Reminds me of a story a friend told me when I was traveling through South America.
My friend was walking home late at night and a guy from another country (forgot which, but it was obvious from his accent) asked him for money. This exchange of course happened in Spanish:
“I have an iron” “what does iron means in your country?” “by iron I mean knife” and pulls out a knife “oh, because here iron means this” and pulls out a gun.
Then the robber just ran away.
I left NZ a few years ago and one of my main reasons were the lower incomes and high cost of housing. It all came down to the fact that I couldn’t even afford to rent a flat by my self, whereas right across the Tasman I could earn twice the salary and have a comparable if not lower cost of living.
Eventually I’ve ended up in Europe and I’m earning almost 4 times of what I was earning back home. I’ve considered coming back, bit the prospect of maybe never being able to own a home keeps me away.