Calls from Best Friends not as Wonderful as Advertised...aka...#19
The last few nights have been...processing. (verbs can be adjectives, right?)
I've been building up my return to China in my mind quite a bit, with my vacation in Taiwan melding into my return to the mainland. The wonders of Taiwan are tending to supercede what I'm sure the mainland will be like.
Taiwan, I believe, will be great: Great friends, intensive Chinese study, working out again, and lots o' traveling around.
Mianyang, however. Got another dose of what I'll be walking into, and each time it seems to be more severe childishness than what I had previously believed. I just spent the last few hours listening to stories about screaming matches in restaurants, people with 400 RMB in their pockets who are calling strangers and telling them they've "been abandoned on the street without any money to get home." Everyone over there totally deserves each other.
These stories of the imbecility are doing wonders on helping me get detached from people I once thought were legit. ”关我鸟事“ is becoming my mantra - and it is quite nice. I was envisioning great battles, me in my shinning armor going forth to deal with the dreaded black knight. Now, having first hand experience on how something I've said has been drastically changed within, what, 2 hours, is really making me wonder why I care. Having developed a limited social network of other people I've met through my Chinese blog who actually live where I'm heading (2 in Chengdu, 1 in Mianyang) is also giving me something to focus on instead of all them, and I am finding it increasingly easy to play the suave individual who is really only there to buy some soy sauce -- I've really got better things to do. Better than me getting back and jumping in and being part of the drama, right?
To bad the only friend who I really care about is embroiled in it all since his girlfriend is roommate to the primary dramatist. Still, as this involves lots of foreigners and 钓老外的 Chinese girls, I think I'm going to revert to my Taiwan mode of operation - namely remove myself from any foreigners and any Chinese people who can speak English.
Of course there will be drama in any social circles, but it is totally getting out of control over there....
I've been building up my return to China in my mind quite a bit, with my vacation in Taiwan melding into my return to the mainland. The wonders of Taiwan are tending to supercede what I'm sure the mainland will be like.
Taiwan, I believe, will be great: Great friends, intensive Chinese study, working out again, and lots o' traveling around.
Mianyang, however. Got another dose of what I'll be walking into, and each time it seems to be more severe childishness than what I had previously believed. I just spent the last few hours listening to stories about screaming matches in restaurants, people with 400 RMB in their pockets who are calling strangers and telling them they've "been abandoned on the street without any money to get home." Everyone over there totally deserves each other.
These stories of the imbecility are doing wonders on helping me get detached from people I once thought were legit. ”关我鸟事“ is becoming my mantra - and it is quite nice. I was envisioning great battles, me in my shinning armor going forth to deal with the dreaded black knight. Now, having first hand experience on how something I've said has been drastically changed within, what, 2 hours, is really making me wonder why I care. Having developed a limited social network of other people I've met through my Chinese blog who actually live where I'm heading (2 in Chengdu, 1 in Mianyang) is also giving me something to focus on instead of all them, and I am finding it increasingly easy to play the suave individual who is really only there to buy some soy sauce -- I've really got better things to do. Better than me getting back and jumping in and being part of the drama, right?
To bad the only friend who I really care about is embroiled in it all since his girlfriend is roommate to the primary dramatist. Still, as this involves lots of foreigners and 钓老外的 Chinese girls, I think I'm going to revert to my Taiwan mode of operation - namely remove myself from any foreigners and any Chinese people who can speak English.
Of course there will be drama in any social circles, but it is totally getting out of control over there....