There is a serious obsession here with counting things. People like to talk about how many English words they know and they want to know how many characters you know.
Random acquaintances often ask me how many countries and how many Chinese cities I have visited. When the topic of drinking beer comes up, men always ask how many bottles of beer I can drink. This once led to a very boring night of tediously downing lukewarm Budweisers in a bar in Lijiang's ancient city, just to prove that I could in fact drink that much beer-flavored water. When my new roommate found out recently that I swim, she instantly asked, "How many meters can you swim?" Who wants to know how many meters they can swim?
The fact that you have never considered these questions is unacceptable.
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As an aside, I am loving my new apartment and roommates. I live with a German guy and a newlywed couple--Chinese woman, Taiwanese man. Everyone seems completely reasonable, sane and easy to live with. The Taiwanese guy is a painter and we have these beautiful, huge, brightly colored canvases hanging in the living and dining room. The couple both laugh a lot, and it's great to be using Chinese at home. I also have a swimming pool and gym right here in the complex.
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