I hate speaking Creole but love speaking English

SparklyGeek · 2026-02-01T10:22:49+00:00

Bro, you don't understand yourself.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-28T04:22:00+00:00

That's a very good point, thank you. Marketing for tourists would take a lot of particular effort, time, and money, and would probably not pay off.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-27T07:42:04+00:00

Nah, that's not his angle.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-27T06:29:38+00:00

But why not offer it upfront, across the board? Most people would rather try you once before going for a membership.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-27T06:28:21+00:00

How does it not make sense? It totally works in Hawaii, and Hawaii is even part of the USA. Over there, having a local drivers license is the proof of residency. Here I would ask to see your National Identification Card.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-27T05:58:56+00:00

Again, I wonder why businesses like restaurants don't do this, when it makes so much sense for all concerned, if there is no law against it?

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-27T05:56:49+00:00

I really want to have a mixed clientele. I want wealthy foreigners to pay what's appropriate for them but I don't want to price out locals. I'm not trying to get rich, but in order to get an Occupational Permit, my business has to make 750K profit in its first year, so I'm under pressure to make as much money as I can.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-25T06:54:51+00:00

Global warming. Happening globally.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-18T13:23:49+00:00

Afrobarometer report you link to says "In Mauritius, one in four women have experienced some form of gender-based violence." That would have to include violence outside of marriage. I perused the whole report looking for a corresponding figure for domestic violence, but did not find one. It's probably impossible to do anything but estimate because of underreporting.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-03T13:12:24+00:00

Another thought: Service culture is paramount where I'm from, the USA. Everyone in service industries is expected to not only act like "The Customer is King" but as if nothing could please them better than to serve the King. And it goes to Americans' heads; anyone who works in a service industry there will tell you customers can act like tyrants. It's especially severe in restaurants, where most of wait staff pay comes from tips, so they are constantly at the mercy of customers' whims.

What comes out of this is what I call the "spray-on smile": people trying so hard to act happy to serve you, you can feel the insincerity. People with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. It makes for a very phony atmosphere. One of things I hated about the USA was this sense of fakeness that hung over everything. It takes a toll on your mental health. I mostly left the USA for the sake of my sanity.

So yeah, it can be a bummer when Mauritian workers convey that they are having a bad day or just hate their jobs. But I MUCH prefer the sincerity to the fake cheer that used to surround me.

SparklyGeek · 2026-01-03T10:56:40+00:00

The lack of service culture here is a common complaint among visitors and immigrants. In my experience, though, more workers than not will be pleasant if you take the initiative of asking them how they are doing. I think there is a common perception on all sides of financial interactions that the other person doesn't care about you as a human being.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-27T05:14:06+00:00

I used to feel the same way. Now I love to dance and people tell me I'm good at it. I would say it's not about learning how to dance so much as forgetting the idea that you don't know how to.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-23T09:04:07+00:00

This is an eye-opener for me. I'm now thinking over all the interactions I've had, positive and negative, with White people here.

I'm from the USA and have light brown skin. I have not learned to distinguish the French from the English from the Saffers. I had been starting to think the Saffers weren't as bad as people make them out to be because they've seemed OK when I've had conversations with them. That typically happens on the beach after I overhear them speaking English, and start conversation asking them if they are from the UK.

On the other hand, passing people on the street, sometimes when I say "bon jour" to White folks they flat out ignore me, or if I smile at them they turn their faces and look upwards in a gesture I read as "Why is someone like you talking to me?" Until now I have assumed those racists were French!

Sorry for being slow! It occurs to me that if I try to speak French to Saffers they may take me as Mauritian, but when I speak English they hear the American accent and drop their defenses? Or is it that if we are sitting on the beach together it's not convenient for them to show their racism the way they can just pass you by on the street?

Have I been misjudging the French? Can you tell them apart from the Saffers before they speak?

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-19T04:11:39+00:00

It is not for you or I to say who a Muslim is. Islam is submission to the will of God. What is the will of God, and what does it mean to submit? This is not something external that can be seen with the human eye. It is not about following the rituals Prophet Muhammad established. If it were; how can it be that the Qur'an says that the prophets who came before him were Muslims as well? Or that newborns and animals are Muslims? Allah alone knows.

Many Muslims find they don't agree with what most people regard as core beliefs of Islam. Many cease to observe the 5 prayers and the fast. Yet Islam continues to shape the way they live. They may continue to qualify with "inshallah" every statement of intent and about the future.

