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Q: how long did the honeymoon stage last for you with China?
I read about culture shock, different stages of living in a foreign country. I came to China when I was at a low spot in my life. It was a wise choice for me. I had so much fun. I think that everything was just so different that I was never bored. I travelled and did alot of things I never do at home.
How long before things started to wear on you ?, like not being able to cross a street, not being able to talk or speak, even then not being understood. The staff at my hotel thought I was drunk all the time because I'm friendly and always laughing. That made me laugh when I heard about it. I was never drunk in China. How long before you became frustrated with life here? Like never getting answers to questions.
I can work some things out, I like to kick car doors in if they almost hit me, then hold my knee and shake my fist at them.
The first six weeks were a blur of new sights, sounds and learning to do the dance of avoiding street spit. Getting here, my first impressions were : 'Wow, China IS the future, look at all the construction going on'. That quickly passed once the routine of work sunk in and I encountered Chinese working practices. Now, I'm kinda more 'yeah, whatever'.
If you leave China from time to time, it may not fully wear off.
If you just stay here all the time i'm sure you'd eventually get sick of it.
It is a matter of opinion, but when i'm away from China there are some things I miss about it and I feel good when I am back, for a while anyway.
The bottom line is, I think staying anywhere for too long is going to have that worn out effect, whether it be China or Timbuktu.
My honeymoon phase lasted about a week. That's because I visited on vacation. When I came back a year later, I had done a ton of research, so I knew what to expect. No honeymoon phase the second time.
About as long as it took me to walk out of the airport. China scared the hell out of me for the first fortnight, then I began to enjoy it.
about a year for me. northerners are better people by far. but still this is china
3 years. It stopped when I finished highschool and wasn't in a priviledged and safe environment anymore (I didn't realize how I had it easy back then).
But it eventually comes back for a while if I leave China for a few weeks.
All was well the first 8 or 9 weeks, then I hated everything for about 2 weeks, then I got into balance. 4.5 years later, there are things I love about China, things I dont but for the most part, I am very happy living here and do not have any plans in the near future of returning back West.
Ask me again in about 3 or four yeas...
I'm still in the honeymoon phase, i genuinely love it here. Economically, I would be better off at home, but i don't mind the temporary sacrifice. I do have my bad China days, but i get over them quite quickly. I'm generally a happy chappy here 
Then again, i've been here less than 2 years and i leave China quite frequently...i'm making the most of the honeymoon while it lasts though.
I've been here nine months and I never did have a honeymoon stage, probably due to visiting a few times over the last six years. Every now and then I come across something that drives me mad for a couple of hours and then it settles down to "only in China". Quick example, my wife going to the office to start her pension last week, office says she must pay some money but they cannot accept it and send her on a bus trip to one particular bank and then she has to go back with the receipt. I just thought where was their card machine, if they had one it could be done in under a minute.Overall though I have no plans to move back west, the good things here certainly outweight he bad
About a year and a half. There's time that I think I still have it to some degree, but work creates enough issues that, it's slowly killing that spark.
