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What is the relationship between total savings balance of China and the foreign exchange reserves of China?Thank s for A2A, Jack. Answer is a bit long, but it requires understanding the connection between trade and national savings and investment.In layman terms, saving is the difference between income and expenditure. In more economic parlance, it requires you to add the change in net equity of households having accounted for the investment if any in pension funds, and in financial assets such as stocks and bonds, or non-financial assets such as gold, or property but it tends to exclude capital gains or losses. Net saving is thus equal to saving less depreciation and final consumption expenditure and is measured as a percentage of gross domestic product.A country’s national savings is the total of its domestic savings by household and companies (private savings) as well as the government (public savings). If a country is running a trade deficit, it means money from abroad is entering the country and is considered part of the supply of financial capital. The demand for financial capital (money) represents groups that are borrowing the money. Businesses need to borrow to finance their investments in factories, materials, and personnel. When the federal government runs a budget deficit, it is also borrowing money from investors by selling Treasury bonds. So both business investment and the federal government can demand (or borrow) the supply of savings.There are two main sources for the supply of financial capital in the economy: saving by individuals and firms, called S, and the inflow of financial capital from foreign investors, which is equal to the trade deficit (M – X), or imports minus exports. There are also two main sources of demand for financial capital in the economy: private sector investment, I, and government borrowing, where the government needs to borrow when government spending, G, is higher than the taxes collected, T. This national savings and investment identity can be expressed in algebraic terms:Supply of financial capital = Demand for financial capitalS + (M –X) = I + (G – T)Again, in this equation, S is private savings, T is taxes, G is government spending, M is imports, X is exports, and I is investment. This relationship is true as a matter of definition because, for the macro economy, the quantity supplied of financial capital must be equal to the quantity demanded. In the equation above, it shows that the government is a borrower and is running a budget deficit since it is spending more than the taxes that it collects. On the other hand if the government is running a budget surplus and there is a trade surplus in exports minus imports then the equation looks like this:S + (X - M) + (T - G) = IIf a national economy runs a trade surplus, the trade sector will involve an outflow of financial capital to other countries. A trade surplus means that the domestic financial capital is in surplus within a country and can be invested in other countries.A nation’s balance of trade is determined by that nation’s own levels of domestic saving and domestic investment. To understand this point, rearrange the identity to put the balance of trade all by itself on one side of the equation. Consider first the situation with a trade deficit, and then the situation with a trade surplus.In the case of a trade deficit, the national saving and investment identity can be rewritten as:Trade deficit = Domestic Investment - Private domestic saving - Government or (Public savings)(M –X) = I – S – (T – G)In this case, domestic investment is higher than domestic saving, including both private and government saving. The only way that domestic investment can exceed domestic saving is if capital is flowing into a country from abroad. After all, that extra financial capital for investment has to come from someplace.Consider a trade surplus.Trade surplus = Private domestic saving + Public saving – Domestic investment.(X – M) = S + (T – G) – IIn this case, domestic savings ( both private and public) is higher than domestic investment. That extra financial capital will be invested abroad. Assuming you are from China, since China has been running trade surpluses and has high domestic savings, that extra financial capital is invested abroad in US treasuries bonds and in gold as well as in OBOR and also in other forms in National Investment Statutory vehicles such as China Investment Corporation. This connection of domestic saving and investment to the trade balance explains why economists view the balance of trade as a fundamentally macroeconomic phenomenon.In the second scenario, assume that the level of domestic savings rises, while the level of domestic investment and public savings remain unchanged. In this case, the trade deficit would decline. As domestic savings rises, there would be less need for foreign financial capital to meet investment needs. For this reason, a policy proposal often made for reducing the U.S. trade deficit is to increase private saving—although exactly how to increase the overall rate of saving has proven controversial. The US savings rate is probably too low, which is why the trade deficit persists.Trade imbalances can be affected by whether an economy is in a recession or on the upswing. A recession tends to make a trade deficit smaller, or a trade surplus larger, while a period of strong economic growth tends to make a trade deficit larger, or a trade surplus smaller. During recessions, as the economy slows, it purchases fewer goods and fewer imports from abroad, but if foreign currencies are comparatively stronger, then buying power from abroad will mean exports from the country in recession will not fall so much. Sometimes when an economy is growing rapidly, there is aggressive buying including buying of imports, and the trade deficit can increase or its trade surplus can narrow.It can make economic sense for a national economy to borrow from abroad, as long as the money is wisely invested in ways that will tend to raise the nation’s economic growth over time. Then, it will be possible for the national economy to repay the borrowed money over time and still end up better off than before. This occurred in USA during the 19th Century, and in Korea in the 1970’s. Others can find itself in a bind if the incoming funds from abroad are not invested in a way that leads to increased productivity. Several of the large economies of Latin America, including Mexico and Brazil and Argentina, ran large trade deficits and borrowed heavily from abroad in the 