new norms, part 2: exchange rates

Living in China isn't all that expensive on most fronts if you choose to live like a Chinese person. This means not chasing boxes of American cereal, not eating a lot of American fast food like McDonald's and KFC, and basically not trying to re-create an American lifestyle. If you do that, then you can save a lot of money, especially when you're still being paid American wages as I am.

It's very cheap to eat Chinese food, so I do it whenever possible because I like a lot of it. As I've mentioned before, there are many small restaurants within a few minutes' walk from our apartment, and our favorite among those specializes in noodles and potstickers. Here are some sample prices:

7 potstickers: $.79
1 bowl of wonton soup (contains 10-15 wontons): $.63
1 bowl of spicy beef ramen soup: $2.05

Given these prices, it's not uncommon for us to go in, get three orders of potstickers and one bowl each of the soups, and walk out completely stuffed for less than $5-6. This being the case, going over to McDonald's or KFC can be a painful proposition. Eating at a sit-down Western restaurant--Italian, German, whatever--is excruciating. This has led me to start expressing many meals and other costs in a new currency: potstickers.

Behold, the blessed potstickers:


Last night's German meal was worth over 500 potstickers. And while that's not super-expensive compared to what we did at least a few times a month in the US, here it's like driving a stake through my heart. I could have eaten potstickers for weeks at that price. Or wonton soup. Or many other foods that I enjoy here. And I'd still have a decent amount of cash left over for other activities, or just for savings. Take your pick.

Making these kinds of comparisons has become a great way to save money, and to attempt to ascribe some real value to purchases in all aspects of my life. The downside, naturally, is that I'm quickly becoming an unbearable cheapskate who only sees value in the next plate of underpriced dumplings.