Why Don’t You Just Shuddupalready
Several people now have tried to persuade me to take a different teaching contract in another city or even another country. Their suggestion, not surprisingly, is almost always Taiwan. I have to take this with a huge grain of salt, though, because these arguments come from returned missionaries and people who are from Taiwan. I suspect a tint of bias. I also suspect many people are just inherently against China for whatever reason.
I have one friend who, every time he sees me, badgers me about how Taiwan is cleaner, the food is better, and the people will treat me like a god. So when I say I’d still rather go to China, he concludes I must like my countries dirty and smelly. To be fair, every Chinese city I’ve been to has had a unique, unpleasant odor to it. I don’t particularly enjoy that, but that’s what makes the experience. No, I don’t like my countries dirty and smelly, but I do like them to be authentic.
Accepting that, others will tell me I should just “visit” China sometime instead of going back indefinitely to teach. But I hate being a tourist. You don’t learn anything by being a tourist. It’s when you live, work, and do your laundry there that you start to understand the culture and what makes it special. If I’m going to get to know a place, I want to dedicate that kind of time to it. I’d rather know a handful of countries really well than know them all vaguely. And I don’t feel like I completely know China, yet.
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