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I’ve been getting some unusual comments and questions related to living in China while here.  The comments are often a little blunt, but from people I know well enough that I’m not offended.  I laugh and think, “Oh So-and-so! That is so her.” (Typically a her.)

In addition to acquaintances saying “Do you just love it?!?!”, these entertainingly blunt friends say things like:

“So do you hate it there?”

and–

“It’s going to be really terrible to go back, isn’t it?”

I wonder if they ask the question after reading my blog, or after chatting with friends-of-friends, or just based on their general impression of what it might be like to live in China.  It’s equally awkward and amusing.  At both the love it and the hate ends of the questioner spectrum, it’s challenging to give a succinct reply.

There are things I enjoy, and things I do not enjoy.  It’s true that simple tasks can be infuriatingly un-simple, the air is crappy, the city perhaps a hair too big, and sometimes people burp right at your face.  But there are friendly people from all over the world, you often eat dinner with a group of new faces, and there is cute around every corner.  Life is rarely dull.  It all makes me see, take note, listen, watch, question, examine, and that I take as a gift.

Mona Lisa in gift shop in Suzhou