Bloggin' in China

When I got to China, I felt very disoriented and one of the most materialistic actions in the world helped me get over my feelings of being unsettled – shopping. Just from buying things like towels, snacks, water, laundry detergent, and other such things, I felt so much better!

Shopping in China is a very interesting task not much different from in the United States. The main thing that’s strange is the fact that everything is in Chinese currency! In China, they have yuans instead of dollars, also known as kuai. Tens of cents are counted out in mao, and single cents are fen. Right now, if you divide anything by approximately 6, it’s about how much you would pay in the United States with our own dollar. This is a very challenging thing to do when you are doing your normal shopping! Division skills ARE important if you plan on studying abroad, especially since I had to do this in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia too…and each currency was different! Priorities are also different abroad. There were tons of clothes at the shopping market we went to today that were around 10 kuai a piece (about $1.50, in the United States!) which was also as much as I spent on a dinner on Thursday night that included chicken, rice, and bok choy! Food is relatively cheap as are clothes, but luxury items are the expensive thing. My Chinese cell phone was 375 kuai (about $60) so it was about the same as a US phone! If you’re paying for brand names, it’s also much more expensive – and anything that’s Western or resembling Western goods has a higher price, too. Today I got two badminton racquets for 40 kuai all together, though there were some that were over a few hundred kuai! It all depends on what you’re looking for, in some cases. I wanted to get tennis equipment but I have yet to see tennis courts (and tennis balls are 40 kuai to a can of three balls!) so I figured badminton would be a nice alternative, especially since it is a sport that Asian countries dominate in. :) I could learn a lot here!

So the next time you’re out buying things – be glad you don’t have to divide or multiply by anything to figure out what it’s actually costing you! I know I can’t wait to be back in the United States with those high prices again, just so my math skills can take a well earned break! :)

Zaijian!

Megan