You’re living overseas and enjoying life in a new country but then something happens in that country that changes everything. Not talking about war, but maybe a public debate, a new politician on the scene, a recession, or an election. Something that flipped how you see your new home. For better or worse.
For me, living in Malaysia all was going smoothly. An amazing country. But when COVID hit, non-Malaysians really became a target. You had vaccines prioritised for Malaysians and the government using the pandemic as an excuse to round up illegal migrants to deport them. Instilling more fear at a time of fear.
Because of the language and cultural differences I was able to keep up the delusion for quite a while that people in other countries are somehow better than in my home country or that their systems are better. That slowly came down and then got ripped down hard in the last year of my traveling to Europe. People are just as good/bad as where I’m from and their systems just as susceptible to corruption and degeneration.