Terrik's AMA- You'll leave disappointed.
- Thread starter Terrik
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1. 5 years!
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3. I drink sometimes, but I started drinking so much, it started to seriously affect my health, so I drink much more in moderation, and I've more or less lost the desire to actively seek out opportunities to drink. I actually went out with a friend of mine last night for Korean food + Soju and completely skipped the soju. But then again, Soju is poison.
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5. Why bother, when I've already been to the top of this:
6. Yes, and no. I started learning Chinese in Wuhan by picking it up as I went along. I took a refresher course while I was finishing up my linguistics degree, otherwise, I've never had classes.
7. Captain China
A stairway leading to the world's largest bottle of beer.
Were you the guy I once shipped stuff to in China for Secret Santa,
If so, do you remember what I sent? 'cause I don't
Is Terrik a nickname with a specific story to it, or random, or a meaning to you,...?
If you had the choice again, would you still decide to go to China?[DOUBLEPOST=1357903948][/DOUBLEPOST]
If so, do you remember what I sent? 'cause I don't
Is Terrik a nickname with a specific story to it, or random, or a meaning to you,...?
If you had the choice again, would you still decide to go to China?[DOUBLEPOST=1357903948][/DOUBLEPOST]
You were. I was living in Tianjin at the time. You sent me Warhammer 40,000K booksWere you the guy I once shipped stuff to in China for Secret Santa,
If so, do you remember what I sent? 'cause I don't
Is Terrik a nickname with a specific story to it, or random, or a meaning to you,...?
If you had the choice again, would you still decide to go to China?
Terrik was a name that I made up. That I read a Star Wars novel that had a character named Booster Terrik. Then, much more recently I checked steam and there are quite a few people with the steam name Terrik. I'm apparently wholly unoriginal. That's why I keep my backups , "Terrikus" and "Terrikius" handy.
Absolutely I would still go to China. I don't regret that at all and I feel I've changed largely for the better. It motivated me, helped me to understand the world and my place in it, helped me meet people I'd have never met otherwise, allowed me to see natural beauty that I couldn't have imagined, eaten foods I wouldn't have touched with a 10 ft pole previously, allowed me to learn an incredibly useful language and taught me to "man up".
Terrik, we've talked about this before. Don't encourage people to come here, the place is getting crowded
I'm heading out, you guys have a fun night.
I thought Jiuzhaigou hit the spot for China beauty for me. Though Huangshan, Changbaishan and Yangshuo hold high ranking for me as well. Seeing the Great Wall for the first time is pretty awe-inspiring.
My favorite food. hrm. In China, I love tofu, love hotpot (and the Chongqing-style 鸡公煲） , love well-prepared guobaorou, and love spicy dishes. My absolute favorite western dishes in China are @ New York Style Steak and Burger and New York Pizza, both located in Shanghai's Tianzifang (田子坊), a place you should look up and go to if you come down to Shanghai. Nice imported beers at the Steak and Burger place too.
Sure, depending on a few things. There's more personal freedom in many ways. You can do what you want to do as long as you aren't bothering anyone else or stepping on the political toes of the government. I definitely feel freer (and safer) walking around China than I do back in the US for sure. I also find Chinese people more accepting of foreigners in many ways than other parts of Asia. You might run into xenophobia here and there, but I found it far, far less pronounced than in Korea/Japan. I'm generally well treated wherever I go. I was out in the china equivalent to the boonies just a couple months ago and it was welcoming and a lot of fun. I've gotten eye-daggers walking into a Korean restaurant, but I never have from a Chinese restaurant. That's not to say I haven't run into a few situations where I felt I was being treated unfairly because I was a foreigner, but those situations are few and far between.
and to be fair, it was more to do with you being an obvious outsider rather then just white, they probably treat waidiren about as well as laowai.
I'm also certainly going to shaghai at this point. My wife is going to tibet and I can't go with her. The current travel restrictions during the holiday are a bit intense.
I also want to add that yes indeed. Of all the places in Asia, I think China is one of the more welcoming to outsiders.
War! What is it good for?
BananaHands
Staff member
Do you ever frequent Hong Kong?
Wallets: leather or duct tape?
Do you find it odd that duct tape is rarely used as duct tape anymore?
Is this....really a question? People have duct tape wallets outside of middle school?
Unfortunately. I judge them for it. I need to know how to judge him.
Is there anything about the U.S. ,besides family/friends, that you really miss?
To decrease the surplus population /scrooge
Probably my old NES and SNES, if that counts. Otherwise, I had an X-wing and TIE Intercepter model I enjoyed playing with. As well as a TNMT pizza shooter I have fond memories of. Also replicas of the original Enterprise and a Klingon warship. I also had a toy airplane simulator (My dad's a pilot). Also, one of those things that can make giant soap bubbles. My God.