1970s, but the inflow of financial capital did not boost productivity sufficiently, which meant that these countries faced enormous troubles repaying the money borrowed when economic conditions shifted during the 1980s. Similarly, it appears that a number of African nations that borrowed foreign funds in the 1970s and 1980s did not invest in productive economic assets. As a result, several of those countries later faced large interest payments, with no economic growth to show for the borrowed funds. In the 1990’s, the ‘so called Tiger Economies of Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, and Malaysia apart from Singapore, faced severe stress on their economies when foreign investors pulled their money out from stocks, banks, property and bonds because they had trade deficits, large foreign FDIs and not enough buffer in their foreign reserves to handle runs on their currencies.What about trade surpluses? Japan’s economy has been teetering in and out of recession since 1990, with real GDP growth averaging only about 1% per year, and an unemployment rate that has been creeping higher. Clearly, a whopping trade surplus is no guarantee of economic good health. The main problem is an aging society and a slowing economy in which consumption does not pick up, and together with high net savings, means that the funds cannot be used in the country and has to be invested abroad. Trade surpluses are no guarantee of economic health, and trade deficits are no guarantee of economic weakness. Either trade deficits or trade surpluses can work out well or poorly, depending on whether the corresponding flows of financial capital are wisely invested. How wisely? Increased federal spending on Medicare may not increase productivity, so a budget deficit is not justified, although if you have high savings and a trade surplus it is certainly justifiable to improve the health of your population. Increased spending on education will increase productivity and foster greater economic growth, so a budget deficit is justified. Increased spending on a space program may not increase productivity, so a budget deficit is not justified. Increased spending on airports and air traffic control or highways and bridges will increase productivity and foster greater economic growth, so a budget deficit is justified. These are some examples.India was formerly under British rule from 1858 to 1947. During that time, India consistently had trade surpluses with Great Britain. Anyone who believes that trade surpluses are a sign of economic strength and dominance while trade deficits are a sign of economic weakness must find this pattern odd, since it would mean that colonial India was successfully dominating and exploiting Great Britain for almost a century—which was not true. Instead, India’s trade surpluses with Great Britain meant that each year there was an overall flow of financial capital from India to Great Britain! In India, this flow of financial capital was heavily criticized as the “drain,” and eliminating the drain of financial capital was viewed as one of the many reasons why India would benefit from achieving independence. The fundamental economic question is not whether a nation’s economy is borrowing or lending at all, but whether the particular borrowing or lending in the particular economic conditions of that country makes sense.In the 1990's, although the Clinton administration was running a budget surplus of 2.5% of GDP, the foreign balance was 4 % of GDP (deficit to the rest of the world in trade and FDI) and in fact the private sector (US firms and households) was having a deficit of 6.5% (the sum of the other two). The private investment was spending 106.5$ for every 100 $ of income. This household debt level accelerated in the years from 1996 to 2006 when home owners aided and abetted by money managers went into the risky mortgage debt securitized and sold by these financial layering experts. By 2007, the US ratio of total debt to GDP reached 500%, or five dollars of debt to service using each dollar of income! The worst part of the problem was the household debt and the rise in financial sector indebtedness to each other from these esoteric and trashy securities in the form of layered derivatives. This was a real bubble and when private debt became too big and consumers stopped borrowing, the bubble collapsed, most identifiable with the Lehman Crisis. Which of course became the Global Financial Crisis. It does seem like borrowing has its limits too.Obama did a lot to get the economy up and moving. He wasn’t given much credit for it. Many of the things he did, Hyman Minsky would have approved. China did a lot of good with its stimulus program and was not really given credit too. The main caveat I would say was that some of the bankers were not taken to the cleaners, which would have reduced the moral hazard. The whole geebang cost the world something like 29 trillion USD in terms of all the originating loans in the scale of default and if President Trump manages to screw up and raise inflation, causing a downturn, you have no backstop. That is going be bruising for everyone, and I really mean EVERYONE except the smart money which is already shorting the futures for the D-Jones.China’s saving rate is high by historical experience, international standards and model predictions and also has been rising over time (especially in the 2000s). Saving by each of the three sectors (household, corporate and government saving) is also high but not exceptional. What really sets China apart from the rest of the world is that it ranks near the top globally across all three components. However, Heston and Sicular (2008) observe a pattern of positive inventory accumulation (more of stocking than destocking) of at least 1 - 2 % of GDP every year. This may suggest possible overestimation of the Chinese saving rate. The second upward bias of the Chinese saving rate is a potential understatement of imputed housing rent. The Chinese rural household surveys suggest that imputed rent is implausibly low, at merely five US dollars a person per annum. Since the imputed rent is both income and consumption for households, it does not affect the amount of their saving but the proportion they save from their income. As a result, China’s gross national saving could be overstated. Imputed rentals are non-cash consumption expenditure. The Chinese rural household surveys report both total and cash housing expenditure, which include rentals, gas and electricity. The difference between the two is a reasonable proxy of imputed rental, amounting to RMB36 or USD5 