The elephant in the blog
Or in any room here.
There's one thing that is very hard to miss among the expats here. Almost none that I have met through Randy are married to their OEM (original equipment mama). They have girlfriends, young, sweet, attentive local women. Some have been together for a while; some have serial relationships. Any place we've been socially I have been the only American wife. Most times the only wife.
Certainly the expat families are here. Within 10 minutes walk of here are two schools competing for my expat dollars to send my expat child there. I see them, the wives of varying nationalities, at Starbucks, on the street. Some have nannies, which causes me to call the neighborhood where we go to the playground as Nannyland. I saw one such wife, not with her nanny, but taking a cab from the front of her gated community to the grocery (which is not more than a two-block-walk). She had left the meter running while she went in to buy one or two shopping bags of groceries. She and her about-three-year-old daughter got into the cab right in front of us. Walking with Myles, we got to the front of her gated neighborhood before they did. I know this because we watched her exit the cab, and climb inside the golf cart the neighborhood ferries residents around in. This was all the more amusing to me because as far as I could see, she had the physique of someone who probably spends a great deal of time in the gym.
However, we haven't been introduced to any families that Randy already knows here. A variety of factors have come into play on why that hasn't happened yet. It isn't his fault. But still, I can't help but wonder, has he been here too long without us? I hope not. God, I pray not. But the elephant on the blog, in any room I appear to be in, is that I am a relic of lives his friends no longer lead. Their worlds have nothing to do with first communions and dentist appointments.
I write this hoping not to be too candid but rather to help people see what it is like in these expat communities. Because that is what I am writing about. A particular part of China with a particular group of people.
There's one thing that is very hard to miss among the expats here. Almost none that I have met through Randy are married to their OEM (original equipment mama). They have girlfriends, young, sweet, attentive local women. Some have been together for a while; some have serial relationships. Any place we've been socially I have been the only American wife. Most times the only wife.
Certainly the expat families are here. Within 10 minutes walk of here are two schools competing for my expat dollars to send my expat child there. I see them, the wives of varying nationalities, at Starbucks, on the street. Some have nannies, which causes me to call the neighborhood where we go to the playground as Nannyland. I saw one such wife, not with her nanny, but taking a cab from the front of her gated community to the grocery (which is not more than a two-block-walk). She had left the meter running while she went in to buy one or two shopping bags of groceries. She and her about-three-year-old daughter got into the cab right in front of us. Walking with Myles, we got to the front of her gated neighborhood before they did. I know this because we watched her exit the cab, and climb inside the golf cart the neighborhood ferries residents around in. This was all the more amusing to me because as far as I could see, she had the physique of someone who probably spends a great deal of time in the gym.
However, we haven't been introduced to any families that Randy already knows here. A variety of factors have come into play on why that hasn't happened yet. It isn't his fault. But still, I can't help but wonder, has he been here too long without us? I hope not. God, I pray not. But the elephant on the blog, in any room I appear to be in, is that I am a relic of lives his friends no longer lead. Their worlds have nothing to do with first communions and dentist appointments.
I write this hoping not to be too candid but rather to help people see what it is like in these expat communities. Because that is what I am writing about. A particular part of China with a particular group of people.
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