Hello sojournerlumus, believe me it's the same in the country.
I have lived in Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Gloucester and Wales and found them all frustratingly boring or lacking in vibrancy. There is just absolutely bugger all to do apart from go for a walk, go down the pub or stay in for a quiet one. The countryside is friendly but BORING
Yes it's more friendly in the country than it is in the big city but it's nothing like Asia. Friendliness to neighbours and passers by doesn't equal a meaningful connection.
I find that even where the countryside has nice communities they are communities for settling down in, places for hard work and raising a family with no exciting stuff like rural communities elsewhere. No communal street festivals like Spain or Italy. No fiestas with a communal stash of moonshine and a feast that the whole village is involved in preparing.
Whether in the city or the country in the UK most people are wealthy enough to build little nests, chase careers and retreat from the world into private domesticity. Which is cool if you are raising a family but I have no desire to get married and have kids.
The British countryside and streets are all owned, you can't just have a gathering without the old bill being called add the crap weather into the mix and all you get is aloof insular people traveling from A to B in their air conditioned cars.
No old ladies cooking BBQ's or impromptu bars where locals roll a bin full of ice onto a street corner and pack it with beers. Thats what it is like over here.
If I walk to the end of my street there is an old lady who cooks fried chicken and sticky rice and right next to her some local lads have a table which everyone sits around and drinks beer, it's dirt cheap and anyone is welcome.
I can stay in and be homely with my girlfriend or walk two minutes from my door and find bustling communities to sit with and chat, or I can put on my glad rags and go to the pub or club. I have a choice and none of it will break the bank.
If I step out of my door in London or Somerset I better have some dosh for the pub and some people to go with otherwise I'll be either drinking on my own or hanging street pon me own twiddling my thumbs.
In the UK communities are transient even in the countryside people are buying houses, moving on, getting new jobs commuting to work etc. People are islands, alone and aloof especially if they are single and don't have a career.
Out here I'm never alone, I have prospects and potential even though I'm a school dropout. I'm a teacher not a forklift driver and women consider a short white bloke with a beer belly a good catch.
It's the opposite of the UK.
Well this bit is sure to ruffle some feathers. On to the subject of women.... In my experience women in the UK tend to be very guarded around strange men, a smile and hello is either treated politely but briskly or it is rejected as a come on.
Western women set their sights very high and many put up a wall that makes them unapproachable. I never noticed how bad it was until I moved out here. I just thought it was nature now I see it is culture.
The women over here take a smile from a stranger either as platonic friendliness or a come on but a come on isn't in bad taste where I live. You only get the curt blow out if you are an obnoxious git. Western women seem to use the curt blow out rather more liberally
It's funny out here I see French, English, American, Australian and tourists from all over the first world including Japan and many of them are quite insular and have an air of awkward self importance mixed with self consciousness which makes them less ready to smile and open up. We are all carting around lumpy egos that hold us back. You have to work to make a connection with first worlders.
PS: I apologise for the scruffy rambling post but my head is scrambled with the flu at the moment
Topic: Culture Shock. The difference of living in the West, The Middle East or Asia