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Q: Any other expats out there living basically a normal life in China?
I really don't mean to diminish the trials and tribulations that other users on this board have gone through...but I personally have not experienced anything nearly as crazy as some of the stories I've heard on here, so I sometimes have a hard time relating. Of course, there were some mild antics back a few years ago when I was a "wild" student here, but since then, my life has actually become kind of boring and, dare I say it, normal. No doubt living in a larger city with more access to western conveniences helps too (normal in this case not including the incessant air pollution, sketchy food and drink quality and other classic TIC factors).
Anyone else feel this way, or am I totally off point here?
I'd say I do. Usually, I just wake up, go to work and hang out with my wife in the evening. It's just part and parcel of being married and approaching middle age.
Yeh, very normal, I love it. Domestic bliss might be a bit strong, but i'm certainly content. Work, sleep, nappies, beers, eat; wash, repeat as needed.
Yeah, me too... But then, I'm a fairly boring sort of guy! 
Yeah things are pretty normal for me, living as a single guy. I shop, manage my menu and cook my own food, eat out occasionally and go into severe hibernation in the winter which is a bit different to when I lived in Australia, but, temperatures of -35C to -19C in winter here require you to adjust accordingly.....or die!
Beer, wine, movies, guitar playing, chase women, hang out with mates - all normal. I doubt I could live as well back home to be honest.
Certainly miss some things but after a glass of reasonable red the desire diminishes proportionately to the number of glasses.
It has been said I can bore the sleeping into dreams and the dreaming into nightmares.
Yes my life is full of routine, sleep, work, daddy things, eat, drink (very occasionally) internet / read, sleep.
Boring, boring, boring and I wouldn't have it any other way.
By the time I left it was so normal I hadn't eaten Chinese food in weeks.
Routine? I have no idea what that is. I'm as free as a bird, and end up experiencing way too many... crazy things. I WISH we had a normal life here. We will back home - just not here.
I think that, after visiting so much of China, I've personally witnessed and seen every bad Chinese stereotype in action.
mattsm84:
Yea, but you're kind of a special case because your life is bonkers.
I would dare say that it does depend a lot in each person's attitude and outlook in life. In my case, and since I do live and let live, and I am not here to teach anyone my ways, I do lead a very normal and happy life. When I do witness something that strikes me as odd, or not done in my book, I just look elsewhere and forget about it.
My GF and daughter are very nice and kind, and a lot of fun to be with. If I wish to eat western, I cook, and if Chinese, my GF cooks. We share the cleaning, and the one not cooking does the dishes. We do go out a lot, and also travel to many places of interest within Guangxi Province and/or China, occasionally overseas.
I do not work by choice, my priorities are in having a happy time, and as a rule of mine, only those who I appreciate can say things that may bother me, the rest are ignored.
So, my life is as normal as I do want it, doing what I like, and having fun. I would not change one bit anytime soon.