per capita in 2008. This appears low, given that China’s rural home ownership averages something like 90 %. Third potential bias is the understatement of retained earnings at foreign firms operating in China, which may lead foreign saving to be reported as part of gross national saving, thus overstating both the current account surplus and national saving.Three major microeconomic factors have been key: (a) major institutional reforms including very tough corporate restructuring, pension reform and the spread of private home ownership; (b) a marked transformation process as labour left the subsistence agricultural sector where its marginal product was less than its average wage; and (c) a rapid ageing process. Policy measures promoting job creation, a stronger social safety net and enhanced financing and incentives for provision of social services may contribute to the transition to more balanced domestic demand, which would stimulate domestic consumption, which is now on-going. A high saving has financed strong economic growth, with low inflation and manageable exposures to adverse external shocks. Over the decade 1998-2008, China’s GDP growth registered 10 % plus per annum, while its CPI inflation averaged less than 2 %. Second, it helped shape China’s internal and external balances to an important extent. In particular, a rising saving rate implies a falling consumption share in GDP and hence a highly investment-intensive internal demand structure.Private home ownership. As part of the corporate restructuring, state firms no longer provide housing for their employees and in exchange have increased contributions to housing provident funds (Shen and Yan, 2009). The concomitant introduction of private home ownership and property market interacted with the “second demographic dividend” effect to provide additional incentives to build up pension assets, ushering in a housing boom. The demographic dividend is the effect of the one child policy which may diminish the role of the family in care for elderly, which together with pension reform, increased the need for saving for old age. China’s home ownership may exceed 85 % today (Gao, 2010). Even if one ignores the substantial quality improvement, China’s physical assets of residential housing per capita have at least more than doubled during 1985-2008 . The implied housing investment has been enormous. Indeed, the fastest-growing sectors in the Chinese economy over the past three decades have been the construction and services, not the manufacturing sector. Thus sharply increased demand for housing assets has been a key driver for both high economic growth and high saving in China.Government consumption and expenditure, however, diverged noticeably from each other, especially in the 2000s. The government consumption has been more stable over time, at some 15 % of GDP; but total expenditure swung from 11 % -12 % of GDP in the 1990s to 18 % -20 % lately. One main difference between these two government outlay variables is investment spending undertaken by the government, which is part of government expenditure but not part of government consumption. Therefore, more of the government expenditure is investment rather than consumption. In other words, much of the government income gain has been invested and saved rather than consumed. Why does the Chinese government save and invest but not consume most of its incremental income? First, the anticipation of rapid population ageing and the 1997 pension reform prompted increased pension contributions by the corporate and household sectors. These funds have been invested, directly or indirectly, in financial and physical assets at home or abroad. The rise in government saving could in part relate to the build-up of pension assets. Second, local Chinese government officials have incentives to start new investment projects, as promotions have been mainly determined by performance indicators such as economic growth in their jurisdictions. Hence there is an innate tendency to invest more rather than to provide additional public services for a given rise of government revenues, thus boosting government saving. Nevertheless, once the fixed capital stock has built up sufficiently in the public facilities and infrastructure, this will generate a greater stream of future government consumption and potentially encourage the government to eventually expand provision of social services. Third, there is a so-called federal fiscal imbalance issue in China: while a rising share of fiscal revenues is appropriated by the central government, the lion’s share of the social expenditure burden remains on the shoulder of the less well-funded local governments. Transfers through the central government are considered far from adequate in addressing the financing pressures facing local governments. This tends to put the local governments under funding pressure, which in turn constrains social spending and government consumption. Central government will need to address this.And now to Foreign Exchange Reserves.In China, Foreign Exchange Reserves are the foreign assets held or controlled by the country’s central bank. The reserves are made of gold or a specific currency. They can also be special drawing rights and marketable securities denominated in foreign currencies like treasury bills, government bonds, corporate bonds and equities and foreign currency loans. As of August 2018, China had total official reserve assets of approximately $3,087 billion. This figure included about $71 billion of physical gold reserves (around 2 tons) and around $20 billion worth of (. “IMF reserve position” and “Special Drawing Rights”). It also has foreign debt of about 1.84 trillion in March 2018. China's External Debt accounted for 14.0 % of the country's Nominal GDP in 2017. China's domestic bond market has become more open to foreign investors, with the share of bonds in total external debt rising from 8 percent in 2014 to 21 percent by the end of March 2018. This has become a new source of growth for external debt, indicating the strong confidence of foreign investors in China's economy. Growth in debt owed to foreign creditors came mainly from currencies and the increase of deposits and bonds, and China has been carefully managing its yuan exchange rate to reduce arbitraging between the small pool of RMB outside the country and the larger pool within the country previously.Now that the RMB is part of the basket of currencies in the IMF as a reserve currency, it stands to get a few benefits. The yuan would be used to price more international contracts. China exports