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Q: When you go home, do you miss China?
My first 2 months in China were hard, and I hated it...just wanted to go home. The next 2 months were much better and I was content being here. Then after the last 2 months I didn't want to leave.
Funny how things change.
As I got more comfortable here, made friends, started dating, got used to the culture, it got harder to leave.
I am currently on a 2 month trip back home until my next deployment (half way through now). I find I start missing some of the little things that I thought drove me mad, and of course being involved with a Chinese girl now does not help (qq video chats just are not the same 
).
There are still many things I hate about China, but it has now turned into a love/hate thing.
I realize that most of you are here year round and don't go home much, but for those like me that do go back and forth, and even for the long timers, what do you miss about China when you go home?
Do you also suffer from reverse culture shock?
Personally, driving like a mad man, smoking every where I want, and using chopsticks for everything (eating salad with them just makes sense) helps ease some of the pain. 
Missed the food.
Felt really weird not being stared at.
And all the white people started to look the same. I started to see people at a distance and believed they were people from my past that I knew but also knew they couldn't possibly be in this area. This one made me want to kick myself (wow the Chinese were right, we do all look the same(.
I am back in Australia at the moment and miss China at times. Yes I miss the food. I miss the feeling of anticipation I get when I am there. It is hard to describe but it is akin to what explorers might have felt, not knowing what is around the next corner, even though that thing may be a very bad experience at times. It is just a different state of mind to that comfortable relaxed feeling I have at home. As I have said a few times I would never want to live in China for any more than around 12 months full time and would prefer it if my stints were shorter like they are now. Australia is such a great place to call home and i dont think that will ever change, but when I am home I still look forward to my next visit and next trip to other regions within China.
thedude:
Ya I agree. In China it's always go go go, and at home it's waaaay too laid back. Must be that readily available herb available back in Canada that seems to be a no no in China!
Miss it so much! Especially at the second day when I just wanted a quick pop to the market and no one is there to drive me there, because basically it is too unsafe for me to go by myself.
I have only been back to Australia for 5 days since July 2008, I'm not sure if I can go back and put up with the crap. Since 2000 I have been overseas most of the time! Plus I have too many toys here now 
always think about China when i'm at home. For a communist country, the west is definitely more strict. I'm going to really get in trouble at home some time,,, I smoke inside too much. FORCE OF HABIT i guess
I miss the hustle and bustle of city life. I'm from a town of maybe 10,000 people. Then I go to some of the biggest cities in the world. It's a big change for a country bumpkin like myself!
I have not left China since I arrived almost 2 years ago. My girlfriend just went home and she told me she feels like she doesn't belong there anymore. She misses her life in China. I have moved from place to place within China and I miss the places where I lived before. I'm not sure, though, if it is because I am moving from bad to worse.
i miss the food , my friends and the life here. everything is like a new adventure here especially when you dont speak chinese. there seem to be lots more beautiful women then in my hometown. and it is true as westerners we are more free here than in our home countries. i also miss the ability to just take a bus to go where you want to go. when i go back to the states for good it will be difficult for me to get used to working a real" job
I came home and had jet lag for a week, I missed China right away, I had so much fun and hardly slept in China, After a week I was depressed and now I'm bored. I did find China to be a bit of a s6h6i6t hole, but never boring, everything is different, even walking to avoid spit marks.
The first time i went out shopping at home Walmart and saw how fat everyone was ,it was like I never saw this before, blew me away. After watching a sea of skinny bitches everyday to come home to land whales,,OMG I'm blind,, hold my harpoon while I run on it.
thedude:
I agree...first week was depression, next 2 were boredom. But Walmart?? Where do you live?? In Vancouver it's not much different from Shenzhen with the skinny Chinese girls everywhere!
TedDBayer:
I live in the middle of no where, just looked outside, no body around, my sled dogs hardly ever bark,,,hmmmm Van is closer and cheap flights some time. but ddin't like VAn,, so forget that.
I've only been here for 9 months, been back to UK once and missed being stared at. China feels like it is my home. I don't want to leave.
I miss the Rock Star treatment...going out every night. 
Soooo boring back home compared to my life in China!
I think all agree that the country itself is beautiful, the big cities (and even the big "small cities") are amazing, more amazing than most of our hometowns. That being said there are a lot of products and services from back home that I'll never stop missing, as their Chinese equivalents are usually not as good quality. But one thing I don't like about back home is how narrow-minded and insular most Americans are. Even though there are many of them here, there are still fewer here than at home and it's much easier for me to avoid them on a day to day basis. (Not that Chinese people aren't/can't be narrow-minded also, just that it's much easier to tune them out)
Njord:
I agree on everything but the people back home... I'm not American mind you... I miss talking to like minded people, having a sense of community and being treated with respect... It's sad Americans don;t have this anymore, I used to live in the states as a teen during the '80's, it was a great place America! As for me I miss the people back home.
lchickman:
I agree, I miss being treated with respect. More so, I miss watching people treat each other with respect. When I first came it irked me to no end to watch 40 year old Chinese men race each other on the train and push a 90 year old woman out of the way to grab an empty seat . Or how people see someone trying to get on the elevator so they quickly push the "close" button. In a way, it's terribly amusing. But it's amusing because I haven't been here long enough to be jaded enough to find grown people behaving that way normal.
