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Q: What are the first things you notice when you get home from China?
After my first trip to China when I came home I could not believe how fat people are at home. It was like I never saw this before. I've been home for 3 weeks now and it's gross how fat people are. I hate the cops here, way too petty, have to watch speeding. I got pulled over the other day because I didn't pull over when a fire truck was 6 blocks away.
I must say, when I go home it is a breath of fresh air in many ways but i've never been sad to leave again. What do I notice? I don't know, a lot less rice, frumpier women, the streets aren't as alive at night, traffic's way faster, I can suddenly take my pick between Italian, Indian, Greek food or whatever, everyone's not watching me to see if I choose the lettuce or the cabbage, i'm suddenly short of cash, i'm not sweating, switching channels is worth the bother, I can't smoke whilst getting a health check, I don't need to stay in sprinting distance from a toilet after eating out, and.............many, many more things i'm sure. The truth is the last time I went home I wanted to get back here two weeks before my return date. Probably so I could complain, I don't know.
Chunky white girls who don't make any effort to dress well in public.
ElenaDob:
Why bother? There're plenty of bald, pregnant-looking, men who don't bother to wax their chest hair & smell like an ashtray.
I've notices a lot of differences:
- fresh and clean air
- incredibly blue sky
- less traffic
- quite
- people smoking outside public businesses
- politeness
- no staring
- empty supermarkets
- fatter people
- cleanness
- queues
- boredom etc. etc. etc.
It always amazes me coming back from China how most women here [USA] are frumpy, fat and do not seem to care how they look. But, it is nice to smell clean air, being around polite people again and not much noise from car horns. But even so... I miss China after just a few days...
An old post, but worth a reply. The first thing I have to contend with when I get home is customs and border control. And the first thing I notice? Chinese people being made to form an orderly queue, and being chastised when they fail to do so. I love it.
GuilinRaf:
....and God help them when they try to play the "just ignore him" trick on the Immigration and TSA officers!!!! Those clowns are NOT known for their patience!
TedDBayer:
I came back via LA, never will I do another USA tranfer, immigration officers can be such arrogant pricks, I gave him nothing but sarcasm, I don't take crap well. I thought I'd get strip searched. I had 5 customs guys approach me. I made them laugh so hard that we never did discuss what I had in my bags.
cooter:
Yeah, most times I will come back through L.A., with the odd chance I might come through Chicago customs. They don't usually ask me any hard questions. Where did you go, how long did you stay, purpose of your trip. The last couple times though, they just took the passport, gave me my stamp, and I was on my way. It sucks you Canucks gotta go through customs, even on just a transfer.
Peace all around. still need 104 days to feel it again 
Fresh air! Town square!
I like seeing the stars at night and reading a good newspaper. Sunshine and fast cars don't hurt, either.
I live in Hunan, and many women here are obese, some sickeningly so. It's sort of like I'm back home, but with added pollution and east-asian eyes.
The first thing I notice is that I'm in a civilized place.
TedDBayer:
I thought Hunan women were supposed to be the hottest in China?
Hulk:
No way, dude... no way. I don't even care about looks, but most of these girls are... yeah, not my type.
The blue sky is the main one, and the diversity of people.
I live in a part of Sydney where it would be unconscionable (unconscionable, darling), to get fat, so unlike the rest here I don't see loads of fat people, but there's loads of people of all races and colours, which was really odd at first.
Watching people stand patiently at traffic lights when there's no oncoming traffic was really strange.
Home just seems to lack a bit of oomph and bustle.
gosh, I haven't been to the States in such a long time... now I wanna go try and see what it is I notice ! I am way curious now.
I do remember the last time I went and visited family, in the States, it did seem very different. I remember feeling quite distant from them... kinda like we didn't have anything in common anymore. I might talk about hanging-out in East S/E Asia, and they couldn't relate... They might talk about work, school, TV and I couldn't relate....
“The spring which moved my energies lay far away beyond seas, in an Indian isle.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette
I haven't returned home since coming here 15 months ago, I will return home for 2 months come June. I can't wait to spend my time at camp, fresh air, clean water, boating, fishing, swimming, drive my ATV and 4x4 truck, big bond fires, BBQ food and see my family and friends, drink good beer and so on.
I haven't made it to my home Country for long too long. But I am sure that one of the things I would notice is not seeing people spitting on the streets. I wouldn't miss it at all. I would notice how clean is around, how elegant people are, how good smelling they are, everyone trying to show off with the last perfume they bought. I wouldn't be stared at and find some genuine smile in the Western way.
Dirtiness here it makes Human Nature look upfront uglier and disappointing. I hope to never get used with it.
Has anyone been away so long that they feel completely alienated and distant, like the phrase ,,you can never go home?
Hugh.G.Rection:
Pretty much, for me now China is home, it's where my family are, (my parents have long since passed away). I have no intention of going back to the UK before the whole family return when my daughter is high school age, so just under 9 years.
It will be interesting to see how I feel, probably more foreign there than here.
Nice and quiet, no spitting, not yelling at each other everywhere.
People back home smell nice and shower more often 