a lot of commodities that are traditionally priced in U.S. dollars. If they were priced in yuan, China would not have to worry so much about the dollar's value. All central banks would have to hold yuan as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The yuan would be in higher demand. That would lower interest rates for bonds denominated in yuan. Chinese exporters would have lower borrowing costs. China would have more economic clout. On December 11, 2015, the P Bank of C announced it would begin to shift the dollar peg to a basket of currencies. That basket includes the dollar, euro, yen, and ten other currencies. Demand for RMB-denominated assets will increase over time. That in turns allows the Chinese government to issue more debt in RMB. Thus the share of China’s liabilities in its own currency will increase, mitigating the risk of currency mismatch and overall funding risks in the long term. Over the long-run, the acceptance of the RMB is likely to be followed by greater integration of Chinese stock exchanges into global equity markets, and the gradual emergence of China as an international financial centre, enabling China to create a money transfer system to compete with the widely used “Swift” system; and in limiting the dollar’s use in enforcing political sanctions, experts say. It could also encourage China to accelerate its financial sector reforms, in turn depreciating the RMB to levels the U.S. may not relish.The growing importance of the renminbi could also test U.S. influence on China. After the U.S. moved the dollar from a fixed exchange rate system to a freely floating system in 1973, it began pressuring Japan to let the yen appreciate. That was to protect U.S. goods from cheaper imports from Japan, especially the U.S. automotive industry. With “tremendous pressure” from the U.S., the yen appreciated from 360 to the dollar to 80-85 by 1990. There was an ever-appreciating yen, because the U.S. was muscling Japan and forcing it to do this, through all kinds of trade conflicts and so on. On that front, China will be different for the U.S. China is not going to be muscled around by the U.S., and we won’t have an ever-appreciating RMB. The Chinese will do what they think is in the interest of China. Foreign exchange reserves are used to back liabilities and influence monetary policy. A floating exchange rate system use reserves to keep their value of their currency within a certain range based on the basket of currencies that is used to peg its value. A third, and critical, function is to maintain liquidity in case of an economic crisis. A strong position in foreign currency reserves can prevent economic crises caused when an event triggers a flight to safety. Reserves are always needed to make sure a country will meet its external obligations. These include international payment obligations, including sovereign and commercial debts. They also include financing of imports and the ability to absorb any unexpected capital movements. China has used part of its forex reserves for recapitalizing some of its state-owned banks and to fund infrastructure. By and large, because China is somewhat unusual in that it has high savings, a good trade surplus and prudent fiscal management, it has accumulated huge reserves.

The question is: Do you care that people look, think, or say that you are weird?No. And yes. Sometimes.No: Part of me is always aware of two things: that people interact in specific ways in order to try to control each others’ behavior and the perception of others, and that how others view me may be inaccurate or entirely due to the other people being too much ‘in their own heads.’When someone goes out of their way to tell me that I’m weird, I have to wonder. Why did they go to the trouble? Why is my behavior, or for that matter my existence, so important to them that they have to bother me with that information? Why is that person poking at me? Are they curious? Are they trying to impress their friends by showing that they’re not afraid to speak their minds? In that attempt to impress their friends, rather than tell the school bully (who might kick them into the next county) that they’re mean, did they pick me because they’re pretty sure I won’t fight back? Are they jealous, because they’re personally afraid to stand out in some way, and realize that they’re doomed to become inconsequential unless they can bring me down and get me to quit being exceptional/unusual/fascinating? Regardless, notice that the reason they told me that I was weird is only a little bit about me and a lot about them and the kind of person that they are.I used to get my feelings hurt a lot when I was in grade school, middle school, and to a lesser extent high school by people who told me I was weird, made fun of me, made fun of my friends, ignored me, etc. As I got older I realized that the sorts of people who made fun of me weren’t worth my time. They were often mean and petty, and when they weren’t they were afraid of me in some way. Maybe they felt inadequate because I liked math and physics and was in theater, orchestra and choir, and they didn’t understand those things or maybe envied my abilities. Maybe they were forced to conform at home and since I didn’t conform, they felt compelled to treat me like their parents treated them—conform for your own good or you’ll never fit in and you’ll be alone, impoverished and amount to nothing. Maybe that gorgeous, shy guy that they’re really into keeps talking to me about art and they want to show that guy that they are ‘superior’ and that I’m ‘inferior’ and ‘undesirable’. Whatever their motivations, at some point I stopped feeling like I was inadequate and started wondering what was their problem. Because clearly, it wasn’t my problem. I liked and trusted my friends, I had a good family, I loved art and music and theater, I loved to read books, and I basically had a decent life outside of the bullying. The more I looked at their lives, the more I realized how stressed out they were about fitting in, being perfect, losing their friends (because apparently their friends weren’t particularly loyal) and losing their SO’s (because so many of those same people were all about hooking up and keeping their boyfriend/girlfriend, and were often shattered as that SO cheated on them with their ‘best friend’.) I didn’t have to worry about my boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend. I loved and trusted my friends, and they loved and trusted me.I doubt I would have noticed that the people who told me I was weird were damaged except that in high school, I had great