Having a somewhat busier-than-I’m used-to schedule these days, I don’t seem to get out as much as I did in the past. However, I did head out for a few beers tonight. I ended up running into quite a few laowais/foreigners who, I’m sorry to say, I had lost touch with. Having mostly Chinese coworkers, I don’t really see many expats or western people in my daily life anymore.

But tonight it was definitely good to get back to that circle. I mean, it’s not that I don’t’ enjoy time spent with my Chinese friends, because I do. But there are just some occurances that simply don’t happen when you’re out with Chinese friends.

For example, you rarely hear someone yell out:

“Ok, lets all compare nipple sizes, and whoever has the smallest nipples buys the next round.”

That just doesn’t happen in my Chinese circle of friends. But it’s one of those sentences that never fails to bring a smile to the face of anyone who hears it.

For me, not having spent as much time with my western friends in the past year, I find it very refreshing when I finally get a chance to do so. I mean, it’s fun to sit around a table and contemplate the business plan of your male American friend who aspires to become a high-class male prostitute in the booming Asian market..

We China expats can all take solice in the fact that we all have one thing in common — that being we’ve all done some stupid-ass shit. Whether it’s been going to the fabric market to buy velvet upholstery for every main piece of furniture in your house, or naming your Chinese ESL class after entire cast of South Park… We’ve all been overwhelmed by the weirdness of China, and we’ve all thrown a significant chunk of laowai-crazy right back at ‘em.

To this day, I still take enormous enjoyment from getting into a cab and yelling in English “Follow that car, and step on it!”

Maybe it’s just me…

But anyway, the fact remains that not too many of my Chinese friends are quite as “retarded” as my laowai friends. Just a cultural difference I guess…

Have I adjusted to this more reserved Chinese culture and become less “retarded” than I was when I first came? Most likely I have…

But as a wise friend once told me, “Screw that shit.”

Why fight over who pays the bill, like the Chinese do? Lets split it 9 ways, because that’s our culture. Who cares if people stare? That’s our culture. No need to change just because we’re living in China.

Adjusting to a culture is fine. Assymilation? Well, that just silly. You’ll never catch me in one of those silly traditional jackets or waving my finger China-style during a heated argument, or when I try to emphasize a point.

That said, I’m usually quite reserved in my actions, and white skin aside, my behaviour is usually subtle enough for me to blend into most Chinese backgrounds. However, I really do envy those foreigners who just don’t give a be-jeesis about the inevitable crowds of gawking onlookers who gather around them.

As my friend Darren would often say faced with just such a situation:
“These are not the Droids you are looking for!”

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