I like to think it hasnt changed me much. Its entiely possible that it has as ive been here for many years now so probably wouldnt be able to realize it, but i like to think i have the ability to  bounce back.

I work really hard to find a way to deal with all of the bullshit while still being me.

When i hold the door open for someone and they just walk right by without acknowledging me , i will yell at them, call them rude pieces of you know what , and then i instantly feel better again and to this day it hasnt stopped me from holding the door open for the next dude/lady.

Ill admit ive had my run ins with the less than perfect chinese ladies, but you cant be alone forever, and turning into to a douche isnt gonna endear you to the right woman when she comes along, and eventually i found her. Shes incredibly smart and kind and funny, comes froma decent background, couldnt care less about money or Prada, as long as we travel once in a while, shed be content to never shop again.  Again I could be blinded by my time here, but My family seems to like her more than any girl ive ever had, back home or China, judging from my mom calling and texting her daily. So it would seem that not becoming....cold  has worked out to my benifit.

I try to keep the same kind of relationships as I would back home, so I am careful to remember friends birthdays and holidays and try to make them special for people, and in return my friends have done the same for me. Although my group of friends is admittedly much much smaller now.

I would say im alot more judgmental towards others, but since my mom has called me an ass since i was born, its safe to say i was always that way, and we could all agree that that a much larger percentage of the population we meet here is judge worthy when compared to back home.

Soooooooo No, i havent..... I could have saved myself the time, and just wrote that last sentence...

Not harder.  

Lazier, fatter, greyer, poorer, less healthy.

But not less happy.  

Life here, for me at least, has a tendency to be like most things about China itself.....not real!

If you read stuff I wrote on here from a couple of years ago to now there is a definate change in my position on many things . I am far less tolerant and get the shits a lot quicker when in the past i would let it ride. i do not like confrontation and not long ago i would let it go and move on , These days i tend to bail up and stand my ground or make the other person back down. maybe it is that i stopped smoking a few years back or maybe because i understand more of the language when the locals are talking about me , maybe i am just getting grummpyer as i get older . thanks for the vent time

Yeah, it has changed me but not totally. 

I have always been very analytical about everything and try to take a step back after something happens to try and figure out what happened, why did it happen and where was the possible misunderstanding? 

If it was not an err on my side and there was nothing I could have done to make the situation go better then, I won't beat myself up and instead show some attitude and get forceful. 

I was in the military, so I am just used to giving commands and being pushy. Also, I run a team for my business and I have to be pushy or nothing gets done. China has helped with this, I learned if you are too nice you will never get home or get anything done. Sometimes people need a good yelling in China to wake their ass up. 

Harder, yeah... definitely. Angrier... sort of... I hate ill-mannered people and being in China doesn't help that. It has made it harder to connect with people but when I run into someone that is awesome, it is like a breath of fresh air. 

not really, its the opposite actually. While my first 5 years in china was a non-stop fight, in every sense of this term, now i feel my self more letting it go (i cant fight 1 billion people) and i found myself more tolleranrt than before, but that doesnt mean i would let other people bully me. 

A lot more suspicious and I think everyone has an ulterior motive for everything now...

It's made me a less~trusting type of person..

by dancing to their music for three years, i became a racist.

http://answers.echinacities.com/question/china-different-china-other-one...             that is exactly how i feel!

I've lost some of my humanity and have gained some compassion.  It is not an oxymoron as it all depends on the situation. For example, if someone falls on the payment I don't go out and help them like I used to help.  How can I when I maybe blamed.  But, when an old beggar asks for some change I give them a few coins.  If a lady loses her hat in the wind, I will go into the street and retrieve it for her.  I don't ever get angry anymore for delays or the way people do stuff here.  I know that in all the chaos it will all be sorted out later. I am so contradictory, but China has changed me in good and bad ways.

5 years in Asia taught me how to face the chaos, the unpredictable, how to not panic. It's not like I became some badass hardcore guy. It's more like "already been deep in the hell hole, went out fine. I'll be fine". I became more conscious of my cultural identity, what it means to be European. I feel more in peace with the darkest aspects of Europe's past. I'm better at seeing bullshit coming, seen so much of it... Not harder, but more mature

Not harder, I would call it more assertive. I've learnt to be much more patient and at the same time more alert to defend my rights. Whereas Chinese people are 'proud' to be Chinese, I'd say I was lucky to be born European. The government in my opinion is to blame for most that is wrong in China, the people often are very kind and patient with me (and my limited language skills) and lots of them have suffered/are suffering more than I can imagine. Especially because there's no way out for them as there is for me. But I can snap at the asshole that's ignoring my existence like I couldn't before and there's nothing wrong with that.

No, I seem more relaxed and less sarcastic, but I now look at everyone thinking everything I'm told is a lie.

Made me turning into a vampire and switching off my humanity.

I am the sweet, loving,  kindly, well-dressed, well-coiffed soul that I always was except if offended, then I become a werewolf.

  Nope, but walking behind some of those girls in skin-tight leggings and high heels does sometimes. Hate to see 'em go but I Iove to watch 'em leave.