role models. The most popular couple in school were the track star and the journalism nerd. They were mature for their ages, were kind to everyone, and stood up for people who got bullied. They never cheated on each other or played the social kid games that the other so-called ‘popular’ kids played. Their incredible poise and grace proved to me that you could be a jock and a nerd and not only get along, but be decent human beings to each other. I believe they went to the same college and got married shortly after graduation. I still think of them as the ideal high school kids, and though I didn’t get to know them very well, I admired their strength, independence, and many virtues.After I grew up enough to understand what was going on, I stopped caring about the fact that other people snickered behind my back and that a few people went out of their way to tell me I’m weird. At one point I started snickering at them within my mind, knowing that everyone saw through their BS. Later, I grew more circumspect, and started feeling sorry for them, especially the ones for whom high school ended up being the best years of their lives. Eventually I outgrew even that. They were doing the best they could. No one is perfect. They were flawed human beings, as are we all, and deserved neither my hate nor my pity. I hope they’re doing well. If they’re still a$$h*[3s, I’m sorry that they continue to live in that hell where very few people like or respect them. Too many of them live lives of rage, helplessness and misery with only small ‘victories’ where they get ahead a single car length in traffic, take credit for someone else’s work, or get that powerful feeling that they’re ‘right’ to get them by. Hopefully they’ll find a better way before they die alone, unloved, and confused as to why life seems to be filled with nothing but senseless hatred, only to end in cruel death.Yes: Even after I came into this knowing, mostly during high school, it was painful to be singled out and taunted. The worst part was not the words they used, but what I thought that they thought of me.I gave these people rent-free space in my head. Long after the school day was over, I would think about them and how they hurt me. I would imagine what they thought of me. I would imagine what they would say or do to me the next day.I had a beloved friend in high school who was brutalized almost daily for being gay. I had no idea why the teachers/principal didn’t do anything. Of course these bullies didn’t do anything while there were other students who would stand up for him around. One day they attacked him right in front of me, but before I could get involved my friend spun them away (he ended up teaching himself a form of aikido for self-defense) and we took off. He was shaking, angry, and so sad…and there seemed to be nothing either of us could do. The bullies picking on him wanted him to change, to conform, to not be gay and not wear odd clothes and be more like them. I think quite a few of them were afraid of him. He was tall, and in a lot of ways formidable so they felt compelled to gang up on him at least three to one, if not more.This made the little bit of bullying that I experienced seem like nothing. It gave me perspective. But I also hurt for him. I hurt for everyone who had their bodies brutalized and their emotions eviscerated by other students. It convinced me that I needed to stand up to bullies. It taught me to be strong. It taught me to believe in myself. And it also made me bitter. I hated those kids. I hated being different. I hated standing out and I hated being weird. But by high school, I had enough support from my family and friends that I realized a couple things. First, high school wouldn’t last forever. Once I was out of high school I’d never have to deal with those jerks again. And second, that how my family and friends treated me meant a lot more than how bad people treated me. I learned to care much more about the opinions of people that I loved than the opinions of people that I hated. There’s an important lesson there: Haters will always hate. Cliché but true. Don’t give them rent-free space in your head. Do your best to ignore them. Recognize their insignificance and irrelevance. They are manufacturers of poison. Don’t buy their poison. Leave it on the shelf, and drink in the caring of those closest to you.Sometimes: Now that I’m older and (in theory, anyway) wiser, I’ve learned to value objective opinions. The trick is to figure out the difference between someone lashing out at you and attacking you vs. someone giving their honest opinions.It turns out that it’s not that hard to discover the difference.One of the things that I do as a writer is that I study mental illness. It can be tough to get good information, because there’s so much misunderstanding, misinformation, and stigma associated with mental illness. In the process of working my way through first-person accounts, books on mental illness, my experiences with the mentally ill, and having close relationships with people with various difficulties and differences that span the gamut from being neural-atypical (autism, synesthesia, genius/savant) to disorders (depression, bipolar disease, OCD, stuttering, hoarding, etc.) and all the umbral nuances between, I’ve come to feel that intent means a lot.Most (not all of us) have a pretty good sense of when someone is being deliberately cruel and when someone is being thoughtful/compassionate. If you have a hard time telling the difference, you may find it helpful to get someone that you trust to give you feedback. If you know you are neural-atypical, this kind of lovingly-given feedback is crucial. Without it, it’s very difficult to figure out how society works. You don’t have to conform to society. But it’s an important skill to learn how to survive and make your way in society.Sometimes, the difference between valuable feedback and trolling is pretty clear.For example, if someone who is a fan of m/m historical fantasy (which I write) has a beef with my characters and gets rather personal with me as an author, I’ll pay a lot of attention to that person’s opinion. Maybe I just rubbed them the wrong way, and that’s okay. Not every fan of the type of writing that I do is going to like my stuff. I truly embrace diversity and I’m not going to get my panties in a twist because someone hates my books. But I do want to pay attention to whether I crossed one of my own lines without meaning to, or whether I wrote an offensive trope into my books without realizing what I’d done. Like everyone else, I’m imperfect and I rely on outside opinions