You know you've been too long in China when...
- You're at an expensive western restaurant and don't even notice the guy at the table next to you yelling into his cell phone
- You enjoy karaoke
- You walk backwards in the park listening to a transistor radio
- The China Daily is your preferred source for hard hitting, fast breaking, investigative journalism
- You smoke in crowded elevators
- All white people look the same to you
- You like the smell of the bus
- You find state-employed retail staff helpful, knowledgeable and friendly
- You no longer need tissues to blow your nose
- You find western toilets uncomfortable
- You throw your used toilet paper in the basket (as a courtesy to the next person)
- You think that the heavy air actually contains valuable nutrients that you need to stay healthy
- You think a 30 year old woman who carries a Hello Kitty lunch box is cute
- You think a sex pervert is a man who prefers women to money.
- It's OK to throw rubbish, including old fridges, from your 18th-floor window
- You believe that pressing the lift button 63 times will make it move faster
- You are aware that one is supposed to buy software, but can't recall the last time you actually did
- You are not surprised to see your tap water run dark brown
- You tell your parents their house back in your home country has bad feng shui
- You think that a $7 shirt is a rip-off
- You leave tray and trash on the table when you are in Starbucks because you insist it is the way to keep everyone employed
- You buy an XXXL T-shirt in store when you returned home
- You take large sum of cash whenever you go hospital in home country
- You have no reservations about spitting sun flower seeds on the restaurant floor
- You think it's silly to buy a new bike when it'll get stolen soon and stolen bikes are half the price
- You'd rather pay the 10 yuan for an all night stay at the internet cafe than the 30 for a taxi home
- You feel cheated if you don't receive a full head and shoulder massage when getting a haircut
- You blow your nose or spit on the restaurant floor (of course after making a loud hocking noise)
- You no longer wait in line, but go immediately to the head of the queue
- It becomes exciting to see if you can get on the lift before anyone can get off
- It is no longer surprising that the only decision made at a meeting is the time and venue for the next meeting
- You no longer wonder how someone who earns US$400.00 per month can drive a Mercedes
- You accept the fact that you have to queue to get a number for the next queue
- You believe everything you read in the local newspaper
- You have developed an uncontrollable urge to follow people carrying small flags
- You regard it as part of the adventure when the waiter correctly repeats your order and the cook makes something completely different.
- You are no longer phased when three men with a ladder show up to change a light bulb
- You look over people's shoulder to see what they are reading
- You honk your horn at people because they are in your way as you drive down the sidewalk
- When car accidents become a source of heartwarming humour
- When shopping at Carrefour some lao wai stares you down for catching you looking into his basket while you wonder to yourself what lao wai's eat
- You have figured out that it is actually the Taiwanese who are running this country
- You have a pinky fingernail an inch long
- You burp in any situation and don't care
- You start to watch CCTV9 and feel warm and comforted by the governments great work
- You think Pizza Hut is high-class and worth queuing for
- You have learnt how to detect someone is in a hurry behind you, and now have the ability to not only walk very slowly but also grow eyes in the back of your head, so when they start to overtake on the right hand side, you automatically cut in and walk very slowly directly in front of them
- When you are able to jump the queue because the idiot laowai left 2 centimeters between themselves and the person in front of them
- You have absolutely no sense of traffic rules
- You start calling other foreigners Lao Wai
- You start cutting off large vehicles on your bicycle
- The last time you visited your mother, you gave her your business card
- You think no car is complete without a tissue box on the rear shelf and a feather duster in the trunk
- You go to the local shop in pajamas
- When looking out the window, you think "Wow, so many trees!" instead of "Wow, so much concrete!"
- Pollution, what pollution?
- You think "white pills, blue pills, and pink powder" is an adequate answer to the question "What are you giving me, doctor?"
- Someone doesn't stare at you and you wonder why
- Firecrackers don't wake you up
- Your family stops asking when you'll be coming back
- You wear out your vehicle's horn before its brakes
- You bought a top-of-the-line karaoke machine
- Forks feel funny
- Chinese remakes of Western songs sound better than the originals
- You get homesick for Chinese food when away from China
- You realize that smiling and nodding is Chinese body language for, "Go away; leave me alone."
- All the top-level government officials you befriended for guanxi purposes when you first arrived are now retired and living in your home country
- After being in an accident, you tell the ambulance driver which hospital to take you to
- Your company offers you a job in your native land, and includes regular "Home Leave" to China as an incentive
- You think of "salad" as diced apples in mayonnaise
- You don't bother to take the sticker off the lenses of your fake Ray-Bans
- You only wear a suit when you dig ditches or do home repairs
- Your handshake is weakening by the day
- You compiled a 3-page list of weird English first names that Chinese people of your acquaintance have chosen for themselves.
- Your collection of business cards has outgrown your flat
- You and a friend get on a bus, sit at opposite ends of the bus, and continue your conversation by yelling from one end to the other
- You cannot say a number without making the appropriate hand sign
- You like the taste of Green Tea and Chivas
- You start recognising the chinese songs on the radio and sing along with the taxi driver
- You feel insulted when you enter a restaurant and only three waiters welcome you