Adventure Forsooth: Counting on your hands in public is acceptable.

Having been in the country for nearly a week now a few things have become apparent:

Chinese people are not as short as initially thought. They are petite in frame but not tiny
Westerners smell like milk- who knew?
Expat bars are the busiest, friendliest places to drink and converse in broken english.
I will develop a second hand smoke addiction before I leave. If I seem slightly on edge by the time I come home, put me in the smokers area, I will probably feel better.
Basketball is insanely popular here- there was even a court in the forbidden city!
Fashion here is bright, very bright.
You consider yourself ripped off if you pay any more than ¥30 (£3) for a meal. For anything in fact.
Noodles are not a date food. You will slurp and smack your lips with gusto.
Pointing to food the local are eating and making positive noises is acceptable as a form of communication in restaurants, diners and food stands.
Leftover fireworks still going off in the street on New Years Day = Standard. Am not in fact living in a war zone.
Numbers can be communicated with hand signals. Initially baffling, but now highly effective.

I am still working my way through numbers (and pretty much everything else in this language) but as was explained to me by a lovely receptionist at my hostel, the locals are not making the sign of the devil at me- they just want me to pay!

Check it out!