to help me grow, improve, and when needed, to change so that I can be a better version of me.But if someone writes a review that my books are awful because they have gay sex in them and I’m going to hell, I feel pretty safe in ignoring that opinion. It might not even be a real opinion. That person might be attention-seeking, hoping to get a reaction from me or my readers. I’ve found that the best thing is to leave that person alone. Besides, a one-star review like that would actually increase the chance that someone who loves the kinds of books that I write will pick it up, not decrease it. Does that make sense?Sometimes, the reactions of strangers to us is not a signal that they are damaged/mean/bullies, but that there is something really wrong with us. Someone very close to me is severely depressed, and someone else I know was recently suicidally depressed (yes, she sought treatment and she’s okay for now) and goes in and out of depression frequently. For the first person, it’s likely that the depression is a combination of childhood trauma and brain trauma that is coming to a head now that he’s older. For the other person, it’s probably a chemical imbalance. She’s been fighting it since childhood, and she’s likely facing a lifelong battle. (She’s so brave! <3 ) My kids are both autistic. (They’re doing great, thanks!)For all of these people, it’s important to get feedback.They have to be careful, of course. You can’t just assume because ‘everyone’ (it’s rarely everyone) at school ‘thinks’ (we can’t always tell what people are really thinking or what their motives are) we’re ‘weird’ that it means that something is seriously wrong. More than likely, if you’re in high school, the thing that’s wrong is that everyone is pretty immature and that very few teenagers know how to treat each other or themselves in a positive way. High school kids (and younger kids) are notorious for being awful to each other and to themselves. They haven’t learned how to get outside of their own heads and appreciate our flawed but beautiful world and all the flawed but beautiful people in it.But if you’re consistently getting the feedback that something is seriously wrong, it may be time to see a counselor and get a professional opinion.I assume that because you say that someone is calling you ‘weird’ that it’s kids being kids, but if you’re an adult or if you’re mostly dealing with decent, fair-minded and successful adults, then it may be time to try to figure out if you might not have an issue that can be addressed by someone who specializes in the issue with which you’re having difficulties. ‘Weird’ can mean so many things. It can mean that you’re exceptionally intelligent, autistic, nerdy, attracted to an unusual hobby, and so on. But it can also mean that you may be struggling with depression, hoarding, schizophrenia, or bipolar disease. Even with treatment, mental illnesses can be seriously challenging. Without treatment and/or support, they can be devastating.So while I agree with most of the other answers to your question that it’s generally a good idea to ignore people who think you’re weird or call you weird to your face, it’s not always a good idea. Sometimes, people need help socializing. Sometimes people need help with mental illness because they’re unable to perform normal functions like basic hygiene and communication. Sometimes people need a professional who’s on their side and understands what’s going on when they hear voices, or have persistent thoughts about how no one cares, no one loves them, and how the world would be better off without them.Whatever is going on in your life, you’re not alone. No matter how ‘weird’ you might be, or even if you have a rare disorder, you’re not alone. Maybe you are a little weird, or very weird. That doesn’t make you any less important, or any less a human being. I hope that whatever is going on, that you can embrace the things that make you unique, and that if you need help, whether it’s a big hug after a hard day of bullying at school, or the help of a counselor if you’re having deeper issues, that you get the help you need.Take care!

Living in Hanoi, from 2014–2018 (maybe longer).I like living here, and could maybe live here longer, but these are the things I think about now that the honeymoon phase is over:The climate here is a little gentler than the south. Fall and Spring can be fantastic, but short-lived. Summers are sweltering, and the winters can be cold and wet. As in, cold-to-the-bone. The humidity in the air makes everything feel hotter than it is or colder than it is. I am glad I brought a variety of clothing for the changing weather, and really glad I brought a set of Frog Togs rain gear. Be prepared to spend a lot of time trying to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.In the winter, everything feels wet, all the time. Your clothes, furniture, bedding, just cold and damp. From about November to….whenever the cold humidity ends and the hot humidity is in full swing, mold will be a big problem. Especially if you live on the lower floors. And the walls sweat through the month of March. You can conquer the mold, but it’s a daily job.The air is never fresh, so there’s rarely a refreshing breeze to mitigate the heat. It’s just soup that you can kind of feel moving around, and it won’t cool you off. Heck, a hand-held fan is no match for the thick Hanoi air.Another thing about the air quality: it’s borderline hazardous. I check the air quality index regularly to see if I’m going to develop respiratory infections. Hanoi has become one of the unhealthiest places to live, right up there with Beijing and New Delhi. A few factors contribute to this: Hanoi is in a basin that receives air from places like Indonesia, where there is always a fire burning. Also, people burn a lot of coal to bbq and do other kinds of cooking. There are at least 8 million motorbikes and cars on the road at any time. And construction is just off the chain, meaning there is always a lot of dust in the air. In the fall, be prepared for at least 3 weeks of added smoke from the field burning that takes place after the countryside finishes harvesting rice. Everything smells like soot. Wear a mask if you can stand to.The traffic has gotten more complicated since I’ve moved here. There are so many more cars on the road now that the automobile tax has been lifted. It used to be that there was tons of just motorbike traffic, but it usually flowed along rather smoothly. Not the case any more. Cars will drive simply wherever they want, down impossibly narrow alleys, sidewalks, whatever. One car will