I just had to drop a ton of money on a deposit for a new apartment and a few months rent upfront, so I’m seriously broke for a few weeks.

Not on some bullshit broke like “oh, I can only do brunch one day this weekend/I can only afford two massages this week,” but broke like I need to live off the change in my bedroom that’s accumulated over the past year.

Part sociological experiment, part attempt to get blogfamous and land a MAJORBOOKDEAL and get paid, a new Heatwolves segment, “Poor in China” starts today.

I’m also writing this to show that contrary to what many Chinese believe, all foreigners are not rich.

The plan is to live off RMB20 a day for everything (sans rent). Food, transportation, and recreation. It does not include products that I already have in my house, mostly various hot sauces from Indonesia, and oats. There’s also half a bottle of Absinthe which I’ll probably drink this weekend when I go out.

That’s $2.92 a day
…or 2.44 Euros
…or 2 Pounds

Starting now - this nutritious lunch of egg and Indonesian hot sauce cost 1 RMB (for two eggs). I also ate two bananas (2 RMB) and a strawberry yogurt ( 3.6 RMB).

So that’s 6.6 RMB for lunch, or about $1

Some people just come here for the music, so here’s a chune. I never heard the original until last week.

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Gloria Jones - Tainted Love