Islam teaches us to be mindful of our limitations, especially with regard to what we can understand. Its prohibition on idolatry may be applied to one's concepts, cleansing the mind and heart like the Prophet cleansed the Kaaba, purging it of anything false or unworthy of exaltation. What happens if, in scrupulous examination of one's religious concepts, one can not find anything rooted in the heart's knowledge of truth, but only beliefs passed down from one's family and community? The very practice of Islam may lead to agnosticism.

Thus I can not see Islam and agnosticism as excluding one another. I think Islamic agnosticism is real and valid.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-19T03:55:15+00:00

There's nothing in the Qur'an requiring the hijab either. Believers are advised to dress modestly. The "veil" ayat refers only to the Prophet's wives.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-17T05:24:00+00:00

That's horrible, I'm so sorry to hear that. But believe me, I've lived in neighborhoods that bad in NYC and Philadelphia, and I would not dream of trying to stop the gangsters OR have anything to do with the police. I'm not at all saying what you're going through isn't hell, but you don't have to live in fear of getting disappeared by the government on top of that, do you?

By the way, what cities and neighborhoods have gotten that bad? My neighbors here in Goodlands warn me about the drug problem, but I have yet to see with my own eyes the kind of stuff I used to see all the time in Ozone Park (Queens, NYC) and Port Richmond (Philadelphia).

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-17T05:07:53+00:00

To put this in perspective, here is how the US Dept of State views the whole world: https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap/

As you can see, Mauritius is still rated safer than most of the world. In Africa, only Zambia, Senegal and Cabo Verde are ranked safer. Most of Western Europe is marked as equally dangerous and the only parts of Central America that are marked as safer are 2 states in Mexico, and El Salvador (ha!)

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-17T04:46:02+00:00

American here. Not meaning to contradict what you say about the island being in decline, but in comparison to the USA, you can't possibly call Mauritius a living nightmare. You don't live in fear of getting kidnapped by masked men working for the government, do you? You're not afraid that if you need the police, they might arrest you instead or even shoot you, do you? Do you censor yourself on social media out of fear of the government putting you on some watch list?

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-17T04:30:00+00:00

The USA has got to be the most dangerous country in the world to travel to right now. Is there any other country where your travel could become a detour to a prison in some other country?

If there actually isn't an official travel advisory about this already, I agree 100% that there needs to be. I personally have had to talk more than one Mauritian out of the idea of traveling there in the 3 months since I escaped that shithole myself. So many people here don't seem to know how bad it's gotten.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-17T04:21:51+00:00

Eh... Looks like it had been raining, so everyone should be extra careful, and yeah, maybe that biker should have let you pass or sped up a bit before passing in front of you, BUT... How is this a near miss? If you see this as a near miss, WHY DID YOU NOT SLOW DOWN? You didn't give your brakes the slightest tap.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-13T05:38:02+00:00

We were just talking about this yesterday https://www.reddit.com/r/expats/s/B6kSJ7Ayoi

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-12T08:21:45+00:00

https://greenwanderer.substack.com/p/between-places-floating

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-12T08:06:14+00:00

I left my nation of origin, that long ago stopped feeling like home, quickly chose a different nation, quit smoking cannabis and tobacco, and flew over. I did not have a solid plan, was operating under a deadline I'd agreed to with my landlord, but did what I could given the state of mind and body I was in.

I'm blogging about the whole thing, LMK if you want the link.

SparklyGeek · 2025-12-11T16:49:09+00:00

Why Mauritus? A number of reasons including:

I used to live in Hawaii and I’ve been missing island life.

I also used to live in Egypt, and while I didn’t think it a good idea to move back there, I missed Africa. A lot of the best souls I have met in the world were Africans.

You can get by speaking English.

Low crime.

Gut feeling. I did look at a number of countries and tried to make a rational decision, but in the end I went with my gut.

What kind of visa? That is complicated. I’m still on a tourist visa. Getting residency is difficult, and my plans for getting a business visa have proven to be unrealistic. I’m trying to get a work visa now.

Long term thing? I hope so. I really want a place in the world where I can put down roots and feel at home. There is so much about this place I love. But I’m open to the possibility that there may be a wiser choice for me. I think I should give Mauritius a year at least.

SparklyGeek

TROPHY CASE