I've been there once. Mostly because a flight there still costs a few hundred dollars. I COULD go to Guangzhou and take a fast train in, or Shenzhen and take a bus over, but unfortunately those cities aren't connected to Shanghai by high speed rail yet, so I either fly, or take a 20+hr train. No thanks. Fun city, though I don't know how much I'd enjoy living there. I like to explore and Hong Kong is rather small. Probably the same reason I started to get a little bored of Singapore after a couple months.
Oh sure. Mostly Shao Kao (BBQ on a stick of multiple varieties), tofu, noodles, rice, breakfast foods. I love them all. As for whether or not I'd advocate their presence elsewhere--well that's hard to say. I grew up in the Florida suburbs and never led a city life until I moved to China. For all I know, cities like Chicago and New York already have similar things in the vein of hot dog stands or what have you, but I'd have no clue. But I'll tell you what, I'd loved having them in China and when I went back to visit florida, it was one of the things I really missed about China.
As a side note, Chinese authorities seem to usually take a dim view of said vendors/hawkers, usually viewing them as a nuisance or a presence that "dirties" the city. There are exceptions, like the massive area of vendors near wangfujing in Beijing.
Well, Jun bought me a nice leather wallet inscribed with our names and a Chinese poem for my last birthday, so that's what I'm using now, lest I incur the wrath of hell.
Hassle-free internet is at the top of my list. I regularly use a VPN over here. I wish I didn't have to. I miss the cheaper electronics back in the States too. The tax on them is fairly high in China. My alienware laptop would cost a cool $1100-$1200 USD more here. I think I miss Florida most though. I miss the weather, the trees, the beaches, the forest trails and rivers. I miss the warm, rainy days and watching lightning storms 15 miles off in the distance.
Don't you hate when people have their umbrellas out, but aren't paying attention to where they are holding it, so it's like, knocking up against your face and you're all "Hey, bro... that's my face. Come on now"?
No. In fact, that's one of the few things I'm picky about here. If I have a crappy day, I want to come home to a nice, spacious, comfortable home. I want a nicer, newer building, and the fastest internet connection I can squeeze out of this place. If I want to live in "Old China" I'll do a homestay in Guangxi for a week.
Or sometimes in my case, slicing my neck.
In the summer.
When it's not raining.
I also like it when the street cleaning vehicles was the streets in the middle of a rainstorm
Points for not being a Hutong hipster.
Do you ever complain about all the damn white people crowding your streets.
Do you experience reverse culture shock when you go back to the states?
What was your worst experience with a taxi.
North_Ranger
Staff member
What's your zombie plan?
Do have any musical talent?
I didn't even know Hutong hipster was a thing. That's horrifying.
I never HAD to complain about white people crowding my streets. I lived in Wuhan/Tianjin/Shenyang all before Shanghai. Not exactly foreign meccas. Hell, outside of a few select areas of Shanghai, I could go a few days without seeing another white face. The majority of foreigners here (and Beijing, I assume) are Korean anyhow. I rarely go to xintiandi, and besides showing a friend the sights, I have pretty much no reason to go to Nanjing st.
Culture shock? Hell yes. It was especially bad last year when I hadn't been home for over 3 years. I remember walking into a snack shop at the airport and thinking "Holy crap, look at all these choices". Same feeling at a bookstore. Also, understanding every conversation around me. I can kinda do that in China, but it's a different feeling when it's your native language. Also, I'm way, way, way more outgoing after so many years in China.
Also, I think everyone wanted/wants me to shut up about China. I think I crossed the line when I pointed out the red star that dots the western Pennsylvania countryside looked a lot like the Communist red star in China. My aunt gave me quite the look.
"IT'S PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH, STEPHEN."
Now as for taxis...that's..that's hard to say. I don't know if I've had a singular overwhelming experience with one. Though, there are many smaller experiences that have left me wishing for..better service.
Let's see:
-A couple occasions of having the driver asking a Chinese friend with me to help him/her cheat the foreigner because "we're both Chinese".
-"Black taxi" drivers. Scum of the earth. Airport/Train station taxis- 2x the scum.
-Asking a taxi driver leaning against his taxi, smoking a cigarette to take me somewhere- "Take a bus".
-General cheaty-ness. I learn routes quickly and make a driver stop and let me off if I even have a suspicion he's about to drive me in circles. Easier to tell him a direct route.
-Rush hour taxi's (or lack thereof). 'Nuff said.
-OH GOD, WE'RE GOING TOo FAST- OH SHI---DID YOU SEE THAT TRUCK. WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE
AHHHH
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Cleanse with holy fire.
More to finland? Do zombies survive well in cold?
Of course, they could be attracted to the saunas.
Hmm....
I did, at least. Was in the marching band back in school. Played trumpet and was even better with Euphonium/Baritone. Left me sensitive to key and pitch and at the very least, I always sing on key. Makes me great @ Karaoke parties. Lawl.
North_Ranger
Staff member
One word: corpsicles.
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