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As we mentioned in a previous post, tipping in China is considered offensive. When it comes to do's and don’ts it differs between Chinese culture and Western. So, let’s get down to what everyone is wondering. Table manners. Today we’re going to talk about the use of chopsticks.

Don’ts:

• twiddle your chopsticks
• lick your chopsticks
• stir food with your chopsticks
• gesture or point with them
• stick them in the center of the rice

... you can join old ladies dancing in formation on the street at night

... you offend people if you tip them

... it's colder inside than outside

... you can by your clothes at A&M and carry it home in a Dior bag

... t-shirts carry deep, but totally confusing, messages

... you have to bring your own toilet paper if you want to tinkle

... life is simple and food is cheap

It's about time to tell you what we have done here in China so far.

We got here, after almost a 30 hour trip because of delays in Moscow. Since we were delayed we missed the bus that would take us straight to Nantong, and because we had three HUGE bags plus our cabin bags we had to take a taxi. The trip from the airport to Nantong is normally about 1,5 hours with a car, however it took us a bit longer...

Our first taste of chinese air

The guy who picked us up didn't speak a word of english, and had a car about the size of a peanut, with Tom and Jerry painted on the side. Getting our bags in the car was like a giant game of tetris. During the ride he jabbered on in chinese (we answered in swedish which made him look really happy), drank cupious amounts of tea and stopped at every intersection to look at the signs. Despite that last precaution ha added about ten km to our trip with every turn. We thought we would never reach our destination. Thankfully, after about two and a half hours we got to our place and even got help carrying our bags up the six flights of stairs. We see the driver at the gates to our neighbourhood sometimes and he always looks really happy to see us. Now that we know we made it here alive, we're really glad to see him too! 

For the last days we've just been learning how things work at Yabroad and started working on structuring our thesis. We've been to dinner and to the gym with the people we work with, and so far everyone's been really nice!