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There’s a huge bust of Albert Einstein on a tree-lined street near my campus. I don’t know the story behind it, but I promise I’ll find out. (E=mc2 is indecipherable to me, whether it’s in English or Chinese.)

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The Chinese like hard beds. And when I say hard, I mean it’s like sleeping on concrete. It’s been that way at both hotels I’ve stayed at, and I’m told to expect the same at my apartment. I know hard beds are supposed to be good for your spine, but when I wake up every morning I look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

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I just found out my apartment will have a Western toilet, for which I am eternally grateful. I love new experiences, but I can live without a squat toilet.

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Finding a jar of peanut butter in Zhengzhou is even harder than finding a cold drink. But one of our Chinese helpers miraculously spotted a small Skippy jar in the milk and yogurt section of the grocery store at Walmart. I’ve been eating it as a snack right out of the jar.

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When I signed up for cell phone service with China Mobile, they charged me an extra 20 yuan ($3.27) because I have an iPhone. When I asked a Chinese friend why, she smiled and said, “Steve Jobs.’’

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The Marlboro Man would be right at home in China. The Chinese smoke everywhere – in restaurants, hotels, taxis, stores, even hospitals. The smell of tobacco is as pervasive as chopsticks and rice. Mike Bloomberg could never get elected here.

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Zhengzhou drivers are slower than snails. While they do wild things like honk every time they pass another car, ignore red lights and practically touch bumpers, they rarely go more than 40 miles per hour, even on highways. I have no idea why, especially because my colleague Edith, who has lived in other Chinese cities, says it isn’t true elsewhere.

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China blocks many Western websites, including the New York Times, Facebook and WordPress blogs, to prevent public criticism of the government. It’s nicknamed the Great Firewall. But you can unblock those sites by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), which gives you an IP address based in another country. My VPN has been working fine, and it even allows me to stream U.S. TV on my MacBook Air. Don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t watch the final episodes of “Breaking Bad.’’ Maybe Walter White will end up teaching chemistry in Zhengzhou.