clog up 100 motorbikes, and they don’t really have the kinds of roads in place to handle all the extra space that automobiles take up. The cars are just going to kill this place.Oh, and, I always tell people that, if you are going to ride a motorbike, it’s not IF you will get in an accident, but WHEN. I made it over three years before getting hit by a car that ran a red light. I’m lucky to be alive.If you ride a motorbike, DON’T RIDE DRUNK. Too many young expats get into accidents because they drink and drive. Don’t do this, even though the locals consider it a competitive sport. If you are in an accident, it is highly likely that you will be blamed, even if it wasn’t your fault (I got extremely, extremely lucky, praise God). So don’t make it worse by riding drunk or stoned.If you ever hit a bicycle, even though they can be the worst riders on the road, you will automatically take the blame. Just be super careful whenever you see a bicycle (if you can see them). Sorry to say but the older ladies are generally the most dangerous and will swerve out in front of you at any time, with no warning, and certainly no looking. No, YOU look out for THEM.Also, driving habits are extremely laid-back, casual, and lethal. Every minute on the road includes at least three of the following (mix and match): people coming down the wrong side of the road (because it’s 30 seconds faster than going down to the next safe place to make a U-Turn), people swerving in front of you, people zooming up behind you and then swerving, or stopping directly in front of you; motorbikes with enormous loads, motorbikes with enormous loads coming directly at you on the wrong side of the road, motorbikes loaded with mom, dad, grandma, 2 babies, 2 toddlers, 3 ducks and a teenager coming at you on the wrong side of the road; motorbikes driving on “sidewalks”, motorbikes and cars running red lights at every intersection, motorbikes stopping smack dab in the middle of a busy thoroughfare to talk on the cell phone, people talking on cellphones while practicing any of these other habits; motorbikes turning right in front of you (the right of way here is always up for grabs), intersections with conflicting green lights, people trying to overtake you on the right, people jumping the red light (it’s de rigueur to start going when there’s about 3 seconds left, so don’t try to beat a yellow light. You will die). Also, might is right on the road, meaning anything larger and heavier than you will do all of these things and expect you to get out of their way, whether you have time to react or not. If it is Tet season, then prepare to dodge motorbikes loaded with kumquat trees. The trees can be quite large and straight-up wipe out unsuspecting motorists and pedestrians. If you have never ridden a motorbike or motorcycle before, you might want to just skip it altogether.The police in Hanoi generally leave expats alone, which came as a surprise to me. However, your luck will vary wildly if you leave Hanoi and travel through any of the adjacent towns. You hear stories about dealing with the cops, and in general, whenever possible, try to avoid them. Again, in the accident, I was incredibly lucky that the police were decent and fair. Your best bet is to come with a license bearing a motorcycle endorsement, and then see if you can get it translated, and an international driving permit doesn’t hurt either. Most police know that expats don’t have a Vietnamese driver’s license, but you should have something current with you at all times. If you can get a Vietnamese driver’s license, it is good forever and will be your best protection. There are some agencies who will help foreigners obtain a license, but the process is arduous and drawn-out. The driving test part of the process consists of you riding a semi-automatic motorbike in a figure-eight around some traffic cones, without touching the ground with your feet. That’s it. Personally, I think they need to really up their standards given how homicidal everyone is on their motorbike. Also, you need motorbike insurance. It costs about $4 a year for a card, and if you are stopped outside of Hanoi, they may ask you for it. If you don’t have it the fine is somewhere around $350 or so. Weirdly enough I have never seen a place to buy them in the city, but tons of places lining the highway as soon as you leave the city. Take someone who can translate and help you get this card.Entertainment options get a little stale after awhile, I’ve noticed. There is not much nightlife here, so if you like going to clubs with big ol’ dance floors and parties until dawn, Hanoi is not your place. It has venues, but they are small. There is some live music, but I’ve never found much that was appealing. There IS a growing collective of experimental and electronic musicians doing some really cool stuff, but if you’re just here for a visit you’ll not really find them easily. The movie theaters show the main popular Western movies, and you choose your seat in advance, which is nice.The food options are decent, if you know what to look for. In general, Hanoi food is not intensely flavored like it is in the South. Pho originated here, but it is different than what you’d get in a Vietnamese restaurant in the States. I think it’s a great breakfast. However, if you’re going to eat street food, get some help from a local friend, if you’ve made one. You can get extremely sick from the food here; it’s a widespread complaint. Food hygiene and safety are just not a priority, and a fair number of expats land in the hospital with severe food poisoning.Hanoi is a cafe kind of town, literally thousands of places to get coffee and/or juice. The coffee here can be really good, but you need to find places that sell real coffee. Yes, there is apparently fake coffee here. But there’s also egg coffee, which is a straight-up miracle.It will be vital to find at least one good friend here, who speaks your language well enough. Living abroad can be lonely wherever you go, and this seems to be especially true here. It’s a transient population bubble you will be living in, and the local population does not speak much English. It is said that the Vietnamese are much friendlier and more open the further south you go, and it’s probably generally true. I’ve found that if you win over a Hanoian, they will never forget you. But they are quite selective and can often seem closed-off. Just smile, be your best self, and be very patient. Don’t show anger or irritation when things don’t go your way (a valuable lesson I’ve learned), and you’ll find that they will quietly really appreciate