getting around

The subway: is... well, it's a subway, it's awesome. What's not to like about a subway? The trains come pretty frequently (I've only ridden one line so far, the brand new line 10 - opened in July 2008 for the Olympics.) There are a ton more lines planned by 2012 - I think they realize the pollution isn't going to get any better unless they crack down on cars in a big way, and they can't do that without giving people a way to get around. The fare is 2 kuai, no matter where you're going. It's deducted from a little card you buy, that you tap on entry and exit on a sensor. So, they'll be able to start doign ditance-based fares whenever they get around to it. Our apartment is between the Liangmaqiao (LiangMa river bridge) and Sanyuanqiao (third ring bridge) stations on Line 10, and work is right at the ZhichunLu (ZhiChun road - haven't fininshed translating that one yet) station of the same line. Takes about 25 minutes on the train, plus about 15 minutes walking in the morning.

The subway signs are all in both Chinese script and in pinyin, which is the system used for writing Chinese in the western alphabet. Many chinese don't read pinyin, though it was developed by the Chinese government to allow quicker literacy acquisition. Awfully useful for us westerners who haven't learned out characters. In addition, all stops are announced in both Chinese and English (though sometimes well after the door has opened, so it's good to watch the little electronic display, showing you where you are.) Major street signs here have pinyin, but minor ones just have characters.

Money: the official currency is the renminbi, also called the yuan (which also translates as something like "unit"), but everyone calls it "kuai", which is kind of like our "buck". There are about 6.8 yuan per USD, I just think about it being about 7 when I do calculations in my head. A yuan is divided into ten units that I think are called "qiao", which are further divided into ten units called "fen". Fen are completely worthless, and I haven't see a coin yet. Qiao, I've only seen in a 5 qiao coin, which I got confused at, thinking it was 5 fen. Things here are either absurdly expensive, or trivially cheap. Nothing in between.

Food: real chinese food is nothing like american chinese food. The sheer variety astonishes me. Even eating only the veggie things that others are ordering, the other night at dinner I tried ten different dishes, about half of what was ordered.) It can be a bit heavy, and there are lots of deep-fried things, which is fine, since the portions are smaller. You come away full, but it's not the same kind of full you get eating in the U.S. Unfortunately, I have not been writing down the names of things I liked, so it's going to be harder to order again. I'll get it with time, and take my notebook next time. Even things on the vegetarian portion of the menu, though, you have to be careful with - stuffed lotus root was actually stuffed with pork the other day. Didn't taste like much. I will have much more to say about food, as it's a big part of daily life here.