In chronological order:
1. I'd been to China long ago. These folks are nice to foreigners, and if their mah jong opponent's cleaning lady's niece's coworker's cousin's son goes to your school, you are IN. You have people looking out for you from the get-go. The fact that they're making a killing off of you, and likely fleecing you in the bargain, just underlines how safe you are.
2. It's the farthest place to go without iceberg's, rebel armies or a religious jihad.
3. They have an insatiable economic demand for precisely the things I'm good at: English,
teaching,
socializing,
and clowning around.
4. Similar yet different point: they see me as a combination of Einstein, Gandhi and the Fonz.
5. Another similar theme: have you SEEN these women?
6. I'm three times as attractive here as I am back home.
7. Okay, I get sick of it sometimes, but Chinese cuisine is arguably the best in the world. In fact, it's at least 6 distinct cuisines, 5 of which I adore.
8. For all the yelling and bickering, they're a gentle bunch. Ignore the cheating, cutting in line and atrocious driving, and you're left with folks who rarely have it in for you.
9. They'll pick your pocket and swipe your bike, but if you want to avoid trouble, you easily can.
10. Cheap DVD's. I've watched as many movies in China as I had my entire life. You know that Imterpol warning about pirating DVD's?
11. I can buy an entire TV series and watch them in order.
12. In one sense, I work harder here than I could back home- the nature of the work energizes me. In another, more accurate sense, I work way less.
13. I have more disposable income here than I ever had in my life back home. I'm not afraid of money.
14. You get to know other foreigners well, in a wartime type of way... without the bullets and disintery (sp?). Friendships are intense, and if you're in a big city, there's a ton of folks to pick through.
15. Plus there are heaps of Chinese folks, some of whom are awesome.
16. I have a weird urge to sit by a canal in my pajamas, composing poetry on my day off. China was clearly my destiny.
17. Have you been reading about all the ugly shit going on around the world right now? China might be the only country whose economy grows this year. Hell yes, I'm staying put!
18. The city I live in is older than Christ, and built with an ancient tradition of taste that conveniece stores and Starbucks just can't tarnish.
19. YEs, it's crooked, but it's getting better. I can't believe how far China has come in the last 5 years!
20. So long as we don't make trouble, the authorities don't really give a shit what we do.
21. Shanghai and Beijing are truly amazing metropoli. I could never afford New York or London.