perfectly with another city. 

1. Learning a new language seems:
A. Completely unnecessary.  That's why I learned English – to be able to communicate anywhere!
B. I'd rather just perfect the ones I know. 
C. Isn't learning a completely new language part of the reason a person wants to live abroad?
D. Why learn just one? Might as well learn a few… and a totally new way to speak English while I'm at it…

2. When living outside of Nepal, your dietary habits may change. You:
A. Are already so used to eating western food from eating in restaurants that it won't even matter.  And besides, you can always cook dal bhat when you are missing home.
B. Don't mind what you eat just as long as it involves rice, aachar, dal and tarkari. 
C. Are ready to explore what's considered some of the finest, richest foods in the world.  You're living abroad – why not experience everything new to the fullest?!
D. Want to eat a different cuisine every day of the week.  Variety is the spice of life!

3. Which do you think you would love the most?
A. Big and tall buildings next to more big and tall buildings and lots of great city lights!
B. A miss-mash of the old –not ancient, just old and the new.  Rich and poor all living side by side.  Pretty and dirty all at once. 
C. Buildings built with the kind of craftsmanship that has lasted centuries and tell the tale of history.
D. An orderly, systematic feel.  One so well planned that it seems as though every architect in the city drew from the same sketch pad of ideas.  Matching is beauty.

4.  Your main reason for going abroad is:
A. To achieve your dreams – you CAN do anything.
B. Mostly just to work and earn.
C. To paint, to breathe, to live, to love.
D. Because that's what your father did, and his father did.  It's what your parents expect from you.

Mostly As you should move to New York!
Spend your afternoons in Central Park, eat pizza and fried chicken, and never stress a day about language. On top of that, in a city this big you'll be sure to find lots of Nepali friends to make momos with during Dashain, Holi or any time you just want to experience a little bit of home. America was founded on a principle of a dream and that's why so many still continue to manifest their goals in the Big Apple.

Mostly Bs, you should move to Bombay!
Bombay is no Kathmandu, but there are enough cultural similarities that you're sure to have a smooth transition. You may miss the great views of Nepal, but who can be sad in a city full of palm trees and a sandy coastline? The masses speak English, but when you have to converse with a rickshaw driver or the pani puri-wahla, you'll be able to use the Hindi you've learned from a lifetime of watching serials on Star Plus and Aamir Khan movies.

Mostly Cs, you should move to Paris!
Life in Paris isn't about the rat race. The primary value isn't on climbing the corporate ladder, it's about enjoying life and breathing it all in. Rich in culture, food and art, the city has long been the place where people go for love. The pace of life is for those who want to truly live and experience life. 

Mostly Ds you should move to Singapore!
For a city-state that's entire area is much less than half the size of Nepal, the country is the city where cultures meet. With four national languages and people of such varied ethnicities all considered Singaporean, makes for an interesting city. The pace of life is fast- and so the English – and "getting ahead" is what the Singaporean lifestyle is all about.