You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive.

Everyone loves payday. I remember the days not so long ago, working at the Holiday Inn, when I would tear open that envelope and curse the government for how much money these mysterious "programs" like Social Security were pilfering from my paycheck. Here in China payday is way better. Not only is there no tax on my paycheck but there is no paycheck at all! Just a huge pink wad of cash plastered with Chairman Mao's face all over them.
While the pay is not quite what I earned back in the States, it is much more than sufficient for my needs here. With my excess cash I tend to buy things that although cheap, are often times superfluous or not what you would call the bare necessities. For example:










Yes, these gloves do in fact say Hero on the knuckles














Chinese twinkies and french fries/potato chip things
















Slightly hazardous reverse cooling fan
















Awesome movies that I would never purchase for more than dollar store prices










A poster that is most probably offensive in some way to most of the world's population.










As clearly seen here, having too much cash on hand can prove disastrous to an impulse buyer such as myself. Especially when the cash on hand looks more like monopoly money than actual currency. In order to combat this predicament I have taken as many opportunities as possible to pay for the meals or other simple things for the students and Chinese friends I come into contact with. While this may sound like a simple task, it proves much more difficult than one would imagine. The students are very sneaky about beating you to the payment punch. Even though they have nowhere near the spending power of your average employed person, they persist in treating us as "guests" of China and seizing every possible chance to treat us as such. Facing such stiff opposition leads us to take dramatic measures. More than a few times I have pretended to excuse myself to the bathroom in order to prepay a meal, subtly slip the taxi driver a bill before my Chinese counterparts get a chance, or physically tackle my friends before they can reach for their wallets. As fervent as our efforts are, we are still oftentimes bested and must resort to letting them off with a warning that next time it will be our treat, or else.