... in response to Double standard alive and well, posted by Albert on Apr 7, 2005If you go and meet with several girls, and at least two of them become close to you, you know that at least one of them is going to get hurt, and that is not pleasant. I have had that situation. On the other hand, if you pin all your hopes on one girl and it turns out that she is playing the field (or indeed, you find that the chemistry you thought would be there does not happen in reality) then probably it's you who gets hurt.
I met a girl in Ukraine a couple of months back, who seemed so genuine and nice, but I just could not feel the chemistry (I also met a couple of other girls.) But I couldn't bring myself to tell her, she seemed so sweet etc I didn't want to hurt her. I felt really guilty when I received her emails wondering why I was slow to respond and call her etc. But then at around the same time I saw her profile pop up again on the front page of the website, with "refreshed" personal details, and that put it all into perspective.
The "production line" aspect of this enterprise is not pleasant, but the alternative is not realistic. The chances of your one and only meeting measuring up to all the letters and photos are not that great, and it's almost certain that the girl will have received many other letters; how can you be sure she has ignored them? You have to allow yourself some back-up in the early stages, especially if you are investing a lot of time and money on the prject (it's hard enough for us Europeans, but to make the trip all the way from the USA just for one contact is... well, let's say extremely optimistic!!
The best solution I found is to very carefully narrow it down to a manageable number of initial meetings, say 3 for example, so they don't have to be rushed, and find some way of covering your tracks between these meetings so as not to hurt her feelings. Because if you do find the right one, it is a shame to blow your chances with just because she finds out that you met other girls on the same trip (they don't like it, and even though they do it themselves they will usually do their best to prevent you from finding out.) Discretion is the key here.