darcmosch

Nice to e-meet you! I've followed a similar path as you have (though I don't think as badass as yours)

This is always my favorite question to ask anyone who's settled down in a foreign country: What is something about the culture that still leaves you flummoxed/shaking your head/staring after all these years?

Super interesting answer. Yeah, I am also a very obvious outsider where I live as well, and I'm still flabbergasted that if I make the suggestion, it kind of gets dismissed, but then if someone who's a local makes the same suggestion, then they become agreeable. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does, I am still nonplussed about the whole situation.

But I also wanted to follow up with what you mean by taking things super personally? Do you mean like criticism? A light teasing or ribbing?

China. I think a very similar, homogeneous culture kind of lends itself to these trappings. Yeah, criticism can be really hard here as well cuz you gotta beat around the bush so much before actually saying your piece. Luckily in professional settings, they do listen to me more, but I've still had pushback on some of the just silliest things, even 10 years into my career.

In Chengdu, only like 550 infected in Sichuan province and we were locked down. It was indeed nationwide.

My profession is translatin. It's my job to be an insider and every single day I'm proven without a doubt that my journey is far from over. And of course, when it comes to acceptance as a whole, I feel that's unobtainable. It's too easy to be judged as an outsider based on how you look, so I just look for people to get to know me and accept me as I am, and that's good enough for me.