Yeah, I have to admit it. And it tasted so good!
The basic currency in China can be referred to 3 different ways (why make anything easy?). It can be called renminbi (RMB - the people's currency), the yuan, and kuai. For rough calculations, you can figure $1 is about 6 Yuan, or divide your Yuan by 6 to get dollars. The food here is pretty cheap, but other household items are probably fairly close to US on average. When you go into a regular store and the items are bar-coded, no bargaining goes on. But if you go to a stall, or stand, things are much more informal and you can bicker down. They'll show you the price using a calculator so you can manage that way...
I met one of my Chinese math counterparts yesterday. He is 25 years old, been teaching at the school for 3 years, goes by the english name Sky, and speaks pretty darn good English! He's very enthusiastic and has a quick smile - I'm looking forward to working with him. He thinks the Chinese are very hard on their children and that they memorize and learn things quickly but have no deep understanding. Arguments I've heard before. He also loves NBA basketball and can probably name for you every team and roster since 2000. When I told him I lived just a few blocks from the Trailblazer's arena, he was in awe! He's visited the US and said the highlight of his life was Universal Studios - when he was there he just couldn't believe the creativity and originality that was displayed there.
Today, still no school, so I walked around looking for someplace to get some decent bread (hard to find here). After about an hour and a half, I came upon this bakery that is run by a Japanese, and he sells French style loaves of bread (baguettes?). It cost 7 Yuan (just a little over a dollar) which seems pretty reasonable. I am now going to have some...
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