Well… I might be a special case. Most folks I know don’t acquire languages that easily

What does an “Average American” look like? I thought it would be whatever the stereotypes one would get from popular American TV shows… which is not very Asian all-things considered. But I guess the language plays a role too. This is something that is hard to grasp while I was in the US, but Americans as a whole do have a rather distinct English accent that is different from folks from say Britain, Australia, other places where English isn’t the primary language, etc…

Yeah, being in a country since 18 yrs old does something to you… Fun fact about the accent. Apparently most ppl I’ve met in the EU assumed I’m from the US, despite me not looking remotely like an average American

US visa system is a bit… Interesting. Student visas also work for PhD programs, which can last a while. And after the study concludes there’s an option for ppl to extend it by 3 years (OPT). So one could be into their mid-30s and still be technically on a student visa in the US

• Mandarin Chinese. Native, but actually not that good. Can’t speak Cantonese though
• English, basically native-level fluency
• Japanese. Somewhere between B2-C1 based on test results but that was a long time ago. I can probably get to C1 if/when I have the time to practice
• French. Still actively learning, around A1 across the board

I also have some passive knowledge of Dutch and German… But really passive though

Researcher. Important? Kind-of, I work in a supposedly very important biomedical research area but my position itself is not that important due to a variety of reasons…

Am I proud? Hell no. I’m only staying because I get paid enough (especially since I lived on near-poverty income for 5 years and below-average for another…). I’d disappear the moment I have a better opportunity, or if my paycheck is gone

Yes and I have done it a good bit back in the US. Striking up a conversation with a total stranger is a bit frowned upon in the part of Europe where I live now… so I won’t

This is comparing two pretty extreme scenarios… which are both pretty strange but for different reasons

A lot of performing arts (music, sports) and related industries have a “winner takes all” model, where the most famous performer makes exponentially more than the average one. OF is a bit similar. So if you are a top OF model who won the genetic lottery, you could make millions… which hides the fact that the average OF model doesn’t make remotely as much (as others have pointed out)

Open source is more like a normal business, but with the problem that it doesn’t really generate profits given that many FOSS software are free as in free beer… If there is no revenue then of course there wouldn’t be a good salary either…

I do think there is a rather similar but interesting counter example: academic scientists. Many scientists do make rather comfortable wages; where I live now, postdocs/professors actually get paid above the national average. However, this is because science is very important to society… so the money we make come from governments/taxpayers. Governments generally agree to fund science at the taxpayers’ expense, because it will pay off in the long run. If governments don’t fund science then most scientists (barring some engineers) would make peanuts as well… So yeah, if governments believe FOSS has societal benefits and fund FOSS developers, that might be a way for them to make a lot more

Are you just there for a short gig? Or for something long-term? I thought Australia is not particularly easy to move to, but I assume you have already sorted it out… In any case, I still haven’t found good expat/new immigrant resources myself either

I browse some subreddits related to the place I’m moving to/have moved to, and some general places like r/expats and r/iwantout. There’s also expat.com which has some nice guides… Although I assume you already know these. I would guess there might be some pretty active ones if you include English-speaking forums and general EU->Australia forums

I don’t know what social media is popular in Australia right now, but getting on the social media the local folks use might be helpful

Late 20s. If you count lurking, just when the Reddit 3rd party API thing happened; if not, a bit over a year ago

I’ve been using Mastodon for a few months and even transitioned to selfhosting a -key instance for a while back then. So when the Reddit fiasco happened it was pretty natural for me to be drawn to Lemmy lol. I’ve only been a lurker even on Reddit though, so it took me some time to actually participate. Fun fact, but I first became aware of Lemmy a few months before the API thing, when the top posts only had a bit over 100 upvotes and almost every other person knew it for the devs’ questionable political ideologies… I’m still a bit positively surprised that Lemmy has become as self-sustaining as it is today

I think I’d fall more into the latter camp but both descriptions somewhat apply to me TBH. I’ve daily driven Gentoo for a year and a half for good measures (don’t do that anymore out of practicality), and I generally have a distaste for anything too mainstream so

Video games. Very, very challenging video games that don’t require co-op… I’m currently mostly maining rhythm games, but had several years where I hyperfixated on roguelikes as well

For mornings, 75 g coffee / 1250 g water made with a French press using the Hoffmann method, divided equally for 4 days per brew (so roughly 250-300 ml each day). Not sure about caffeine content though

And then I have some random tea bought from the local Asian supermarket that I brew casually with hot water & drink throughout the day without any care as to how I make it, no idea how much caffeine is in this either

I usually don’t take in any other caffeine beyond my daily routine