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Q: Do you think wierd people get MORE wierd after coming to China?
First, let me get this out of the way. This is not to bash foreigners, Im a proud lao wai, I have lao wai friends. Im one of the friendly dudes that say hi and you ignore when I walk by. At the minimum ill give you the bro head nod. And since moving to Guangdong from shitty Wuhan, foreigners have been mostly normal great people. But......
Does anyone else see behavior here that would embarrassing or at least out of the norm back home????
Ill often make my way back to Guangzhou to see friends and attend a club or something. These particular clubs have more than a few foreigners. Yes it seems most of them wont get a table as is the norm, but just buy single drinks and hang around.
I got that, totally normal back in their country, they dont know.
But its is almost guaranteed that at some point, they are going to get tired of not having a table and paying for drinks and they are gonna come and try to hang out at someone elses table and drink someone elses bottle. This is unavoidable. Weve all seen it happen. Why do they do this when im sure this wouldnt happen at home?? Just cuz its China?? Chinese wouldnt do this.
And ok ok ok I know that I am a giant dick, i get that. But I feel like I am forced into uncomfortable positions all the time where i must be a bigger dick.
Ill be sitting in a quiet pub or something having dinner, just me and my wife. alone, obviously a date night or something. Not a party situation what so ever. And some random dude with just walk up introduce himself and either ask or not, and take a seat to chat..
What the hell is going on???? Who would do that? Its like as soon as people come to China they forget any sort of social norms. So i need to be dick and say, ummm no you cant sit down, im having dinner with my wife. What the fuck are you thinking. Go away.
I was super embaressed once, I was having a work dinner. Anyways, they wanted papa johns, I had been complaining to my colleagues I missed it for weeks, so they surprised me. Me and colleagues sitting eating pizza. I am the only foreigner. but others are in the restaurant. I went to the bathroom, and after a wait, and doing my business i come back and some weird dude is sitting in my chair, with a new plate.
I lost it, its not a laowai thing. Its that they seem to be knowingly behaving this way because they can, and I dont understand why they arent embarrassed when I feel embarrassed just watching it.
Can anyone answer why??????
PS, I know more weird isnt proper grammar, i just liked it better, kindly shut up
Weird. 'I' b4 'e' cept affa 'c'
mike695ca:
dude i swear to god, i had them all "ie" and then they where all red underlined!!! I actually went back and switched it to that!
Sinobear:
Welcome to echinacities, spelling and gramma checka provided by Wumaotang and the Gang. Happy every day! Fighting!
Agreed! Some of the weirdest people I have met in my life have been in china... I don't get it. I often wonder how they were back home, were they the same? If not, what made them change their normal social behavior to whatever it is I see them do here. I do have a close knit of foreign friends here, but we shun ourselves away from a lot of the others because we just got sick of seeing the strangest people doing the strangest things... Sorry mike, I don't have an answer for you, but I thought I would add my two cents...
never seen that happen to me. seems you are a magnet to weirdos or something
dom87:
could be....
but granting that i rarely talk with any foreigners here in china and i dont like to talk to strangers just randomly i think its save to say i m at least not the kind of weirdo that bumps into you
'i just liked it better, kindly shut up'
I don't understand...!.Do you want me to correct mistakes in your post?
Maybe less ...conventional people... are more keen on traveling and living far away from the comfort zone ? I don't go to bar/club, so I don't know what you are talking about. What I see times and again, is Westerners driving in ways I see much less back home : counter-way on the bikes lane, riding on the walk lane, a combo of both, and more. It's not sometime, it's often. Yeah, nobody care, it's China, yada yada, but it makes me gringe. This, or, I'm becoming OCD ^^
Visco8:
Ye I hear you abt road rules etc but in China I think its a case of ...'When in Rome'
Sorry I must have passed out while reading your rant. Did you say you wanted me to join you and your wife for dinner? Just tell me when and where...
mike695ca:
this is the place for ranting! This is why we come here. Anyways, hope you enjoyed your free drinks last night!
I was in a bar once having drinks with some friends and this kinda weird character just comes and sits down and acts as if he's always been a part of our group and just carries on. I turn to a friend and tell her that I have met some weird people in China and sometimes they are so weird that I feel like the are just actors playing a role, that someone had to play the role of the weird guy. He must have heard me say this (although he didn't leave our table) because at the end of the night I said goodbye to him and he said 'Just playing the role bro'.. Weird encounter.
Agreed. It seems like some people are just waiting for the chance to abandon all dignity and social graces.
Regarding Papa John's: What The Fuck. Like you, I am a person who smiles and says "Hi" to other foreigners, and am pretty much always friendly and accommodating. But when I'm going out to lunch with associates I don't want some random parasite thinking he can join in and help himself because he's white. Who in their own country would do this?
