To be totally honest, I’m a lot more worried about Stick’s arrival than I am about his absence. I haven’t seen the boy in 5 months — it’ll be 6 by the time he arrives — and a lot can happen in 6 months. I mean, I can get through entire relationships in that time!
I’m so excited about Stick coming to see me! I really want him to like China in general and Yantai in particular. I want him to like the Hemingway-as-a-foreign-correspondant part of expat life, and not get too caught up in the Margaret-Mead-in-Samoa part of Chinese life. I hope he’ll like what the guys here call the Wild West aspect, but I’m afraid that he’ll get distracted by the public spitting and urination, by the sweaty bodies crammed into a bus, by the filth, the noise and the constant touching of the foreigners.
Also, a lot of my adjustment to China has involved me becoming less squeamish about things like personal space, pollution, bodily functions and exactly what constitutes food. I think all of these adjustments are making my life easier, but what if it turns out that Stick is partial to girls with table manners?
