It was a hard day. Got a message from my landlord saying the police were bothering him because our visas were expired. They weren’t. Had to go to the police station and get it squared away. So anxious the whole time. (Of course there was nothing to worry about, but that doesn’t matter for emotional regulation). Afterwards couldn’t hold it in and ended up crying in public. Went home and could barely stand, my feet hurt from the stress. Ordered safe food from meituan. My partner gets the door, and the delivery river says “I’m glad you’re here” in broken English.

This is why I moved here. When I’m so hurt I can’t even make eye contact, let alone start up conversations (which I can barely do in English, let alone Chinese), people actually notice. They actually care. So much so that a random delivery rider would go out of his way to speak a language other than his own. I’m so happy I’m alive.