As to expat bars: I kind of expect that kind of behaviour, which is why I don't go to them. I hate being told I need to get out more by anyone whose personal interests and achievements amount to: Paying for sex, not shaving.
mike695ca:
I upticked you even though I havent shaved in a few days......
Robk:
Ditto... I am not really a fan of the foreign bar scene. Once in a while is okay but be prepared to discuss and observe the following (not being rude, it is true):
- sexual conquests of MILFs or young students (don't want to hear it at all)
- continuous rambling about how China suck (don't want to hear it, unless good story)
- insecure boasting and gloating (even though you never asked about them)
- unshaven and unwashed bodies with strong BO (you know the ones)
- extremely old fat men with miserable looking young girls
- sports talk or poker (this is the only stuff I like)
- background story after background story (this is okay but most of them sound the same)
You meet a few people that have interesting stories and something to contribute. Such as little secret places to eat or nice places to go to relax. I like running into those types.
I am normally quite polite and won't just run up to a table and intrude on others. Normally, going to the bar and sitting on a stool is a sign that you are open for chat not at a table with others.
Honestly, I think I know the answer. Back home perhaps they were social outcasts and are just trying to make up for it now because they feel like they automatically have something in common with other foreigners. Yes, they were weird back home and yes, they became weirder here because the CAN get away with it and they think that being weird here is socially acceptable. It's like now they share some sort of mystical bond with random foreigners and want to capitalize on it.
I don't mind a quick chat but people need to know when the conversation is over and to move along. Truthfully, this depends on which Tier city you live in... the smaller it is the more it is accepted because foreigners are a smaller and more tightly knit group.
mike695ca:
yeah, id agree that people are more.... cold in the larger cities. And your probably right with everything. Maybe theyve been around just chinese too long? Used to akward conversations??? I dunno, you gotta be right.
I dunno why I'm compelled to say this , but.....
I've very rarely been around 'white' people (laowai, farang) for over a decade now and when I do see them or happen to somehow be in the same place they are, I feel really weird. I dunno how to talk to them, and I kinda don't even want to talk to them, and I'm really nervous/uncomfortable that they will think I'm some kind of a big weirdo. Like what is this old guy doing rambling around Asia. I mean, to be honest, I don't blame them a bit for thinking that, ,, but I'm also looking at them and wondering wtf is this guy/girl doing in asia/china. seems weird to me to see white people in china.
yeah, I think living a long time in real Asia away from western zones (Central, Shekou, SG, BKK) makes weird people weirder.
mike695ca:
in what city would you be soooo far away from all laowai??? In Guangdong they are everywhere, and ususally pretty normal and great. Can be a tad creepy, but as Im a dude, it doesnt effect me any
Weird is as weird does. Most people live their whole lives in and around the same place. And so do their friends. Never live anywhere else.
Chinese people are of the belief foreigners; westerners; all travel around the world at their whim. But that is not the case. Most folks never travel anywhere. And if they do it's a tour to some popular destination that won't disturb their feelings of home.
Deciding to go live in China is as weird as anything you can think of. No English, no food that's recognisable, no rule of law, no common sense, no cold beer.
In my previous city, Qingdao, I saw quite a few foreigners who proudly wore the 'weird' badge. I didn't hang out with them. In my current city there are only a handful of foreigners and I don't hang out with them because it doesn't seem to suit me to do so. (They don't seem weird tho...unless being teetotal is weird...in which case they are..)
My Chinese is basically non existent so that means I don't associate with many people, other than in my day to day comings and goings. And that suits me.
Call me weird and I'll look forward to buying you a drink some time. Weirdo.
mike695ca:
Dude, that doesnt sound fun. No chinese, no foreigners, just you and your wife?? I hope you at least have a core group of a few people you can hang out with. Next time you come to the south, let me know, ill take off my weird suit and show ya around.
What the hell dude? (re: both the expat bar and papa johns story). I frequent both places about once per week....and I've never had anything like that happen. If it's the expat bar, it'll just be me and the gf at a table. Papa johns is the same, although sometimes just me by myself. I've never had anyone who didn't work at the place try and come sit down or even talk to me.
The more likely scenario is some young Chinese girls sidling up to me while I'm eating at KFC or McDonalds, wanting to practice their english and asking the usual gamut of questions (Where are you from, why come to China, etc etc).
mike695ca:
hahaha your are lucky. Perhaps you are much more intimidating that I. Ok fine, the bar... tell me its happened to you at the bars.... That has happened to everyone.
cooter:
I don't really frequent the bars that much, aside from the expat bar which I mentioned. And really, it's more of a restaurant with a bar seating area. I haven't been to a Chinese bar in years. I'm not that intimidating...a whopping 175cm 80kg. Maybe it's just the location.....Ningbo isn't the most friendly city in the world.
