Cultural Bitterness

I used to have the reputation of being "that China girl"...and honestly....when it comes right down to it...I'm not. I had no interest in China prior to coming here "by accident" the first time, and the thing that drew me back was friendships with Chinese people, and not necessarily an inherent draw to the culture or country itself.

Now I'm married to a Chinese man and have lived here consecutively for over 3 years (it having been over 6 years since my first visit to China). And just as I have no desire to be "the girl who loves America" I don't really have a desire to be "the girl who loves China" either. I want to be "the girl who loves people" but if we are being completely honest...I am dealing with some bitterness towards China and the culture here.

I can recognize in myself that I am reacting to stressful situations, many of which are not universally found in China (although some are) by blaming the culture around me.

My hard reality right now is that China has not made it easy for someone in my situation to make a life. Bringing me to my next announcement in case you haven't heard...I'M PREGNANT! Yay, but anyways....

Right now life for us feels like work hard all year so we can spend all the money on the inevitable visa run that I will have to do. Due to changing work situations, changing visa laws, the inability to change to a marriage visa in my city....life for us is pretty rough in terms of trying to make things work.

I want to be someone who responds to adversity with determination (sometimes I do), but in the midst of cultural stress which stems from many sources, I'm not doing so well.

Don't get me wrong, there are cultural stresses for me (and my husband) in America too (more about that later perhaps). But faced with leaving my doggies (my fur babies) and going to America penniless to work my butt off while pregnant to save the money for our return tickets to China with hopefully some sort of visa in hand, is really frustrating me right now.

In addition, some situations with my paycheck, neighbors, and the ever-present bitchy mother-in-law situation (sorry, I'm calling it as is) have really caused me to resent life here right now. And as I don't intend to leave my baby with crazy mother-in-law (which is what most Chinese parents do), this will further complicate our situation. Because many families in the U.S. do without dual incomes, but it is becoming more and more unheard of in China (and honestly, my foreign face is a great asset work-wise).

All of these situations and a few more are causing us to lean towards moving our family to the U.S...more on that in the future though. This trip to America will be our testing ground to pray about what is the right step for our little family.

Trying to get into that more peaceful frame of mind (especially since I'm pregnant)
Praying through it, and grateful that I have a mostly sweet (hehe) Chinese man to help me sort it all through.