you. There are a lot of rude foreigners living here, sorry to say, so if you can remember your manners you will do just fine with the locals. They will look at you with unrestrained curiosity and will talk about you, just take it in stride. Foreigners are quite strange-looking and acting to Hanoians, so I’m told.One way you will prove your value here is whether you agree to help folks with their English. This is true whether you’re a teacher or not, and if you want to pick up extra work, there is tons of it. People will ask you to help them, and in my opinion it’s a good opportunity, even if you do it for free. Living here as a foreigner means we are successful, perhaps more so than many of the people living here. It doesn’t hurt to give back whenever possible, it will help you form relationships with the people here, and will make you feel good. You won’t need a lot of teaching experience, just some patience, clear speech (heavily-accented folks who speak English have a harder time securing teaching jobs), and above all, cultural sensitivity.Other posts have recommended branching out of Tay Ho for places to live, and, this is more viable if you live here long-term. When you first arrive, you’ll be hard-pressed to settle into any of the outlying areas. A lot of areas outside Tay Ho are just off-limits to foreigners in one way or another. Tay Ho has a large selection of places to live, a large community of expats, and a lot of businesses that cater to expat needs and interests. It is a “bubble”, but once you get established, you can find much cheaper dwellings on the fringe of Tay Ho, in areas with less congestion.Wherever you choose to live, though, be prepared for construction to happen right next door. It will be loud, it will be dusty, and it will happen at all hours and all days of the week. They don’t take the weekends off. I have yet to live in an area that wasn’t affected in some way by someone tearing down an old house and building something new. This seems to be a booming area financially, with people making more money to improve their property, and outside investors coming in droves to erect new apartment complexes, shopping malls, and business buildings.Shopping options are decent for things like furniture, household goods, and electronics. Electronics are about as expensive as the States, but other things are more reasonable. If your a taller Western guy like me, you will have a hard time finding manufactured clothes and shoes. You’ll want to visit one of the hundreds of tailors in the area, and if you have something you really like to wear, bring it to them. They will make copies to match the cut of your favorite clothes. This has saved my life more than once.Update: As this is a rapidly developing city, clothing options are improving for foreigners. H&M has moved into Hanoi, and their clothing is reasonably priced and decent quality. Some of it is a bit “young” for my taste, but they sell things like button-up shirts and other staples in my size, so you’ll probably have better luck than I did when I first arrived. There are also Doc Martins boots, mine have held up for almost 3 years. The size is a tad small for me at the start, but they’re genuine leather and will stretch into good-fitting footwear. I’ve never had a problem with the leather breaking down as it is good quality. Prices for these are about the same as you’d expect back home but they have great sales around Christmas time.You cannot order things from Amazon directly, but there is Lazada (with a more limited selection but fast delivery), and Amabuy, which ships an approved list (since some things on Amazon are illegal here) of goods, but takes 2–3 weeks.Cancel your Prime Membership if you move here. It’s not good for anything, as not even the movies will stream here, even with a VPN. You CAN rent videos from Amazon. Netflix works, though, and there are dozens of Vietnamese websites with current movies and huge selections (type the name of the movie you want, followed by the word “vietsub”, into Google). Most of the time they upload HD versions of things as soon as they are available.Hanoi is the capital, so you will notice a much bigger government presence here. In general, as a foreigner it won’t concern you much, but it really shapes the character of this city. You’d just have to live in it to see what I mean. Ho Chi Minh’s final resting place is here, and you can visit the Mausoleum and see his preserved body.Very important: Tet. This is the biggest holiday in Vietnam, and occurs in late January/early February, depending on the lunar calendar. If you choose to stay in Hanoi at this time, you must prepare for it about a week or so in advance. Stock up on extras of everything. Hanoians leave in droves to go back to their hometowns (which are just hopping at this time, get out to one if you can, you’ll never regret it). They load up grandma, 2 babies, a couple of ducks, and a huge Tet tree, and motor on out of town. The day before Tet it’s just motorbikes and trees on the road as far as you can see. It’s best to just stay home at this time, lest you get wiped out by a tree while you’re just trying to walk down the road. The area begins to almost completely close down for up to a week. Some restaurants stay open, but think about it. These are people working through the biggest holiday in their culture, and they are stuck in Hanoi. Do you really want to be that foreigner who shows up on the day of Tet, expecting to be served? Give them a huge break. Stock up on groceries, water, and whiskey, and hunker down. It’s just good karma. Additionally, the time leading up to Tet is about like Christmas: hectic, bustling, lots of shopping, shorter tempers, worse traffic. And petty theft increases. People feel pressure to settle their debts before the Lunar New Year, and are more tempted to lift cellphones and wallets. Extra vigilance is needed at this time of the year.In general, Hanoi is a very Vietnamese-looking city, compared to a more generic-looking Saigon. I love that about this place. A lot of mystery, a lot of charm, and tons of hidden gems to visit once you make a local friend. Hanoians are very proud to live here, and they should be. The negatives I’ve listed are surmountable, if you come properly prepared and are in reasonable health. There’s enough of a draw to bring new expats, as well as keep those who like the funky, rough, gritty charm of this place and live here for years longer than they originally planned. The traditional way of life is still pulsing through development into a more modern city, and I hope that it doesn’t get lost.