My tone has been wildly negative for the last little while because I've had to examine the state of things here as closely as my laser-focus obsessive brain possibly can. Why?
The decision whether to come back here next year came up recently, so I needed to weigh some pros/cons. It's kind of a big call, as I don't see myself as the type to take off partway into a contract - unlike certain Ontarians... if I decide to sign on again, I'm committing to another full year of annoyances to go with the good stuff. Let's get mathy!
Cons:
1. It's easy to get annoyed by wildly illogical things that happen here all the time. I don't look at it as an issue of cultural difference as much as an insatiable desire to cut every corner possible at all times. Just remember, every product you get that was made in China is 'EXPORT QUALITY', and every odd thing you see a Chinese person do outside of China is 'MAGNIFIED BY 1.4 BILLION' here.
2. This place can't be good for your health. The water is hard as hell, you're randomly assailed by sewer gas anywhere/anytime, and the air can be incredibly chewy from time to time. It takes extra effort to eat well, and to resist the urge to anger-drink on occasion. People still smoke everywhere here, including (but not limited to) restaurants, on bikes, banks, enclosed train/bus stations, and in front of you wherever you are unfortunate enough to have to walk... it's all part of how...
3. The country is arrested in a culture of semi-permanent adolescence. Teenagers can be selfish, destructive to themselves/the environment, really into vomiting in public from drinking, and obsessed with keeping up with the Wangs when it comes to material goods use/consumption. A guy who has lived in town for 7 years once told me that given the choice between a knockoff Gucci bag and an indestructibly well-constructed handmade italian leather attache, the Chinese would take the 'Gucci' bag 100% of the time. I thought "generalization!", but have subsequently seen nothing to contradict this.
Pros:
1. Loot. It's pretty unlikely I would be walking into a full-time job at home, let alone one that pays all my accomodation/bills/etc. I get free dinners with all the beer one could possibly need on a regular basis too, which doesn't hurt. I still owe a shitload to Canada student loans too.. good times.
2. I've 'figured out' virtually everything I'm going to need to know to survive here another year. I know how to get all the various foods/drinks I want (alas for milk, which I will enjoy before leaving YVR at the end of June - and then probably go into stomach convulsions from drinking something healthful), I've scoped out a few restaurants that are easy to eat at (and am making inroads to tricky ones by getting menus translated etc.), I now know exactly what level of entertainment to expect on a weekend, and I know a cadre of expat townies I can see when I want to speak some English. Long sentences!
3. Travel opportunities. I'm going to Japan for the second time already this year at the end of April (flight= about $450 return), which is fantastic. Thailand was hot and delicious. I've seen some provincial highlights and am going to go visit friends in Bejing from my ed program sometime soon. Imagine what I could do with another year... Korea? India? Tibet? Australia? Who knows.
4. Stuff. I have improved this apartment (added u-bends to sinks, got an oven, grew plants, etc.) significantly since I got here, and could come back from Canada with any products/light foods/etc that I feel like I'm missing (shoes!) after having left bulk stuff here for future use.
It looks like a 4-3 margin, and without even factoring in the career advancing experience I can garner with another year it wasn't that hard of a choice.
I'm in.
I'm in for another year of wishing I lived in a country of people forced into competence by the fact that they could possibly lose their jobs. I'm in for another year of delayed gratification, if I define gratification as being composed of getting to do the vast majority of my hobbies - like breathing clear air and mainlining Mexican food. I'm in because despite all of the annoying things that China has to offer, I can almost completely control the level of their involvement in my life.
I'm meeting interesting people, stockpiling 'WTF' stories for when I reconnoiter with whatever friends remember me when I return (I'm thinking single digits), and enjoying the satisfaction of living an 'adult' existence for the first time in my life.
I owe it all to Chinese people being spectacularly lazy and bad at English...so maybe I should stop bitching about it. I mean, I won't, but I could. From time to time.
nicely written!
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