Differences I've noticed so far:
1. 司機 vs. 師傅: It Taiwan, we call the cab drivers SiJi (司機), or driver. But here, I noticed they call the cab drivers ShiFu (師傅), which means master.
2. 繁體字vs.简体字: Traditional Chinese characters are used in Taiwan. They are harder to write, but there is more history and meaning behind each character. This is what I studied back in my days at ICLP. However, here in China, they use simplified versions of the traditional characters. Some characters stay the same, but the more complex ones are just like the title implies; simplified. So, I'm having some trouble reading characters here. But it just takes some getting used to and I think I'll be able to read simplified in no time.
3. Internet. The Great Firewall of China is no joke. I can't get on facebook. I can't get on YouTube. I can't get on Vimeo to upload videos. And even Gmail doesn't work properly. I constantly get kicked off my email and my gchat works sporadically. It's quite frustrating, but I'm adapting.
So, those are the 3 things I've noticed so far. I'm sure my list will continue to grow the longer I am here. But I'm noticing that my life and schedule here is going to be quite similar to Taiwan. Wake up, breakfast, go to a cafe, job hunt, sleep, and do it all over again the next day. Hopefully with some job interviews in between. Here goes. 26 days left to go.
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