I think I'm slowly turning Chinese, I really think so

When I got off the train in Dalian on a recent Friday morning, I went straight to the ticket office for a return ticket.

Anxious crowds and quickly sold-out trains make China's ticket sellers as intimidating and terse as Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. "Can't make up your mind? No ticket for you! Next!"

I rehearsed how to say my destination and time as I walked over to the miraculously short ticket line.