So, Beijing is enormous. Lots and lots of frickin' people. And yet, somehow the expat community is itty bitty. I have been here a single month, and attended a trivia event this week with a small group of people, only to see four other people I already know. Seriously? I don't know anybody And yet...
An unexpected drawback to this welcoming community is the cliquishness and gossip that accompanies any self-respecting small town. As it turns out, it doesn't take long for so and so to find out that whatshisface knows the same person as that guy, and oh did you hear about the time when a friend of a friend of a coworker ... and gossip ensues.
A new friend recently said "Everyone who moves to Beijing is running away from something." While denial is tempting, it hardly seems worth the effort for me in this case. It is unfortunate that Beijing doesn't seem to offer the long term anonymity for which I had hoped, but perhaps there is an alternate lesson. Though not easy to swallow in a gel-caps sort of way, it seems as though perhaps escape is always temporary. And that even once your slate is clean and on a new continent, you still can't always control who writes on it with thick black sharpies.
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