A rite of passage, no pun intended. We were told when we first came to Lanzhou that foreigners are not allowed to use electronic fare cards on the buses. That rule has evidently changed, because my teaching partner was able to get me one for a birthday gift. I am using every shred of self-control to keep from running outside and jumping on the first bus I see. I can barely wait to be a regular Lanzhou woman. I'll jostle my way onto the bus, and then thump my handbag against the card reader. It's apparently sensitive enough to read the card inside my bag. Or I could be more like a Lanzhou school child or senior citizen, and wear it around my neck in a hand-crocheted case. If I were a student, the card reading device would chirp xue sheng ka! -- "student card" when I swiped. If I were a senior citizen, it would sing out lao ren ka! -- "senior citizen card." In all probability, it will just say beep! But I fantasize that it will say lao wai ka! Lao wai is a mildly rude epithet for "foreigner." (The characters on the card say chengche ka, "commuter card" or, more literally, "take the bus card.")