Friday! Today when I woke up it was the second Friday I’ve been here in China. I still think of time in relation to the U.S. When I wake up I think of my friends and family just going to sleep [last night] and as I write this I imagine they are just arriving at their jobs to enjoy their Friday.

During the lunch hour I met with my volunteer helper to buy my mobile SIM cards. First we went to China Unicom [Yesterday I referred to as telecom referencing the name on my cell phone screen. They are one in the same] and paid 20Y to receive 380Y on the phone. [I am still trying to comprehend how their phone service fees are assessed.] Immediately following that purchase we walked over to the China Mobile tent to pick up a China Mobile SIM. [see yesterday’s post about Chinese cell phones and SIM cards for an explanation] where I gave the clerk 50Y for 300Y China Mobile SIM. The 50Y I gave them was from the change I received at China Unicom. [That is important background for what happened next.] When the girl put the 50Y through the money reader it rejected it. Counterfeit money is a big problem in China and you always have to be careful about who you get money from. Apparently that even applies to vendors on a school campus because today I got to feel what it was like to have fake money. If I could understand the language I imagine I’d have heard them swearing my name for trying to pass a fake bill. Luckily for me, I just got the 50Y a few minutes earlier and my helper went back with me to the other tent to explain the problem. We all politely agreed that the China Mobile money machine was broken and there was nothing wrong with the money then they changed the one 50Y for five 10Y. I was lucky. They could have easily said that I switched the money and that the bad 50Y was not theirs. In the end everything we set out to accomplish was accomplished. By 12:15PM I was the proud new owner of two phone numbers.

That was the only excitement of the day. Later I took a sunset stroll through the campus taking more photos. Afterward I went shopping for a few necessities. Here’s something of interest to know. Campus wide, the canteens do not provide napkins. Students carry small disposable packets of tissue instead. In general, restaurants will not provide napkins until you ask for them. When they arrive they are packed in a small packet and their texture is similar to face tissue.

Words I wish I knew today:
Excuse me …
Pardon me.
I don’t understand.
How much is this?

Today’s new word:
Envelope = xin feng [shing fong]