As I said before, my brother is in town visiting and it’s been great fun so far. But it has given me an interesting perspective on my life here - watching him watching me, observing him observe how I live here.

But my brother has been surprised by my short temper when faced with certain day-to-day “China problems:”

Two ladies walk into an elevator, glance at us and start chatting:

Them: Those foreigners don’t understand what we’re saying.
Me: How the hell do you know?

We walk by a taxi, and the driver has a Ha-llo-orgasm:

Taxi driver: Hallo! Hallo! Taxi! Taxi! Hallo! HALLO! HALLO!
Me: You don’t think I saw you? You’re brain has a problem.

The China Mobile guy says he can’t get me GPRS service on my new phone:

Guy [in english]: No! no! no! (he then dismissively turns his eyes to nothing in particular off to the right)
Me: Wow, you’re really polite. Try smiling next time. It’s good for business.

A huge Sharpei dog (the size of a small horse) nearly kills my pekinese Pepe. It’s the second time that the Sharpei has attacked a dog in our building, but the owner keeps bringing it to the park area all the same:

Me: Is this your dog?
Owner: Yes.
Me: He just nearly killed my dog.
Owner: Sorry about that.
Me: Sorry doesn’t accomplish anything. This is not the first time your dog has attacked another. It won’t be the last. This dog is too big for these small apartments, it should be in the countryside.
Owner: Your dog should be in the countryside.
Me: You don’t know how to take care of dogs. You’re ridiculous.

Justified or not, I think I’m a little quick in my backtalk lately. Possibly due to a few bumps in the road here recently — well, more specifically a single bump — enough that might have made some pack it in and head back home. Me and my girlfriend are still considering that option. We’ll see.

But in any case, my Sino-fuse seems to have gotten shorter. And I think I’m gonna have to make a bigger effort at not extrapohating.

The trouble with taking the highroad in these situations is that it’s just not that easy.

Even when I feel justified in saying something back, or getting angry — I’m still not sure it’s the right thing to do.

Is it even worth the trouble?

Does it make a difference?

Maybe I should just move to Shanghai. I never hear John Pasden bitching about this kinda thing…

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