Twelve important lessons for the Beijing expat

1. Pedestrians do not have the right of way.
2. Grocery stores do not carry cold medication, let alone any other product found in the cold remedy aisle of an American grocery store. And the word "pharmacy" does not refer to Western medicine.
   
3. Do not rely upon your Chinese-speaking expat friends to translate for you. Instead, spend as much time as possible speaking to Chinese people either in language tutoring, or around town.
4. Even the best University in Asia has squatters in every stall, but handicapped bathrooms are Western-friendly.
   
5. Public bathrooms do not have toilet paper. Bring your own.
   
6. After you sign a housing contract and buy a SIM card, order business cards immediately.
   
7. The Great Firewall can be breached via TOR or Anonymouse.
8. Chinese people remove their shoes at the door with good reason--there's nasty things from outside that they don't want tracked on the carpet. Do the same.
   
9. Amazon.com will not ship a Brita pitcher or bike helmets to China. Bring them with you.
   
10. A queen-sized bed measures 152 cm by 190 cm. Purchase bedsheets accordingly.
11. Beijing has its own dialect. When asking someone how to say something in Chinese, be sure to distinguish between Mandarin and "Beijing-ese."
12. If a sign is written in both Chinese and English, you are actually incapable of reading the English, despite outward appearances. [See #4]